Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Griffiths, Arthur George Frederick
GRIFFITHS, ARTHUR GEORGE FREDERICK (1838–1908), inspector of prisons and author, born on 9 Dec. 1838, at Poona, India, was second son of Lieut.-colonel John Griffiths of the 6th Royal Warwickshire regiment. After education at King Wilham's College, Isle of Man, he entered the army as ensign in the 63rd (now Manchester) regiment on 13 Feb. 1855. He was present at the siege and fall of Sevastopol, and took part in the expedition to Kinburn, for which he received the Crimean medal. He was promoted lieutenant on 27 July 1855. In 1856 his regiment was stationed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, but on being nominated aide-de-camp to Sir William Eyre [q. v.], commanding the troops in British North America, Griffiths was transferred to Toronto. The appointment, however, was not confirmed by the war office, and he returned home on leave. He pursued his military studies at the Hythe school of musketry, and in 1860 he passed fifth into the Staff College. In Nov. 1861, owing to the threatened war with the United States over the 'Trent' affair, Griffiths was ordered to rejoin his regiment at Halifax. He was promoted captain on 12 Feb. 1862.
From 1864 to 1870 he was brigade major at Gibraltar. His administrative capacity was recognised by his appointment to the temporary charge of the convict establishment at Gibraltar; and his success in enforcing discipline led him to enter the prisons service at home. Griffiths was deputy-governor of Chatham (1870-2), of Millbank (1872-4), and of Wormwood Scrubbs prisons (1874-81). From 1878 to 1896 he was inspector of prisons, and undertook the task of unifying the methods of administration throughout the country. He became an acknowledged authority on European prison systems and on the history of London gaols. His 'Memorials of Millbank' (1875; 2nd edit. 1884) and 'Chronicles of Newgate' (1884) were serious works of research; and he added to his reputation in 1890 by winning the Tsar's gold medal for a monograph on John Howard [q. v.]. In 1896 he represented England at the international congress of criminal anthropologists at Geneva.
Griffiths retired from the army with the rank of major on 13 May 1875, and devoted his leisure to literature and journalism. He had already some experience as editor of the 'Gibraltar Chronicle' in 1864; and he became a frequent contributor to many journals. He edited papers and magazines so widely different as 'Home News' (1883-88), the 'Fortnightly Review' (1884), and the 'World' (1895). From 1901 to 1904 he was editor of the 'Army and Navy Gazette' in succession to Sir William Howard Russell [q. v. Suppl. II].
But it was as a writer of sensational tales of prison life that Griffiths was best known to the public, and in such stories as 'Secrets of the Prison House' (1893), 'A Prison Princess' (1893), 'Criminals I have known' (1895), 'Mysteries of Police and Crime ' (1898; 3rd edit. 1904), 'The Brand of the Broad Arrow' (1900), and 'Tales of a Government Official' (1902), he revealed his extensive experience of the habits and characteristics of the criminal classes. His detective stories, like 'Fast and Loose' (1885), 'No. 99' (1885), 'The Rome Express' (1896), and 'A Passenger from Calais' (1905), were modelled on those of Gaboriau, and were inspired by his intimate acquaintance with French police methods. In his earUer novels, 'The Queen's Shilling' (1873), 'A Son of Mars' (1880; 2nd edit. 1902), and 'The Thin Red Line' (1886; 2nd edit. 1900), he drew mainly on his Crimean experiences, while 'Lola' (1878) was a faithful transcript of garrison life at Gibraltar. Altogether he published thirty novels.
He also contributed to the official 'History of the War in South Africa, 1889-1902' (1906-10; 4 vols.); and was author of several popular historical works.
Griffiths was a genial companion, a keen sportsman, and an amusing raconteur. He died at Victoria Hotel, Beaulieu, in the South of France, on 24 March 1908. He married on 18 Jan. 1881 Harriet, daughter of Richard Reily, who survived him.
[Fifty Years of Public Service, by Arthur Griffiths, 1904 (frontispiece portrait); The Times, 26 March 1908; Army and Navy Gazette, 28 March 1908; Brit. Mus. Cat.]