Harry Denis Griffiths died on 8th January, 1951, at his London home, at the age of 84.
He was born at Manchester and received his early education in France, returning to England in 1882, and serving an apprenticeship with the Cardiff Junction Engineering Co., Ltd., from 1882 to 1887. During that period he gained many awards at the Cardiff Science and Art Schools, including an Exhibition tenable at the Royal School of Mines and a Whitworth Scholarship. He took the mining course at the Royal School of Mines from 1887 to 1890, and obtained his Associateship in mining.
He was appointed assistant mining engineer to the Kimberley Diamond Mining Co., Ltd., South Africa, in 1890, and in the following year was made mine manager of the Belgravia mine. He also was engaged in 1892 as chief mechanical engineer to the Kimberley Exhibition, and from 1893 to 1895 held the positions of chief technical assistant to Messrs. Farrer Bros., and consulting engineer to Geldenhuis Estate and Gold Mining Co., Simmer and Jack Gold Mining Co., and East Rand Proprietary Mines, Ltd. For the following two years Mr. Griffiths was consulting mining and mechanical engineer to various South African companies, and in 1897 went to New Zealand as assistant manager of Waihi Silverton.
From 1899 to 1902 he was general manager of Clark’s Consolidated, Rhodesia, and then returned to South Africa where for six years he practised as a consultant in Johannesburg. He went to Malaya in 1908 as general manager of Tronoh Mines, Ltd., and during the next five years was a member of the Federal Council, and President of the lpoh Chamber of Mines. In 1913 he was appointed consulting engineer in Rangoon and London for Kanbauk wolfram mines and for Anglo Burma Tin, and retained this position until his retirement in 1924.
Mr. Griffiths was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1892 – the year of its foundation — and was transferred to Membership in 1897. He was the author of a paper entitled ‘On the crib-setting of a deep level shaft’, published in the Transactions of the Institution (vol. 13, 1903-04).
Vol. 60 Trans IMM 1950-51, p.511
