Arthur Foster Griffith, 1856 – 1933

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Solicitor, Alderman, Naturalist, Collector.

Arthur Foster Griffith was the son of Dr Griffith, the popular head master of Brighton College, and the brother of the well-known Egyptologist, Francis Llewellyn Griffith.

Griffith donated significant quantities of objects to Brighton Museum & Art Gallery many of which are documented as being collected in Egypt in 1876. The Museum Register suggests that Griffith acted as an agent presenting the Museum with objects obtained from excavations.

Arthur Foster Griffith

Griffith was a member of the Brighton Corporation (Council)and sometimes chairman of the Booth Museum Sub Committee. He edited later editions of the Booth Museum catalogue as well as purchasing and donating many bird specimens for the collections.

The Booth Museum catalogue currently includes 475 specimens collected or purchased by Griffith, including 166 mounted birds, eight bird study skins, one mammal skin and 281 bird eggs. Elsewhere in the collections of Brighton Museum & Art Gallery his donations include archaeology, local history, and decorative art.

Griffith was involved in the design of many of the Booth Museum display cases subsequent to the death of its founder Edward Thomas Booth. A wall-mounted brass plaque in his honour is displayed in the entrance of the Museum.

The plaque inscription at the Booth Museum

Griffith’s obituary can be found in the Brighton & Hove Herald, Saturday 6th January 1934, a copy of which can be viewed at the Brighton History Centre.

Jeremy Adams, retired Assistant Keeper at the Booth Museum