David Griffiths (missionary)
| David Griffiths | |
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| Born | 20 December 1792 |
| Died | 21 March 1863 (aged 70) |
David Griffiths (20 December 1792 – 21 March 1863), was a Welsh Christian missionary and translator in Madagascar. He translated the Bible and other books into the Malagasy language. The Malagasy Bible of 1835 was among the first Bibles to be printed in an African language.
David Griffiths was born on 20 December 1792 at Cwmhirbryd cottage and reared at nearby Glanmeilwch, Llangadog, Carmarthenshire, in south Wales. He was the son of William Griffith David and his wife Elizabeth. He became a member of the neighbouring Jerusalem Congregational church at Gwynfe in 1810, and soon after began to preach. He conducted a school of his own at Cwmaman in 1811-12; entered the college at Neuaddlwyd 1812, that at Wrexham 1814, and in 1817 or early in 1818 left Llanfyllin, whence the Wrexham College had been meanwhile removed, for the missionary college at Gosport.
He married Mary Griffiths in May 1820. In June the same year he was sent to Madagascar by the London Missionary Society, as colleague of the Rev. David Jones, who had gone out two years previously. On 27 July he was ordained at Gwynfe, and on 25 October sailed with his wife from London, reaching Mauritius on 23 January 1821, and soon afterwards proceeded to Madagascar. Griffiths and Jones founded the first Protestant mission in Madagascar. They preached twice every Sunday, and established day and night schools, his wife teaching the girls. In 1824, the schools in the capital numbered 300 scholars, and there were 32 other schools over the country, all of which he visited weekly. In 1825, many Malagasy were able to help the work in all its branches. Griffiths and Jones devised a Roman-letter alphabet for Malagasy; in 1827 a printing press was obtained, and the following year a catechism, a hymnal, and some schoolbooks were published in Malagasy, and the printing of the Gospel of St. Luke was begun.
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