Twelfth Generation

1486. Letitia Chatfield was born on 11 March 1812 in Clapham, London, England. She died on 28 December 1891 at the age of 79 in St George, Hanover Sq., London, England. Death GRO 4th qtr 1891
Griffiths, Letitia 79 St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a 306
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Surrey Records
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_G70

G70/57/ - FAMILY SETTLEMENTS OF THE GRIFFITHS FAMILY AND LEASE OF CASTLE HILL, EGHAM Date: 1836-1889
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Appointment by Letitia Close, wife of Charles Close of Haslemere, Esq...Title Appointment by Letitia Close, wife of Charles Close of Haslemere, Esq, and widow of Samuel Chatfield, of trust funds settled on the first marriage, to be divided after her death between her children William, Mary Ann and Letitia Chatfield
Reference G70/57/1
Unit Date 8 Dec 1836
Start Date 18361208
End Date 18361208
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Appointment by Letitia Griffiths, wife of George Richard Griffiths of...Title Appointment by Letitia Griffiths, wife of George Richard Griffiths of Aldermanbury, London, gent (formerly Miss Letitia Chatfield). Her share of her late father's estate, to the trustees of her marriage settlement
Reference G70/57/2
Unit Date 4 Aug 1837
Start Date 18370804
End Date 18370804
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Lease for 5 years 1) Mary Ann Sykes of Bristol, spinster 2) John Ad...TitleLease for 5 years 1) Mary Ann Sykes of Bristol, spinster 2) John Addington Symonds of Bristol, MD, on behalf of son John Addington 3) Harpur Gamble of Upper Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square on behalf of son John George, and infant 4) George Richard Griffiths of Castle Hill, Englefield Green, Esq (lessee). Mansion and grounds of Castle Hill, Englefield Green, Egham, with farm buildings and land (108 acres). Schedules of fixtures, room by room and dilapidations. Plan Rent: £650 per annum
Reference G70/57/3
Unit Date 12 Jan 1859
Start Date 18590112
End Date 18590112
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Deed of appointment 1) Letitia Griffiths of 38 Devonshire Place, wido...Title Deed of appointment 1) Letitia Griffiths of 38 Devonshire Place, widow of George Richard Griffiths 2) Letitia Frances Griffiths, one of her daughters who is about to marry George Eden Marindin. £7,000, part of her late father's estate
Reference G70/57/4
Unit Date 6 Aug 1870
Start Date 18700806
End Date 18700806
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Deed of appointment, and receipts 1) Letitia Griffiths of 57 Brook S...Title Deed of appointment, and receipts 1) Letitia Griffiths of 57 Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, widow 2) Rosa Mary Ann Kerr, wife of Russell J Kerr of Newnham, Gloucestershire, Esq 3) Letita Frances Marinden, wife of George E Marindin of East Liss, Esq 4) Ada Blanche Griffiths of 57 Brook Street, spinster [(2), (3) and (4) being all daughter's of Mrs Griffiths] Various sums of money, part of their late father's estate. /2-3 are receipts signed by Ada Griffiths and the trustees of Mrs Marindin's marriage settlement
Reference G70/57/5/1-3
Unit Date 19 Mar 1889
Start Date 18890319
End Date 18890319

Letitia Chatfield and George Richard Griffiths were married on 10 December 1836 in Haslemere, Surrey, England. George Richard Griffiths, son of John Griffiths and Elizabeth Hart, was born on 25 March 1802 in Surrey, England. He immigrated on 5 June 1839 to Sydney, NSW, Australia. He lived in Orwell, Woolloomooloo, NSW, Australia in 1846. George immigrated in 1853 to England. He lived in Castle Hill, Englefield Green, Surrey, England in 1853. He died on 7 August 1859 at the age of 57 in Castle Hill, Englefield Green, Surrey, England. George lived in Clarens, Darlinghurst (Potts Point), Sydney, NSW, Australia 1847/1853. Deaths Sep 1859
GRIFFITHS, George Richard Windsor district 2c 259
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Griffiths, George Richard (1802–1859) by G. P. Walsh

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966

George Richard Griffiths (1802-1859), merchant and banker, was born on 25 March 1802 in London, the third son of John Griffiths, surgeon, of London and County Carmarthen, Wales, and his wife Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of William Neville Hart of London. He was appointed secretary of the London office of the Bank of Australasia in June 1835 and in 1838 inspector or superintendent of all its branches in the Australasian colonies in place of George Kinnear. He arrived in Sydney on 5 June 1839 and lost no time in assessing the opportunities for financial enterprise. The London board had decided upon a branch in New Zealand in 1839 but Griffiths, unimpressed by reports and prospects, advised against it; later he changed his opinion, but the bank hesitated and deferred the opening of New Zealand branches. In February 1840 he wrote to the Colonial Office on the general state and prospects of the Australian colonies; his letter was referred to the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission which reported on it. On being refused an increase in salary he resigned from the bank in 1842 and was succeeded by W. H. Hart.

Griffiths then turned to other enterprises. He began business as a merchant and commission agent under the name of Griffiths, Gore & Co., and later Griffiths, Fanning & Co. He was a candidate for the directorship of the Sydney Alliance Assurance Co. and by 1843 he was a local director of the Union Bank, and had a licence to depasture stock beyond the Portland Bay limits. His firm owned Wooroowoolgen station on the Richmond River and original shares in the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. His opinion was often sought by select committees of the legislature on financial matters, such as the debenture bill in 1841 and in 1843 on the causes of the depression, which he claimed arose from over-speculation through excessive bank loans; his suggested remedies were the decreasing of expenditure to the lowest practicable level, checking of the prevailing lavish system of credit and 'reducing our imports to what we can fairly pay for'. In 1844 he was appointed a justice of the peace for the city of Sydney, but declined nomination to the Legislative Council as representative for Melbourne.

He lived at Orwell, Woolloomooloo, till 1847 when he bought Clarens at Darlinghurst (Potts Point). There he was a friend and host to Thomas Huxley who visited Sydney in the Rattlesnake in 1847; it was in the gardens of Clarens that Huxley became engaged to Henrietta Heathorn whom he later married. On his return to England in 1853 Griffiths lived at Castle Hill, Englefield Green, Surrey. He died on 17 August 1859.

He had married on 10 September 1836 Laetitia, daughter of Samuel Chatfield of Battersea Rise, Surrey. She died on 28 December 1891. They had eight sons and three daughters. Two of the sons, William Russell (1845-1910), and the youngest, Herbert Tyrrell (1853-1905), were educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and adopted law and medicine as their respective professions; the second son, George Neville (b.1840), was also a Cambridge graduate (Trinity College). The eldest son, Frederick Close (b.1838), married Annette Agnes, daughter of Joseph Scaife Willis (1808-1897), a prominent Sydney commercial figure.

Letitia Chatfield and George Richard Griffiths had the following children: