Arthur Griffiths, Collection

Arthur Griffiths (1838-1908), was inspector of prisons and author, born on 9 Dec. 1838, at Poona, India. He 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.

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.

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.

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.

In this ebook:

The Thin Red Line; and Blue Blood

The Passenger from Calais

The Rome Express