In memory of John Tudor Griffiths
John Tudor Griffiths was born to the musical family of John Frederick and Catherine Jane Griffiths. John senior ran a wholesale and retail drapery business at the Free Trade Hall in Rhyl’s High Street. In 1901 he and Catherine lived at 48 High Street with their three daughters and three sons, along with four domestic servants.
The siblings were musical. John Tudor was a violinist and played alongside the organ at Soar Wesleyan chapel.
John was full of energy and passion, and was drawn to the world of agriculture as a youth. While helping to harvest hay aged 14, he worked like a 30-year-old. Watching John leap on and off the hay cart, an observer said he would get either a gold watch or a wooden leg before long.
Soon after turning 16, John emigrated to Australia and became a farmer in Teven, New South Wales. Later he sought and gained permission from his parents to enlist in the army. He served in the Australian Infantry’s 9th Battalion.
He sailed from Sydney in March 1916 and eventually joined his battalion in the Somme region of France on 24 July. Sent forward into the Battle of the Somme, Private John Tudor Griffiths was killed in action on the next day, aged 19. He is buried with Australian comrades at Gordon Dump Cemetery, France.
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