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couldgetac-
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PostMr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: August 24, 2011, 21:18
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I have several military medals from this man which I have inherited from a family member.

He served as an officer in WW1 (Royal Engineers) and died days before the armistice from wounds sustained in battle. His division was deployed from Dec 1915 and was in the line through the war.

He survived the sinking of the Lusitania. I have traced his birth back to a village in South Wales – Rogerstone.

Thats more or less all I can find. Maybe he emigrated only to return to serve the homeland. I know he was married and that the widow was from Liverpool – Maude Mabel Griffiths. She later remarried. Tragic

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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: August 27, 2011, 19:32
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Thank you for your story! If you don’t mind, it would be great to add Mr. Griffith’s story to the biographies of the second cabin passengers. Please let me know who I should credit for the biography: http://www.rmslusitania.info/people/second-cabin/christopher-griffiths/

couldgetac-
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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: August 29, 2011, 15:52
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My name is James Hudson from Stockport, Cheshire. I inherited his medals and his engagement ring to Maude.

This tough man may have been serving in the Merchant Navy or emigrating who knows? What is extraordinary is that not only did he survive the sinking but he went on to immediately enlist in the army. The regiment he chose to enlist in may be down to the fact that he originated from a Welsh mining community and mining in trench warfare was an important (if horrific) tactic. I often wonder how seeing that ship and those innocent people die changed him. All this is speculation and further research may not answer these questions as fully as I would like.

Name: GRIFFITHS, CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM
Nationality: British
Rank: Lieutenant
Regiment: Royal Engineers
Unit: 123rd Field Coy.
Age: 35
Additional information: Son of William and Rosita Griffiths, of Newport, Mon.; husband of Maud Mabel Waudby (formerly Griffiths), of 7, Sycamore Rd., Waterloo, Liverpool. A survivor of the Lusitania.
Died: 1918 November 7th Griffiths, from wounds received Oct 29th
Grave/Memorial Reference: S. V. G. 5.
Cemetery: ST. SEVER CEMETERY EXTENSION, ROUEN

ccinbrasil
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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: April 14, 2012, 14:19
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[email]Hi James,

My name is Carol and my maiden name is Griffiths. I saw your post and was interested that you had medals of CW Griffiths. Well, as you may be able to guess from my maiden name, I am CW Griffiths’ granddaughter through a strange stroke of fate. I am really pleased there is someone out there with some connection to him.

I have been doing research on him and his family and have found out that he died from shrapnel wound to his back. He was wounded on the 29th of October and died on the 7th of November 1918. It must have been very hard. I also know that his wife Maud was with him in the Red Cross hospital when he died. His brother Erasmus, was also a sapper and he was 90% disabled by gas poisoning – he died in 1960.

It is incredible that he survived the sinking of Lusitania in 1915 only to be killed in action in 1918 as you noted a few days before the armistice. My father also fought in the ww2 and gladly survived. He wanted to follow the footsteps of his father. I have a letter CW Griffiths wrote to a Mrs Prichard regarding her son R. Prichard on the Lusitania. I would he happy to send you a copy if you would like it.

Have a good day.

Best regards,

Carol.[/email]

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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: April 16, 2012, 08:46
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Hi Carol,
I am so pleased you have made contact. CW Griffiths has become something of an enigma to me.

He appears to be a superman and I know my uncle (now passed away) was obsessed by his memory. It would be really interesting to hear little details that add a bit more colour to the real person.

I have done some research into his life through genealogy websites but there are so many gaps into the reasons why he left Wales, why he decided to come back to the UK, how he met Maude and then I guess why he appears to have had family from a previous relationship (I guess this was not the norm).

I can send this via email now we have linked up.

Kind Regards

James

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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: April 16, 2012, 08:57
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Sorry Carol I forgot to say that a copy of the letter would be wonderful.

RichardMaz-
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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: April 16, 2012, 18:07
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Hi,
I hope you don’t mind me commenting. I am a relative of a victim, George Peter Meaney. He was a business man returning from New York on the Lusitania.
I am currently researching in order to write a screenplay about the disaster and would be very interested in knowing more about Mr Christopher William Griffiths.
I want to make an authentic screenplay/film that includes real life characters as well as fictional ones and I would be very interested in knowing more about him, with the intent of using his fascinating story in my film.
Please let me know your thoughts on this, and if possibly you would want to speak more about him or even arrange an interview.
Regards,
Richard.

tinareilly
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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: September 14, 2012, 18:43
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Hi Everyone
Like you i have recently found out on of my ancestors was killed on the Lucitania. Her name was Jeanie Gilmour Beith from Scotland. She had sailed the year before( April ) on the SS Corsican with her sister Mary to Toronto Canada where she married a Robert Mc Kinnon that December. For reasons we will never know she booked a second class ticket home on her own on the Lucitania. We think she may have been homesick or most likely her marriage didnt work out and decided to come home. Her sister Mary stayed there and married in 1920. Jeanie was listed as ” Mrs Robert Mc Kinnon, age ?, British, Toronto Canada” on the deceased passengers list and her body was never found nor or is one of the 65 bodies never identified and buried in a mass grave in St. Moultons Cemetery in Cork. I did it as i believe everyone should know about Jeanie Beith the young woman from Scotland who took a decision to go to Canada thinking she could have a better life over there and not “Mrs Robert Mc Kinnon”I have submitted all this information to this site and hope to have her details put up so maybe the Beith family will be researching and will see this. If anyone knows or is part of that family i would love to contact them to see if they have information on Jeanie. I have traced all her family (her brother James Beith married my ancestor Agnes Veitch Collie in 1902) I hope to go to the burial grounds in cork at some stage to pay my respects (i live in Ireland and its a short journey for me) Until then any information would be great from anyone
Many thanks
Tina

tinareilly
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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: September 27, 2012, 21:21
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Hi Everyone,
I did a bit more research and got help from other researches (David Crouch and a peter Kelly from Lusitania resource, many thanks) and i now know why Jeanie beit/Mckinnon was traveling home.

It seems that Robert Mckinnon and Jeanie most likely met in Scotland and Robert traveled to Canada first to set up a job and home. Jeanie then went over to him in 1914 with her sister Mary.
Jeanie and Robert married 8 months later in Toronto Canada.

Jeanie had 2 reasons why she wanted to return home. Firstly she was 5 months pregnant and wanted her baby to be born in Scotland and she had heard that they were short of nurses to help the wounded solders back home and was determined to go home to help in the war efforts. Her husband could only afford one fare and her sister Mary who wanted to travel with her could not afford the fare either so Jeanie made the journey home alone. The boat she wanted to get home was taken by the British Army for the war so she had no choice but to take the Lusitania.
After the sinking her husband Robert traveled to Ireland to try find her but her body was never recovered.
Its great that i was able to find out why she was coming home a year after she had arrived in Canada, But its so sad to think she lost her life and that of her unborn child because of a split decision to return home and that she was only 250 miles away from her home when she lost her life!!
Again if anyone reading this is related to the Beith/McKInnon family i would love to hear from you.
Many thanks
Tina

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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: May 22, 2013, 15:52
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couldgetacarforthat

friend request sent re cwgriffths 🙂

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PostRe: Mr Christopher William Griffiths survivor
on: April 10, 2020, 14:16
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Hello James and Carol,

I have been researching the Lusitania disaster from a Welsh perspective for quite a number of years and I came across CW Griffiths while sifting through papers in Liverpool and I now want to see if I can find out matter about him, My aim is to collate all the information I can on the Welsh connections to the Lusitania and write maybe write a dissitation/doctorate on the matter. If you have any information on him, I would appreciate it. My e-mail is ie_pleming@hotmail.com

Regards

Ifan

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