Family :

Education & Career :

School: Marlborough College, New Zealand. Red 22 has Nelson College, NZ

Kenya Farmers' Association - delegate to the Maize Conference of 1923 [photo]. Member of Legco. Present at 1922 meeting at Soy to discuss how best to form a co-operative society. Elected Chairman of Plateau Maize Growers' Association in 1922

His 20 years' management of the Plateau Maize Growers' Association was to raise this small local co-operative to a Colony-wide organization trading in all manner of goods. It was the energy, the ambition, the ability and thoroughness of Colonel Griffiths that drove the Plateau Maize Growers, and later the KFA, with scarcely a serious setback, through the most difficult of times. George Griffiths, though not the founder, was the architect of the modern KFA. ............ after WW1 he decided to try his luck in EA in partnership with 2 brother officers, Majors Starnes and Stitt. .......... secured 10000 acres at Turbo. He and his 2 partners arrived from Londiani in a bullock cart and named their stretch of virgin Africa Aorta-roa, meaning in Maori "long white cloud". Here instead of sisal they grew flax, and came to the brink of disaster......... By 1922 they had switched to maize ............. (more pp. 72-73) ....... became Managing Director of the Plateau Maize Growers' Association in 1923. ...... there was a dispute in the KFA during WW2 and he resigned in February 1942. .... So ended a connection that had brought success to the KFA and credit to its general manager.
Col. Griffiths had not always been an easy man to serve, still less to command. He knew when he was right and stuck to it, he was inclined to be dictatorial, he drove a hard bargain and he spared neither himself nor those under him. He had in him an implacable streak that did not readily forgive and forget an injury. His standards of hard work and efficiency were high and those who did not measure up to them had to go. A quip of the time, that he was famous for bagging maize and sacking staff, expressed one view of his nature. But to those who measured up to his standards, he was a loyal, courageous and fair-minded colleague, satisfactory to work with because of his ability, enthusiasm, self-discipline and sound judgement, a good companion on the golf links and at the bridge table, a respected Mason and a good citizen.
To many farmers "Griff" was a friend and adviser as well as the man who ran the KFA and knew more about the ins and outs of marketing than anyone else in the country. He was a man who loved his job and lived for it; and such a man, though not always the easiest to deal with, is the best to have in charge of an association of farmers who, unshepherded, are apt to wander like lost lambs into the jungles of commerce and finance and fall an easy prey to the carnivora that inhabit them. ........... rejoined the KFA as Managing Director in 1949 but he had a slight stroke and died in September 1949. ........... Secretary and MD of the KFA 1928-42
Seventy - Mrs Griffiths worked for years for such enterprises as First Aid classes, the Nakuru Employment Bureau for Domestic Servants and a Native Baby Welfare Clinic which much improved the health of the children attending it.
Golf - President of Nakuru Golf Club in 1931, 1939,
Debrett - sometime a MLC, Kenya Colony; European War 1915-19 (despatches, CMG)
KAD 1922 - Committee, Eldoret Chamber of Commerce
Red 25 - President, Kipkarren Farmers' Association
Red 22 - Vice-President, Uasin Gishu Farmers' Association, Sergoit
Red 22 - Committee Member, Uasin Gishu Gymkhana Club, Eldoret - Col. C.W. Griffiths?
Racing - Owner of 'Charlatan' - Winner of the Produce Stakes in 1926 - Lt.-Col. C.G. Griffiths
Masonic - District Grand Lodge of East Africa - District Grand Master - 1948-49
Rift Valley - Member of the Rift Valley Sports Club - Jan 1929 - Elected - 24 Jul 1928 - Lt.-Col. G.W.C. Griffiths
Gazette - 11 May 1937 - CBE - Lieutenant-Colonel George Cruickshank Griffiths, CMG - For public services in Kenya Barnes - Nakuru North Cemetery - George Cruickshank Griffiths beloved husband of Catherine and father of Graham and Rosemary, born Blenheim, NZ 21/2/1884, died Nakuru 1/9/1949
Gazette - 9/8/1922 - Voters Register - Lake - George Cruickshank Griffiths, Farmer, PO Box 40, Eldoret

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Although many perished in times of national conflict and in the service of their country, many more survived including those interned as Prisoners of War. Stories of those who did survive are included as part of this site, especially those with high gallantry awards, those included against an external rolls of honour and those who had a distinguished career in wartime and military leaderhip.

Citations & Commemorations :

Masonic :

Right Worshipful brother George Cruickshank Griffiths of the DGL of East Africa, 1949. He was Deputy Grand Master, District Grand Lodge of E.A.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley