Polemos: Who was David Charles Ballinger Griffith?

Now that we can be fairly certain that POLEMOS was designed by David Charles Ballinger Griffith, it begs the question … who was David Charles Ballinger Griffith and how did come to design a wargame? Luckily my wife is a genealogist, and with a name like David Charles Ballinger Griffith, tracing him was not too difficult a task for her.

Her researches indicate the David Charles Ballinger Griffith was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in 1845. His father was Thomas Griffith – a clergyman – and his mother was Elizabeth. By 1851 the family was living in ‘The Rectory’ in Whittington, Gloucestershire. David Charles Ballinger Griffith was the eldest son of the family (he had an older sister named Elizabeth), and he is described as being a ‘Scholar at home’. The family was still living in Whittington ten years later, and David Charles Ballinger Griffith was still described as a scholar. By this time he had two younger sisters (Eleanor and Edith) as well as a younger brother (John). The household also had a cook, a house servant, and a nurse.

By 1871 the twenty five-year old David Charles Ballinger Griffith was living in Folkestone with Dr Charles Fitzgerald and his family, and is described on the census as a ‘Pupil’. His studies must has been successful, as by the time of the 1881 census Dr Charles Ballinger Griffith (for some reason his first name does not seem to have been recorded) and his wife – Amy – are living at 11 Marlborough Place, Brighton with their two children (Elsie Gwendoline and Gladys), his wife’s sister and her husband (Herbert and Ella Smith), a governess, a housemaid, a cook, and a coachman. His practice must have been quite prosperous as by 1883 he had moved to 3 Lansdowne Place, Brighton and was in partnership with Dr Albert Primrose Wells.

In 1891 Dr Griffith was still living at 3 Lansdowne Place, Brighton, and his family had grown. He now had five children (Elsie Gwendoline, Gladys, Eva, Irene, and Robert), a 13 year-old visitor from Demerara in the West Indies, a governess, parlour maid, and cook. However probate records indicate that Dr David Charles Ballinger Griffith had died on 27th May, 1896, and that he had been living at 37 De Pays Avenue, Bedford at the time of his death. His estate amounted to £3363 13s 8d, and the executors were Rev Charles Henry Bennett and Alfred William Cowdell (who is described as being a ‘Gentleman’). Of his family, no records exist other than a mention in BURKES’S PEERAGE, BARONETAGE AND KNIGHTAGE to the effect that Aimee Gladys (daughter of David Charles Ballinger Griffith of Huntworth, Bedfordshire and widow of Benjamin Adams Brendon ICS) married Sir Charles Edward Henry Hobhouse, 4th Bt on 18th June 1931 and died on 7th December 1965.

So that is who David Charles Ballinger Griffith was … but as to why he designed a wargame in the 1880s, who can tell?

PS. It would have been interesting had the research indicated that Dr David Charles Ballinger Griffith was in some way related to Dr Paddy Griffith, the founder of Wargame Developments, but at present no such link exists. It is, however, interesting to note that both doctors named their sons Robert.