Welsh Journals

Appendix A The Trial of Dr Richard Griffiths at the Hereford Assizes, 1790 This case concerned a game of cards* played at the house of Robert Wrixon in Cardiff on the night of 6 October 1789, the participants being John Blannin, John Richards junior, Robert Wrixon, Samuel Homfray and Dr Richard Grif- fiths. Wine had evidently flowed at the dinner which preceded the card-playing, Homfray lost £ 250 to the Doctor, refused to settle his debt and loudly accused his opponent of marking the cards. What began as a drunken quarrel ended in the Assize courts. At the spring Sessions in Cardiff, 1790, Samuel Homfray of Merthyr Tydfil, ironmaster, brought charges against Richard Griffiths of Cardiff, surgeon, for alleged fraud at cards, the Grand Jury indicted the Doctor and the case was set for trial at the next Sessions. Outraged by the turn of events, Griffiths made some very indiscreet remarks about 'packed juries' which brought him a swift rebuke from the sheriff. The following July the Doctor, with a small band of supporters, among them Herbert Hurst of Gabalfa, Thomas Bridges, John Richards of the Corner House and Wyndham Lewis of Llanishen, travelled to Hereford for the trial. The indictment was laid on two charges, that Griffiths had won more than £10 at one sitting, contrary to the Statute of 1711 regulating gaming, and that he had committed fraud. The hearing of the evidence and the examination of witnesses occupied the court for more than half a day, but it was a triumphant Richard Griffiths who returned to Cardiff cleared of the charges and deter- mined to publicise the news of his acquittal. It is clear from entries in Bird's diary that Griffiths offered him the com- mission of printing an account of the trial but that he considered it politic to refuse for fear of offending the influential Richards family of Cardiff. John Richards junior had been one of the participants in the game of cards, and had proved an embarrassingly unreliable witness for the prosecution. His sister Mary was married to Samuel Homfray's brother. Their father, Captain John Richards, had long been a supporter of the Cardiff Castle interest and Bird had no wish to cause embarrassment to the Richards family or offence to the Marquess. Thwarted but undaunted by Bird's refusal, the Doctor sought a printer elsewhere, and in 1791 an account of the proceedings was printed in Bristol and freely circulated. The substantial booklet, comprising over a hundred pages, is entitled: The traverse of an indictment at Hereford before Mr. Baron Perryn and a special jury on Saturday July the 31st 1790, between Mr. Samuel Homfray of Merthir Tidvil in the county of Glamorgan, ironmaster and Mr. Richard Griffiths of Cardiff. surgeon. Taken in short-hand by William Blanch-