John Griffith (died 1609) was a Welsh politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1571 to 1609. Griffith was the son of William Griffith (died 1587) of Plas Mawr,

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

. He became a Fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

in 1548 and was awarded B.C.L. in 1551 and his doctorate in 1563. In 1559 he took over the office of Regius professor of civil law at Oxford, which he held till 1566. He was also Principal of

New Inn Hall New Inn Hall was one of the earliest medieval halls of the University of Oxford. It was located in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford. History Trilleck's Inn The original building on the site was Trilleck's Inn, a medieval hall or hostel for stu ...

from 1561 to 1564 after which he was admitted to

Doctors' Commons Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil (as opposed to common) law in London, namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buildi ...

. He first entered Parliament in 1571 as the member for

, and was re-elected in 1572. He was appointed

Sheriff of Caernarvonshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Caernarvonshire (or Carnarvonshire). The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in a county but over the centuries most of the responsibi ...

for 1582 and

Sheriff of Anglesey This is a list of Sheriffs of Anglesey. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I, Anglesey was created a county of Wales under the Statute of Rhuddlan, 1284.Prior to 1974 the office now known as "High Sheriff" were styled "Sheriff" () On 1 A ...

for 1587 and 1593. In 1604, he was again elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Caernarfon and sat until his death in 1609.W R Williams ''The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales''
/ref> He married Margaret, the daughter of Rhys Thomas of Aber and widow of Edward Griffith of Penrhyn. They had four sons, including Nicholas and William Griffith, and 3 daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, John Year of birth missing 1609 deaths Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Wales High Sheriffs of Caernarvonshire 16th-century Welsh politicians 17th-century Welsh politicians High Sheriffs of Anglesey English MPs 1604–1611 Regius Professors of Civil Law (University of Oxford) Members of Parliament for Caernarfon 16th-century Welsh lawyers Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Principals of New Inn Hall, Oxford