Margaret Griffith, who died on July 7th aged 90, was an historian and archivist who became the first woman to take charge of the Public Record Office of Ireland, the forerunner of the National Archives of Ireland.
Margaret Catherine Griffith was born on February 11th 1911, the eldest of the three children of William Graham Griffith and his wife, Margaret, of New Castle Terrace, Galway. Her father was Professor of Engineering at Queen's College, Galway, and was from Barbados; her mother was Scottish.
A gifted pupil of Galway Grammar School, Margaret Griffith enrolled at University College, Galway, to study for a history degree. She completed her degree at the University of Dublin.
After graduation she availed of an arrangement, which was then in place, whereby University of Dublin graduates could study for a master's degree at Oxford University. In 1936 Margaret Griffith, having secured first class honours at Oxford, was conferred with BA and MA degrees by the University of Dublin.
During the Emergency, she was employed in the censorship of incoming mail which was then a function of G2, the Army intelligence directorate. Her knowledge of French and German proved invaluable in this work.
In 1944 Margaret Griffith and Breandβn Mac Giolla Choille were the first two history graduates to be employed by the Public Record Office of Ireland.
Situated in the Four Courts building in Dublin, the Public Record Office had been established in 1867 and thereafter local and central government records were deposited there. But in 1922, at the outbreak of the Civil War, the Four Courts building was attacked and the Public Record Office was destroyed by fire. Few of the records survived.
Controlled by the Department of Justice, the Public Record Office was, in the 1940s, a neglected, under-funded, and under-staffed institution, mainly used to store court and legal documents.
Margaret Griffith brought energy and enthusiasm to her job and was determined to bring the office to life. She was particularly interested in acquiring government departmental records. However, senior civil servants were reluctant to allow public access to their departments' archives, and were under no legal obligation to do so.
Margaret Griffith was promoted to the position of deputy keeper in 1956. Her gentle persistence gradually paid off, and records were acquired. As she predicted in 1961, "this side of the work of the Public Record Office will come into more prominence". The latter comment was contained in the publication: Public Record Office: 59th Report of the Deputy Keeper. A particularly interesting acquisition, she noted, was "that of a file of letters exchanged between Michael Collins and Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne about the raising of the Dβil ╔ireann loan in Co Cork".
Margaret Griffith, however, felt it necessary to draw attention to the poor state of the buildings. The government did not act. On the contrary, conditions deteriorated further in the 1960s and staff numbers dropped.
In 1968, Margaret Griffith had to enlist the help of prominent academics to persuade the Department of Justice to purchase two historically important legal documents, dating from 1318 and 1414 respectively, that had come up for sale at Sotheby's of London. The money was eventually forthcoming and, at a cost of £800, the documents were returned to Dublin.
Margaret Griffith took early retirement from the Public Record Office in 1971, and went to work in the Manuscripts Department at Trinity College Library. There she undertook the major task of cataloguing the college muniments (internal college records). She retired in 1977.
A regular contributor to the journal, Irish Historical Studies, Margaret Griffith wrote a Short Guide to the Public Record Office of Ireland (1952).
More substantial volumes included her revision of the Calendar of Justiciary Rolls 1308-1314 (1956).
She also edited the first volume of the Calendar of Exchequer Inquisitions 1455-1699 (1991), and was working on a second volume at the time of her death.
Modest and unassuming, Margaret Griffith was a fluent Irish speaker. Music was one of her great passions. An accomplished pianist, Bach and Schubert were among her favourite composers. She was a voracious reader and wrote poetry. Outdoor pursuits included hill-walking and tending the garden at her home in Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Margaret Griffith also liked to travel and frequently visited Norway. Her last major expedition took in China, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand.
She was predeceased by her brother, Thomas, and sister, Rosalie.
Margaret Griffith: born 1911; died, July 2001