Kemble Street Corner, Kingsway, London

Griffin & Sons

Company Name

Griffin & George Ltd

Griffin & Tatlock Ltd 1930 -

John J. Griffin & Sons Ltd - 1930 Ltd from before 1890

John J. Griffin & Sons To after 1885

John J. Griffin

Company Address

28 St John's Lane. London EC1 1942 -

Kemble St/Kingsway Corner. London 1905 - 1942

20 - 26 Sardinia St. London 1898 - 1905 From October 1898

22 Garrick St. London WC - 1898

2 Long Acre. London EC c.1893 - 1898

10 Finsbury Sq. London Mid 1850s

53 Baker St. London Prior to 1854

119 Bunhill Row. London 1862 - Factory. Later factories at East Molesey and Clerkenwell

119 & 120 Bunhill Row. London - 1862 Factory

An 1854 catalogue mentions a Richard Griffin & Co. of Glasgow. The Playfair Collection catalogue states that the brothers Richard Thomas and John Joseph Griffin set up as dealers and manufacturers of chemical apparatus in Glasgow. This may have been as early as 1826 and was certainly before 1837 for which date there is an apparatus catalogue. The London branch was started around 1848.

Charles Griffin was running the firm in 1885 when was discharged from bankruptcy. John Ross Griffin (d.1921), grandson of John Joseph G., worked at the firm at some point. For a short time, c.1890 - c.1892, Richard C. Murray managed the photographic side of Griffin. A.W. Green ran the photographic side from 1911 taking over from a Mr. Ibetson.

Griffin's involvement in photographic supplies expanded in the late 1890s and early 1900s. They were distributors for Velox paper and still manufactured albumen paper. Griffin took over the sensitised paper business of J.D. Mucklow in 1900.

References: Anderson, R G W. The Playfair Collection and the Teaching of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh 1713 - 1858. The Royal Scottish Museum 1978. BJP 7/4/1911, p. 272. Lon. Gaz. 24/3/1885. Phot. Dealer Sep/1899, p. 38, has a article on Griffin and illustrates the Sardinia St. premises. A sensitising factory at Shepherd's Bush is mentioned. Phot. Dealer May/1900, p. 101. Phot. Dealer Sep/1902, p. 226, has an article on the Avern Works factory East Molese