Griffith Hughes FRS (1707–c.1758, WE) was a naturalist and author born in Tywyn, Merioneth. Hughes attended St John’s College, Oxford, from May 1729 (although he does not appear to have taken a degree at this time) and he was ordained in London in 1732, and turned to the church for orders. He travelled extensively to share the gospel primarily in Welsh. He wrote ‘The Natural History of Barbados’, which included the first description of the grapefruit (also known as ‘The Forbidden Fruit’). He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and was conferred BA and MA from Oxford. Strangely he was listed as rector of St. Lucy’s, Barbados until 1750, even though he was in London in 1748 or even earlier. There are no known records of him marrying, and his land claims in Pennsylvania were abandoned while he was in Barbados. The whereabouts of Hughes from 1758 onward are unknown.
Books
- The Natural History of Barbados, Published in London, 1750
- Of a Zoophyton resembling the Flower of a Marigold, Philosophical Transactions