Iorwerth Havard Griffiths, always affectionately known as 'Griff', was born at Barry in Glamorgan on 12 January 1909. His father Roland was a master baker and caterer and his mother Celia, née Havard, a housewife. His older brother, G J Griffiths FRCS (1901-1987) was consultant surgeon at Bedford. He was educated at Barry County School and went to medical school in Cardiff and also to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. During his undergraduate years he was particularly impressed by the Professor of Anatomy, Professor West, at the Cardiff Medical School. When the war came he was called up into the RAMC in September 1939 as a surgical specialist with the rank of major, and went on to serve in Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and Tobruk. After the war he became attached to the urological department at the Middlesex Hospital with Eric Riches, later becoming a consultant, and also achieving consultant status at Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, and the spinal injuries centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He became treasurer of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and served in this capacity from 1969 to 1972. His many publications were exclusively on urological subjects, reflecting his career in the specialty and his special experience with management of urinary tract problems in paraplegics. As a young man he played rugby for Cardiff University between 1930 and 1932, and later in life his interest in music included making violins for his grandchildren; he also enjoyed playing golf. He married a teacher, Dorothy Joan Thomas, on 9 September 1939 and they had two children: a son, who became an electronic engineer, and a daughter who qualified at the Middlesex Hospital and subsequently took up general practice in Chalfont, Buckinghamshire. He died in December 1995.