Griffin, Benjamin

1680?

1740

He was probably born in 1680 in Oxned, Norfolk, the son of a clergyman. Dissatisfied with an apprenticeship to a glazier, Benjamin Griffin joined the Duke of Norfolk’s troupe of strollers. In 1714 he tried his hand at playwriting, an adaptation of Dekker and Massinger’s “The Virgin Martyr” he called “Injured Virtue”. He soon joined John Rich’s company at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre in London, where he established himself as a low comedian specializing in skirts parts and testy old men. In 1721 he moved to the Drury Lane company at £4 weekly but had to settle for a pound less when his contract expired in 1724. His career was a modest one, though he had some nice small parts: Tribulation in “The Alchemist” (G0271), Silence in “Henry IV part 2”, Sir Politick in “Volpone” and Peachum in “The Beggar’s Opera”. His most popular character was Lovegold in “The Mise”r. Griffin died on 18 February 1740, remembered as ‘a facetious companion and one whom everybody lov’d.’ (BDA) [EAL]