Edwin Stephen Griffiths was born in Monmouthshire, on 26 August 1869. He was educated in the local school and attended the Baptist chapel in the village. It is said that he had aspirations to become a Baptist minister and entertained hopes of entering the Baptist Academy in Pontypool (the forerunner of Cardiff Baptist College). 

However, he left school at an early age to begin work in a local coal mine. Within a few years, the dust in the mine took its toll on his health, and he contracted silicosis. With money loaned to him, he emigrated in 1886 to live with an uncle in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The next years were spent completing his education while his health was being restored. In 1892 he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where  remained and became active in the Welsh community in the suburb of Newburg, attending Trinity Baptist Church and being involved in local eisteddfodau. 

His health restored, he displayed signs that he possessed business skills, and in the following years the foundations were laid for the wealth that he was to gather. He formed his own company and during the next years served on the boards of a number of machine and manufacturing companies. 

In Cleveland he met Margaret Rusk whom he married on 31 December 1902. When they married, Margaret had wealth of her own and knew how best to invest it; it was largely due to her financial expertise that the family fortune survived the Wall Street Crash of 1929. 

Edwin Stephen Griffiths died suddenly on 25 January 1930, and was laid to rest in Lake View Cemetary, Cleveland. Cardiff Baptist College and the National Eisteddfod continue to be the main beneficiaries of the Trust he and his wife set up. We hold this lecture annually in his honour.