David Griffiths (20 December 1792 – 21 March 1863), was a Welsh Christian missionary and translator in Madagascar.

David Griffiths was born on 20 December 1792 at Cwmhirbryd cottage and reared at nearby Glanmeilwch, Llangadog, Carmarthenshire, in south Wales.

In June 1820, he was sent to Madagascar by the London Missionary Society, as colleague of the Reverend David Jones, who had gone out two years previously.

[1] They preached twice every Sunday and established day and night schools, his wife teaching the girls.

Griffiths and Jones, with King Radama I devised a Roman-letter alphabet for Malagasy; in 1827 a printing press was obtained, and the following year a catechism, a hymnal, and some schoolbooks were published in Malagasy, and the printing of the Gospel of St. Luke was begun.

In 1828 King Radama I of Madagascar, who had been a friend of the Christian missionaries, died at age 36.

In 1830 night-schools, however, were opened for the lowest classes, and the work of the mission generally was continued with success.

Although the Queen of Madagascar, Ranavalona I, was favourable to the work, her ministers were opposed to it, and the missionaries were ordered to leave.

About 1850, some hopes being raised of renewing the mission in Madagascar, the London Missionary Society asked Griffiths and Joseph John Freeman, the only surviving Madagascar missionaries, to revise the Malagasy translation of the Bible.