ABSTRACT
Of ninth-century Danish origin, Grimsby is a Lincolnshire seaport situated on the south bank of the Humber estuary. It became a county borough in 1891, and by 1931 had a population of 92,000. Apart from being a small market centre for Lincolnshire produce, its modern growth depended almost entirely on its development as a port, later much boosted by its concentration on commercial fishing, specialising in the catching of white fish.1 It was eventually to become the biggest fishing port in Britain, or, according to some claims, in the world. Its main development started in the 1840s. The original Old Dock was supplemented by the construction of a new dock (what became known as the Royal Dock) between 1846 and 1852, linked directly to rail connection under the auspices of what eventually was to become the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR). In 1848 lines were opened to Louth and Boston, to New Holland, and to Brigg, Barnetby and Market Rasen. Regular trains between Grimsby and Lincoln started in December of that year, and to Sheffield via Gainsborough by July 1849. At the same time a rapid increase in population began, the town doubling in size between 1846 and 1851 to 8,860, rising to 11,067 by 1861, to over 40,000 in 1880 and to 77,000 in 1901.2
By 1865 Grimsby was ranked as the fifth largest port in Britain. Timber was the main product imported, while coal from the Yorkshire coalfield was the main export. The growth of the port saw further developments of the dock system, with a cut to connect the Old Dock with the Royal Dock being made in 1874, and a major extension of the Old Dock being constructed in 1880 to connect it with rail, this latter eventually becoming known as the Alexandra dock.3 As Edward Gillett, the local historian of Grimsby states, the ‘railway and the Royal Dock had thus converted the town into a flourishing port, virtually without any industry or manufactures of its own other than those concerned with shipping’.4 It was, however, fishing that provided a further and even greater boost to the development of Grimsby.
