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Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2005-08 > 1124323965


From: "Margaret Taylor" <>
Subject: Harwich Seafarers
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:12:45 -0400


This isn't specifically Harwich seafarer information but thought it might
be of some interest to the list.

Subject: Grimsby Fishing Pioneers
The following is a partial extract from a very interesting article from
the Family Tree Magazine ( a couple of years old),
Title:The Rise of the Humber fishing ports, written by Tom Wood.

""....The completion of the Hull and Selby Railway in 1840 provides Hull
with its first link to the growing populations of the north and
Midlands,but the fishing port which was to benefit most of all from its
connection to the Victorian railway system was Great Grimsby,
Lincolnshire.......The
railway directors set about encouraging smack owners from other ports to
settle at Grimsby by offering low dock charges.Seymour CLARK manager of
the Gt.Northern Railway,persuaded his directors to give a bonus to James
HOWARD of Manningtree to bring his fleet of 13 sailing smacks up to
Grimsby. Several of the Brixham smack owners, like the brothers George
and James ALWARD, switched from Scarborough and Hull to Grimsby. There
was a big influx of smacks from other fishing ports and to help
fisherman's families to settle Grimsby Corporation laid out new streets
and made cheap house building land available close to the fish
docks...."
These are the names of fishing pioneers (mentioned in this article) who
settled in Grimsby during the early years.
These came from Hull but were originally from Devon and Ramsgate:
John GIDLEY,Charles JEFFS, George JEFFS,Richard HOODLESS,Philip
WHITEWAY,William CARLISLE,George ALLEN and Thomas THORP
Direct from Brixham came Henry KNOTT, John GUZZWELL,Isaac BRUSEY,Philip
NORRIS,Robert Wm WINDEATE
Up from Barking were: Thomas BASKCOMB, James Henry BASKCOMB, Richard
W.BASKCOMB,Bob MELHUISH,John STARLNG, Benjamin BULPIT, John EARLE, Thoms
FORGE, John FORGE, Thomas READY, and James PLASTOW (originally
apprenticed to Samuel HEWITT from Hackney workhouse).
From Greenwich came: William BAXTER, Thomas Edwin FISHER, and his
partner Henry MORRIS,Thomas EVANS,and William WARNER.
The LETTEN brothers (William Somerville LETTEN and George Somerville
LETTEN) and Thomas HUDSON arrived from Gravesend,whilst Essex provided
Grimsby with Tom PAUL , Walter CRAMPIN,Edwin BACON and Thomas CLOSSON.
From Suffolk came the brothers William MUDD and Harrison MUDD.
Not everyone came from other fishing ports.Thomas Campbell MOSS and his
brother Frederick MOSS came down from Cumberland and started as
blacksmiths on the dock before going into smack ownership.
Walter OLNEY from Bedfordshire, and Henry Lewis TAYLOR walked to Grimsby
from Bristol to make a start.
James SWEENEY (1858 - from Hull)".....

It is a most interesting account of these times.
Margaret Taylor (Toronto)


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