Array ( [trail_start] => [0] => Libraries & Archives [1] => Family History & Local Heritage [categories] => [pre_trail_end] => [trail_end] => Local Businesses and Trade )

Local Businesses

Grimsby's Fishing Industry

Learn about companies associated with Grimsby’s principal industry: fishing, through firms like:

  • J S Doig, who built fishing vessels,
  • Birdseye, who produced the famous fish fingers,
  • Cosalt, who supplied a huge amount of material to the fishing industry, including waterproof clothing, rope and nets.

Although fishing was the town’s principal source of wealth, Grimsby was also an important manufacturing centre. J S Doig built minesweepers for the Royal Navy, Peter Dixon was one of Britain’s largest producers of newsprint and Tickler’s was the principal supplier of jam to the British Army during the First World War.

Resources Key

North East Lincolnshire Archives

North East Lincolnshire Archives

Grimsby Local History Library

Grimsby Local History Library

Archives and Local History

Lincolnshire Directories from 1826-1937 Directories are printed lists of local traders and businesses. They often include information on the history and economy of local towns and villages.

Archives and Local History

Local Street/Trade Directories from 1852-1972 The town directories for Grimsby and Cleethorpes were first produced in 1852 and were published on a regular basis until 1975.

Grimsby Local History Library

Historical Local Telephone Directories/Yellow Pages

Grimsby Local History Library

An extensive range of newspaper cuttings re local businesses

North East Lincolnshire Archives

Records relating to local shipping and trawling companies Including British United Trawlers, Consolidated Fisheries, Sir Thomas Robinson & Son, Mudd Ltd and others.

North East Lincolnshire Archives

Local solicitors, Land Agents, Estate Agents and Farmers.

North East Lincolnshire Archives

Institutions and Societies

  • Foresters: Records of the Grimsby & Hull Districts of the Ancient Order of Foresters
  • Grimsby Cleethorpes Transport
  • Grimsby, Cleethorpes & District Youth Orchestra
  • Grimsby Home of Help for Girls
North East Lincolnshire Archives

Records of many local firms

  • British Steel Corporation. Records of steel making operations, and papers relating to predecessor mining companies in the Scunthorpe area.
  • John Robert Cook of Grimsby, motorcycle dealer. Business papers.
  • Cooper Snowden Limited of Grimsby, sawmill & joinery. Financial records and wage books.
  • Peter Dixon & Son Limited of Grimsby, paper and newsprint manufacturer. Financial records, wage books and photograph albums.
  • Elswick Hopper Cycle & Motor Company, Barton on Humber. Minutes and shareholders’ records.
  • Great Grimsby Hide, Skin and Fat Market Company Limited of Grimsby. Title deeds relating to their premises in Haven Street.
  • Great Grimsby Waterworks Company.
  • Grimsby Haven Company. Founded in 1796 and reconstituted in 1846 as the Grimsby Dock Company. Correspondence and papers
  • Humber Graving Dock and Engineering Company Limited, Immingham. Minutes, journals, and financial records.
  • Marshall, Knott and Barker of Grimsby, timber merchants. Includes foreign invoices, contracts and accounts.
  • Osmond & Sons Limited of Grimsby, manufacturers of cattle food, cattle medicines, sheep dips and insecticides. Financial records and export order books.
  • Scunthorpe Co-operative Society. Minutes, wage books and accounts.
  • Sowerby & Company Limited of Grimsby, bone crushers. Partnership papers, building plans and title deeds.
  • Walters of Scunthorpe, monumental masons. Ledgers, order books and cash accounts.

Other Collections

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Gallery

COSALT Building

Gt. Grimsby Coal, Salt and Tanning Co. building in Robinson Street East, October 1963.
C. P. Snowden's View

C. P. Snowden’s View

Looking north-east across Grimsby from the clock tower of Holme Hill School towards the Humber in the far distance.

Glentons Bakers

Good Friday morning queue outside of Glentons Ltd. on 19th April 1957. Free hot cross buns are being distributed by the Artisans Working Men’s Club, an old West Marsh custom.

Digital Photography Collection

Browse over 11,000 local history photographs for free

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