GRIMSBY or GREAT GRIMSBY, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Lincolnshire, England, on the south shore of the Humber. Pop. (1931) 92,463. Grimsby (Grimesbi) is associated with the Danish invasions of the 8th century. It was a borough by prescription as early as 1201, in which year King John granted the burgesses a charter similar to that of Northampton. Henry III. in 1227 granted to "the mayor and good men" of Grimsby, that they should hold the town for a yearly rent of L111, and confirmed the same in 1271. These char ters were confirmed by later sovereigns. A governing charter was given by James II. in 1688. In 1201 King John granted the burgesses an annual fair for 15 days, beginning on May 25. Two annual fairs are now held. Grimsby returned two members to the parliament in 1298, but in 1833 the number was reduced to one which it still sends. The church of St. James, in the older part of the town, is Early English, with fine details but poorly restored. The chief buildings are that containing the town hall and the grammar school (a foundation of 1547), and the exchange.
In the time of Edward III. Grimsby was an important seaport, but the haven became obstructed by silt from the Humber. At the beginning of the 19th century a subscription was raised by the proprietors of land in the neighbourhood for improving the har bour, and an act was obtained by which they were incorporated.
The fishing trade had become so important by 1800 that it was necessary to construct a new dock. The proximity of the town to the great fishing centres in the North sea, accounts for its modern rise as a fishing centre. With the improvement in the harbour after 1846, the rise of the great industrial areas in the midlands, and the ever-increasing population of London, the rail way companies, particularly the Great Central (now L.N.E.R. and then the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Line), ran lines into Grimsby, so that the fish might be taken rapidly to these great centres for consumption. At the same time the advent of the steam trawler greatly enlarged the area covered by the fishing fleets. This now reaches from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean. Grimsby also trades in timber used for pit props in the industrial regions and exports coal. The fishing trade has in creased largely since 1910 and new dock facilities have been or ganized. There is also a regular passenger service to Dutch, Danish and South Swedish ports. In 1912 the railway company built Immingham Dock, a port 6 m. farther up the Humber, for vessels too large to enter Grimsby.