GRIMSBY, GREAT, a parliamentary and municipal borough, seaport, and market town of England, in the co. of Lincoln, is situated on the right bank of the Humber, 40 rn. n.e. of the t. of Lincoln. It consists of two portions—the older, comprising a num ber of streets irregularly laid out, it is at the head of the harbor; and the newer part, called the "Marsh," extends along the e. side of the harbor, and is regular and spacious. The parish church, a good specimen of the English pointed style, is an elegant cruci form structure, with a tower containing eight bells rising from the center. Among its institutions Grimsby has a free grammar-school, a national school, and other educa tional establishments; a mechanics' institute and a new town-hall. There are here an extensive and commodious suite of docks, opened in Mar., 1852, and spacious enough to receive the largest ships of war; several ship-building yards, mills, and a tanyard and brewery. Grimsby. however, is now chiefly famous for its immense fishing trade.
In 1875, 2,543 vessels, of 438,520 tons, entered, and 2,071, of 508,898 tons, cleared the port. The commerce of Grimsby is benefited by its being the terminus of the Great Northern, and of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire railways. It sends one member to the house of commons. Pop. in '71, of the municipal borough, 20,244; of the parliamentary borough, 26,982.
Grimsby was formerly a port of such importance that, in the reign of Edward III.. it sent 11 ships to aid that monarch in his expedition against Calais. But the gradual silting up of the harbor reduced it to comparative insignificance. Its present prosperity may be said to date from the beginning of this century, when measures were first taken to improve the hat7b4grilf _ nirti6Vesi4 h I f Ailinrric•esfi CO?