GRIMSBY, Great, England, seaport of Lincolnshire, also a municipal, county and parliamentary borough, on the south shore and near the mouth of the Humber River. It is situated 20 miles southeast of Hull and 155 miles east northeast of London, on the Great Northern and Great Central railways. The principal buildings are the old church of Saint James, the town hall, the exchange, the gram mar school dating from the 16th century, the theatre, library, technical school, the Harbor of Refuge for sailors and fishermen, the public gardens donated by the Duke of York in 1894 and the docks and customs house. It is as a seaport that Grimsby is famous. Its extensive docks and harbors, including those at Imming ham, built by the Great Central Railway, cover an area of some 360 acres. Besides being an outlet for internal trade, Grimsby is also a centre of commerce with Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. The chief exports are
woolen goods and yarns, machinery, coal and fuel. It imports butter, wool, timber, foodstuffs, cotton, meat, sugar and bacon. Fishing is by far the most important of the occupations of the town, more than 500 steam trawlers being thus engaged. Other industries are shipbuild ing, brewing, tanning and the production of soil fertilizers. The government is by mayor, 12 aldermen and 36 councillors. Gnmsby is first mentioned in tradition as the place where the Danes landed when they first invaded Britain. It received its first charter from King John in 1201; this was renewed by Henry (1227, 1271) and James II (1688). Shipping at Grimsby amounted to 1,679,000 tons (1915). Pop. 77,554. Consult Shaw, 'Old Grimsby' (Grimsby 1897).