Collection: Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Social History Collection

  Included within this subject is the Ephemera Collection of about 14,000 items relating to local government, militaria, education, travel and leisure of the local area. There is also material from the urban, rural and industrial communities, a ship models collection of non fisheries use.

  Subjects

  Social History

  Personalia Collection

  The Doughty Bequest is a collection of intricate, hand-made model ships, maritime paintings and ceramics. The collection was amassed by one man: Wilfred Vere Doughty, Director of the Consolidated Steam Fishing and Ice Company, former Proprietor and Editor of the Grimsby Evening Telegraph, which was founded in 1827 by his father, Sir George Doughty, MP for Great Grimsby. The collection is of such value and importance that, when Doughty bequeathed it to Grimsby in 1942, it became the starting point for a museums service in North East Lincolnshire. The ship models include the 12ft long Narkunda – a 16,000 tonne steamer built by Harland and Wolf, ‘The Death of Nelson’ – a diorama believed to date from 1805/6, showing the quarter deck of the HMS Victory at the point of Nelson being shot and the ‘Amelia’, a beautiful model dating from 1899, of the Royal Yacht of Don Carlos, King of Portugal. Made primarily from wood, copper and steel, some of the models were commissioned and made by the shipbuilders, Others were made by Major Raban Williams, who also made many models for the National Maritime Museum and the Science Museum and some were made by sailors and amateur model-makers. William Vere Doughty built the collection on throughout his lifetime – buying most of the pieces at auctions and sales. 19th century English portraiture and marine paintings and 18th and 19th century English pottery and porcelain and some Delft pottery completes the collection.

  Biology Collection

  Mixed natural history material including mounted animals, insects, British bird’s eggs, some fossils and sea shells

  Subjects

  Biology

  Costume and Textile Collection

  Consists mainly of items worn or sold locally especially the Joan Sleigh costume collection of c. 4,000 items.

  Subjects

  Costume and Textile

  Subjects

  Personalia

  Photographic Collection

  The core of the collection is the Hallgarth Collection of 17,000 photographs of Historic Lincolnshire.

  Subjects

  Photography

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC