Grimshaw

John Henry Grimshaw was an English immigrant who married Hannah Payne, the daughter of North Illawarra Councillor and respected citizen John Payne. He is the ancestor of many and a bigamist who didn’t get caught out.

Grimshaw notes

References to the Australian immigrant John Henry Grimshaw in bold italics. He had a son of the same name, as did his brother George so it can become confusing.

Some of the people in this story:

• John Henry Grimshaw – son of Henry Grimshaw and his wife Jane Hyde
• George Grimshaw – brother of John Henry Grimshaw, son of Henry Grimshaw and his wife Jane Hyde
• Jane Grimshaw (nee Hyde) – wife of Henry Grimshaw and mother of John Henry and George Grimshaw
• Ellen Bates – wife of George Grimshaw
• Henry (Harry) Grimshaw – elder son of George and Ellen Grimshaw
• John Henry Grimshaw (b1874) – younger son of George and Ellen Grimshaw
• Sarah and Susan Grimshaw – daughters of George and Ellen Grimshaw
• George Grimshaw – (b1875) elder son of John Henry Grimshaw and his wife Margaret Tazaker
• John Henry Grimshaw (b1876) – younger son of John Henry Grimshaw and his wife Margaret Tazaker
• William Ghent – second ‘husband’ of Margaret Tazaker. They did not marry but lived as husband and wife, they had their first child in 1880.

John Henry Grimshaw was seemingly very conscious of his social status. At the time of his marriage to Hannah Payne in 1882 his father is described as ‘Esq.’ (Esquire) defining him as a person of some social standing. His father had died when John Henry was a child and although he was listed as a bricklayer in the 1851 Census this would not have been considered to warrant esquire as a title. After his father died his mother Jane had to work to support her two sons.  In 1861 Jane was a cotton weaver aged 33, sons George aged 12 and John Henry aged 11 were both coal miners. In 1871 Jane (43) was a cotton doubler and John Henry (21) was a bricklayer (George had married by this time).

John Henry Grimshaw’s brother George married Ellen Bates in 1867. They had four children – Sarah 1868, Henry (Harry) 1870, Susan 1872 and John Henry in 1874. George Grimshaw died in 1875. His son Henry (Harry) went to live with Jane Hyde, his grandmother. The two girls stayed with their mother Ellen who went on to remarry and have more children.

In 1871 John Henry Grimshaw married Margaret Tazaker.  They had two sons, George in 1874 and John Henry in 1876.

John Henry Grimshaw travelled to Australia alone, probably on the Lusitania in 1878. Why John Henry Grimshaw travelled alone is also a mystery, but possibly to establish himself before the family came out.

In December 1878 John Henry Grimshaw paid an immigration deposit of six pounds for his wife Margaret, three boys (the eldest one being  the son of his deceased brother George), and his mother Jane to immigrate to Australia. This family group did not travel and the deposit was refunded in February 1880.

John Henry Grimshaw must have believed that his family would join him but at some point his wife Margaret took up with William Ghent and began producing children with him. Their first child together was named Betty Grimshaw Ghent, born in the second quarter of 1880. The addition of Grimshaw to the name is because Margaret was still married to John Henry Grimshaw but no subsequent children carried the name Grimshaw. William Ghent and Margaret never married but had at least four more children after Betty.

So John Henry Grimshaw is in Australia and by February 1880 is certain his family will not be joining him.

John Henry Grimshaw married Hannah Mary Payne at Fairy Meadow on 12 July 1882. The small problem of his existing marriage seems to have been ignored and he lied at his marriage, stating that he was a bachelor. Luckily data matching was not as it is today so there was little chance that anyone would discover that he had paid a deposit for his wife, children and mother to come to Australia just a few years previously.

Was John Henry’s marital status known to Hannah Mary Payne or her father John Payne? John Payne was a pillar of Illawarra society, a respected businessman, alderman, and at the time of Hannah’s marriage was a director of the Illawarra Mutual Building Society. It is probable that John Henry Grimshaw omitted the fact that he was already married and reinforced his own status by describing his father as ‘Esq.’ 

Three of John Henry and Hannah’s daughters had names from his family – Ethel Frances Jane has both John Henry and Hannah’s mother’s names, Florence Susan – Susan being the name of John Henry’s sister and his niece, and Annie Hyde – Hyde being the surname of John Henry’s mother.

Back in England… where are John Henry Grimshaw’s children George and John Henry?

In the 1881 Census Jane is shown as the head of the household with no occupation listed.  Her ten year old grandson Henry (Harry, son of George) is a cotton scavenger and the two younger boys, George and John Henry, sons of John Henry Grimshaw are scholars. Jane’s other grandson John Henry, son of George, is living with his Bates relatives in 1881 and their sisters Sarah and Susan are living with their mother Ellen, who has re-married

By 1891 Jane and Henry (Harry), George’s son are living at 54 Union Street. Harry is a coal miner. John Henry Grimshaw’s sons George and John Henry are back with their mother Margaret who has been living with William Ghent. They have the surname Ghent in this census and Margaret is listed as William’s wife but they never married as that would have been bigamy (not something that bothered John Henry Grimshaw).

George and Ellen Grimshaw’s children John Henry, Sarah and Susan are living with their grandmother Martha Bates (mother of Ellen Bates) in 1891.

What happened to John Henry Grimshaw’s sons is not yet confirmed. Given the common occurrence of the name Grimshaw and the Christian names in the region it is difficult to identify the two boys. Some researchers have one of the cousins John Henry going to the USA but there is not enough evidence at this point.

Did John Henry Grimshaw ever see his sons or his mother again? Possibly yes. He was apparently in South Africa for four years up until January 1900. An interview with an Illawarra Mercury journalist appears in that paper on 10 February 1900. Why did John Henry Grimshaw travel overseas when he had a wife and four young daughters? Perhaps he went to England first, his mother died in 1897 and he may have known she was not well. It is certain that he travelled back to Australia from Capetown arriving in Sydney on 29 January 1900 on the Australasian.

Perhaps he just went to South Africa to make money. Researching John Henry Grimshaw does not instil a great deal of confidence in him as a man of integrity. He presents as an opportunist, not averse to the odd white lie. Twice in his life he left a wife with young children to care for with no means of support. Did the truth about his past come out and it was that which caused John Henry Grimshaw to take off alone again?  There would have been great shame for Hannah Mary and the Payne family in the late Victorian era where respectability was paramount.

Some Grimshaw newspaper cuttings

Marriage – John Henry Grimshaw and Hannah Payne 1882

“Family Notices” The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954) 17 July 1882: 1.

John Henry Grimshaw death notice

Family Notices (1925, August 3). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 10.

John Henry Grimshaw funeral notice

John Henry Grimshaw in memoriam

Family Notices (1925, August 3). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 9.

Family Notices (1926, August 2). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 10.