Humberstone

The Grimsby Library is an excellent resource with both a Local History section and a Family History section.

• The parish was in the Great Grimsby sub-district of the Caistor Registration District.
   
• On 1 April, 1897, the Great Grimsby sub-district became its own Registration District.
   
• The North Lincolnshire Library holds copies of the census returns for this parish for the years 1841, 1851, 1881 and 1891.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• An Abbey of Benedictine monks was founded here in the reign of Henry II, dedicated to Saints Mary and Peter, but no traces of it now exist above ground. I have an unconfirmed report that foundation stones for the abbey were recently exposed by digging next to the church.
   
• The present Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter.
   
• The church was rebuilt about 1710, but the church tower is over seven hundred years old.
   
• A photograph of Saint Peter's church is at the Wendy PARKINSON English Church Photographs site.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of the church tower on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2006.
   
• Here is a photo of Saint Peter's Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
   

• Copies of the parish registers are held at the North Lincolnshire Library and cover baptisms 1748 - 1938, burials 1748 - 1943, and marriages 1748 - 1965.
   
• The Bishop's Transcripts date from 1561.
   
• The LFHS has published several indexes for the Haverstoe Deanery to make your search easier.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a small chapel here in 1835. A larger, replacement chapel was built in 1907. For information and assistance in researching this chapel, see our non-conformist religions page.
   
• Roger GILBERTSON has a photograph of the Methodist Church on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2007.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.

• The parish was in the Great Grimsby sub-district of the Caistor Registration District.
   
• On 1 April, 1897, the Great Grimsby sub-district became its own Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.

Humberstone is both a village and parish south-west of Grimsby. Clee parish borders to the north, Waltham parish to the west, and North Summercoates parish is to the south. The North Sea provides the remaining eastern boundery. The area is about 2,360 acres, but used to be much larger.

Humberston (as it is now spelled) is a large village just south of Cleethorpes, only two miles from the coast, off of the A1031 trunk road along the coast. If you are planning a visit:

• The "Humber Stone" may be seen at the entrance to the village library, near St Peter's Church.
   
• David WRIGHT has a photograph of the British Holidays check-in on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2006.
   
• Bird Watchers can walk from the village to the Humber Estuary where a variety of birds and other creatures await.
   
• Annual events include a horticultural show, a half marathon and the Humberston Messiah every December.
   
• Humberstone features a popular golf course, as well, at Humberstone Park.
   
• Check our touring page for area resources.
   
• Check our transport page for bus and train services.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Humberstone to another place.

• This is where the Danes landed early in the year 870 to begin their scourge and plunder of Lincolnshire.
   
• One of the first Wireless Stations was built here in 1910.
   
• Humberston is home to the "Humberston Fitties," one of the few surviving plotland developments in the country, dating from World War One. These chalets are open for tours on Sundays during pleasant weather. Sheila Coy has some background information on the Fitties.
   
• Steve FAREHAM has a photograph of the Greenwich Meridian on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2009.
   
• J. THOMAS has a photograph of the Grosvenor pub on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2013.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TA312054 (Lat/Lon: 53.52876, -0.022269), Humberstone which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• There is a War Memorial in the parish churchyard. It is a Norwegian granite Celtic cross surmounting two-tiered plinth on a concrete base, flanked by two stone flower holders. On it are 8 names from World War One and 9 froma World War Two.
   
• After World War One, a booklet was published in Humberstone which gave a short biography on the soldiers who returned alive from combat. I do not have the title, but check local area libraries to see if they have a copy (Thank you, Fiona POULTON).
   
• Haile Sand Fort stands near the Humberston Fitties. Bull Sand Fort stands a little further out. Both were built in 1915 of concrete, standing on sandbanks. Bull Fort is the larger of the two. They were taken out of service in 1956 and are now likely in private ownership. There is a photo of the two forts at Pictures of England.
   
• Humberston served as a "Chain Home Low" radar site during World War II.
   
• The Canadian Navy had a frigatte (K 497) in World War II named the HMCS Humberstone. Launched on 12th April, 1944, it served until 17 Nov 1945. The webpage author has been told that it is named after the township of Humberstone in Ontario, which fits with a number of townships that carry Lincolnshire names.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of the War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2006.

For a photograph of the Humberston War Memorial and the names on it, see the Roll of Honour site.

There are two Commonwealth War Graves in Humberstone Cemetery from World War II.

1. Arthur Georege Errol GOULDING, trooper, 4/7 Royal Armour Corps, died 10 Apr. 1947.
2. Claude Augustus GREEN, captain, 6th Btln. KOYLI, age 51, died 14 Dec. 1940.

• Humberstone (more recently spelled Humberston) is from the Old English Humbre+stone for "the boundary stone in the River Humber". In the 1086 Domesday Book, it is rendered in its original form as Humbrestone.
  [A. D. MILLS, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]
   
• There is a Humberstone parish in Leicestershire, a township with this name in Welland county, Ontario, Canada, and a town with this name in the country of Chile.

• One famous name associated with the parish is Matthew HUMBERSTONE, Esq., who died in 1709. He is said to be a foundling from Homerton, near London, who became wealthy, purchased the estate at Humberstone and altered his name to that of the village. At his death, he left £1,000 to rebuild the parish church and additional money to build a Free Grammar School and Almshouse. Unfortunately, disputes over the will postponed the building of the school and almshouse until the year 1821.

• This place was an ancient parish in Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Bradley Haverstoe Wapentake in the Central Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
   
• On 1 October, 1922, the parish was reduced by 603 acres to enlarge Cleethorpes Civil Parish.
   
• On 1 April, 1968, the parish was enlarged by 41 acres when Weelsby Civil Parish was abolished.
   
• You may contact the local Humberston Village Parish Council regarding civic or politcal issues, but they are NOT staffed to help with family history lookups.
   
• District governance is provided by the North-East Lincolnshire Council.

• Bastardy caseswould be heard in the Grimsby petty session hearings every other Tuesday.
   
• Matthew HUMBERSTONE's bequest to build an almshouse finally was realised about 1821 when six almshouses were purchased for the poor men and women of the parish. At least one of those was still in use in 1891.
   
• After the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, the parish became part of the Caistor Poor Law Union in 1837.
   
• On 1 April, 1897, the parish was transfered to the newly established Grimsby Poor Law Union, which built a new Workhouse on 9th October 1894.
   
• Lynn MUSSELWITHE provides a photograph of an 1910 Sunday School outing given to her by the son of the baby in the pram. The Almshouses are still there, now modernised for private use.

Year	Inhabitants
1801	199
1831	258
1851	259
1871	254
1881	264
1891	254
1901	234
1911	388
1921	609
1931	1,096

• The first school here was the Humberstone Free Grammar School, erected in 1821 along with a house for the schoolmaster. School was made free to all the male children of Humberstone, Laceby, Clee, Cleethorpes, Weelsby, Tetney, Scartho and Holton-le-Clay. A limit of 100 free scholars was set for the institution, and Humberstone parish lads were given a preference for enrollment. This school was closed in 1874 and an Elementary School built in the parish in 1879 and a higher grade school built in Clee.
   
• In 1841, a Girl's School was built in Humberstone. Today, parish children attend one of three schools here.
   
• The Humberston Church of England Primary School on Church Lane. The website provides no history of the institution.
   
• The Humberston School which opened in 1977 had a website, now defunct, which provided a limited history on the institution.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.