James Duke Ltd.; old padlock.

A vintage, 4 lever padlock. No key.

James Duke Ltd. was a well-known ironmongers business in Grimsby from the 1870s until 1963. James Duke bought a business which was started by a Mr. Genney in Old Market Place, Grimsby in 1837. He moved into a larger, new building on Bethlehem Street sometime after 1878.

James Duke was born in South Kirby, Yorkshire (near South Kirkby) in 1849. He married Louisa Buswell from Cottingham, Northamptonshire in Kettering, Northamptonshire in 1874. They had ten children in Grimsby; Ida Florence Duke (1875-1961), Helena Duke (1876-1959 Wales), Clarissa Duke (1877-1878), Thomas Rawson Duke (1878-1942), Arthur James Duke (1880-1956), Ethel Duke (1882-1894), Beatrice Louise Duke (1885-between 1931 and 1941), Maude Elizabeth Duke (1888-1963 New York), John Marshall Duke (1890-1958) and Henry Turner Duke (1896-1973). The family initially lived at 4 Market Place, Grimsby (1881) and then moved to ‘The Friary’ (‘Friary Villa’), 3 Princes Avenue, Grimsby (1891 and 1918) and then to 4 Princes Avenue, Grimsby (1919 and 1931).

Following the death of James Duke on 9th March 1900, his wife, Louisa, ran the business. Their shop was at 28/30 Bethlehem Street and their works/stores were at 21 Wellowgate. In 1922, they also had premises on Wharncliffe Road South, Grimsby Docks. In the 1940s, 1950s and into the 1960s, James Duke Ltd. had a shop at 43/45 Freeman Street. By 1921, Louisa had retired. She died on 4th May 1938, aged 82, and was buried in the Old Cemetery, Ainslie Street together with her husband. Arthur James Duke was managing the company at this point. John Marshall Duke was running the Cleethorpes shop in 1939. Thomas Rawson Duke was also an ironmonger in one of the shops at this time.

James Duke Ltd. closed forever at noon on Saturday 3rd August 1963. The business was founded in 1837 in the Old Market Place by a man called Genney. James Duke bought the business in the 1870s. So, in effect, the business ran seamlessly for 126 years. The joint managing directors in 1963 were Henry Turner Duke and Joseph M. (“Fred”) Grace. At the time of the closure, 26 feet of the front of the Bethlehem shop was wanted for a road widening scheme. This hastened the closure of the business.

James Duke Ltd. once had 65 employees, including 26 plumbers. Some spent the whole of their working lives with the company. They were one of the first local companies to have vans and were one of the first to have a telephone. In the 1890s, Dukes covered the spire of Kirmington church in copper which soon turned a green colour. (The copper was replaced in the 1960s.) The company even produced hand-made nails which could be purchased individually.

Note: Helena Duke married John Edward Butterfield in Grimsby in 1908. They had three sons. Flt Lt Guy Butterfield of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve was killed in 1944. He was a Beaufighter pilot. In 1942, he had received the Distinguished Flying Medal. Helena Butterfield died in Anglesey in 1959. Her son, Carl Edward Butterfield live there. He died in 1995. (Her other son, Jack, only lived for 11 months.)

Note: Beatrice Louisa Duke married Sam Curwood Green (1881-1952), fish merchant, in Grimsby in 1908. They had 5 children. They lived at ‘The Brambles’, Weelsby Road (and Sam lived later at 9 Bulwick Avenue). Sam was a son of Samuel Everingham Green, fish merchant, (born Hull 1848-1923) and Mary Jane Green (née Curwood) and the brother of the well-known fish merchant/curer, John Laverance Green (1869-1941). The father, Samuel E. Green, together with Sir George Doughty, formed the first company to develop steam fishing. (SCG worked for JLG.) Samuel Everingham Green lived at Coniston, Humberstone Avenue.

Note: Bernard Duke Green (1913-1932), son of Sam and Beatrice, died in Queensland, Australia.

Note: Joan Margaret Green W.R.N.S. (1916-1985?), daughter of Sam and Beatrice, married Lieut. Thomas Douglas Laverick Platt R.N.R. D.S.O., St. Nazaire hero, in Clovelly, Devon in 1942.

Note: Hazel Vivian Green (1916-1974 Hove, Sussex), daughter of Sam and Beatrice and twin sister of Joan Margaret, married Surg.-Lieut. Peter Goodman R.N.V.R., former Plymouth City Surgeon, in Plymouth in 1941.

Note: Ronald Everingham Green (1910-1986 Plymouth), son of Sam and Beatrice, married Phyllis Gallie of Truro, Cornwall in Grimsby in 1933. Ronald served in the Navy in Plymouth in WW2. He got into a bit of a pickle when he became a sub-postmaster after the war!

Note: Beryl Green (1909-), daughter of Sam and Beatrice, married George Blunsom Bennett, ironmonger, in Grimsby in 1929. They lived at 30 Wendover Rise, Cleethorpes.

Research by Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum.