A portrait in oil by the artist Byron Bauckham of Grimsby 1906.

An original portrait in oil signed by B. Bauckham and dated 1906. (Possibly a portrait of a fisherman.) Byron Bauckham (1855-1924) was an artist / painter / decorator / signwriter. Some of his descendants had similar skills.

Byron Bauckham, son of Charles and Annie, was born in Romford, Essex in 1855. He was Christened in nearby Barking, Essex on 26th August 1855. The family came to Grimsby when Byron was 15. In 1871, the family was living at 96 Albert Street, Grimsby. Charles Bauckham (1801-1881), who was born in Rochester in Kent, was a ship’s carpenter. Annie was a schoolmistress. Byron, aged 15 and already a painter, had three siblings.

In 1880, Byron Bauckham married Mildred Rushby of Grimsby (1861-?). In 1881, the couple were living at 107 Freeman Street, somewhere near where Freeman Street Market is today. In 1891, the couple were living at 73 Thesiger Street, Grimsby. Byron was a painter and decorator. They had five children; (Byron) Vandyke (1881-1939), Jessie (1884-1962), Harry/Henry Landseer (1887-1957), Etty/Hetty (1888-1973) and George Newton (1890-1953). A painter named Harry Rushby, aged 20, was living with the family. By 1895, Byron and Millie had four more daughters making a total of nine children; Milly/Millie (1892-1973), Edith (1894-?), May Maria (1895-1960, twin) and Rosa Macmaster (1895-after 1939, twin).

By 1901, Byron Bauckham was a widower with nine children, who all survived until at least what was regarded as mid-life. Byron struggled for money and appears to have been declared bankrupt, twice, but he was supported by his close family. He was still working as a signwriter in 1921, aged 65. The family was still living at 73 Thesiger Street. Byron died in 1924.

Byron Bauckham’s son, Byron Vandyke Bauckham, was a house painter in 1911. Another son, Harry Landseer Bauckham, was a signwriter in 1911. His third son, George Newton Bauckham was a house painter in 1911.

In 1921, Henry Landseer Bauckham was a painter and decorator working for his elder brother. Henry Landseer lived at 126 Humberston Road, Clee. By 1939, Henry Landseer was a master decorator and painter living at 179 Carr Lane.

In 1921, George was a signwriter and employer (Doust Bros. Ltd., painters of 48 Wellington Street). (George had a son called Byron, the third Byron.)

Byron Vandyke Bauckham kept the painters’ and decorators’ stores at corner of Legsby Avenue and Wintringham Road (22 Wintringham Road) for 11 years until his death at home at 94 Weelsby Road in 1939, when he was aged 57.

(Henry) Ralph Bauckham (1919-2000), son of Henry Landseer Bauckham, took over his uncle’s shop at 22 Wintringham Road after the death of his uncle. He later worked as a signwriter for Grimsby Corporation and painted the beautiful mural in the Assembly Room at the Town Hall. Ralph made the headlines in 1937 when he and another boy made the daring six-mile voyage to Spurn Point and back in a canvas canoe they had built. They met porpoises along the way.

Note: Other relations of Byron Bauckham living in Grimsby were shipwrights.