Nostalgia: Lost age of pomp and ceremony on docks of the Humber

By David Behrens
Published 7th Jun 2021, 06:00 BST
The 'Killingholme' entering the docks with the King and Queen aboard, as the King arrives to perform the opening ceremony of Immingham Dock, Grimsby, England, 22nd July 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)The 'Killingholme' entering the docks with the King and Queen aboard, as the King arrives to perform the opening ceremony of Immingham Dock, Grimsby, England, 22nd July 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The 'Killingholme' entering the docks with the King and Queen aboard, as the King arrives to perform the opening ceremony of Immingham Dock, Grimsby, England, 22nd July 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
It remains the largest cargo port in England by tonnage, so Grimsby’s great days can hardly be said to be behind it – but these seldom-seen pictures from the archive reveal a lost age of pomp and ceremony along the banks of the Humber.

It was in 1912 that King George V and Queen Mary arrived on board the Killingholme to perform the opening ceremony at Immingham Dock, commissioned near the site of a submarine base six miles north-west of Grimsby itself. The intention was to extend the capacity of the existing port, whose earliest dock was developed in the 1790s and which has been for generations synonymous with fish.

It was the demand for coal that fuelled the growth of Grimsby but in the 21st century it is the new oil refineries west of Immingham that sustain it. Today, with around 55m tons of cargo passing through each year, it is busier than either of the great ports of London or Liverpool.

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Related topics:GrimsbyHumberEngland

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