A Grimsby Life - Part 1

In the late 1970s retired Grimsby schoolmaster Harry Goulding wrote his memoirs longhand on sheets of paper rescued from a skip and they lay for many years in the safe-keeping of his grandchildren until they were transcribed into two books; the first (this book) detailing his childhood days up until the end of his college days; the second 'Man's Estate' chronicling his often-turbulent career as an eccentric schoolmaster in Grimsby. In 'Henry the Ninth' we learn of the poverty of his childhood; the struggle to supplement his ½d per week pocket money; the rat-catching and the pig-keeping; his annual trips on the trawlers; the yearning for independence from his domineering father; the family war over his grandfather's will; his struggles at school; and his eventual and reluctant choice of profession among many other incidents happy and bitter. In addition his story represents a valuable local history insight into life in the poor quarter of Grimsby in the early part of the twentieth century.