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Grimsley
 The
Grimsley family is thought to have had
their origin in Bitteswell (a village
adjacent to Lutterworth) some eight
miles to the southwest of Leicester,
and later spread to Hinckley and Leicester,
and beyond.
There
were two Grimsley men who served as Mayor
of Leicester. According to my informant, Mrs.
Pat Plowman, who supplied all of this Grimsley
information,
"One,
William Grimsley, served only 12 days in 1878
and then died. The other, Ernest Grimsley,
was mayor in 1934."
Mrs. Plowman
went to the Leicester Town Hall and asked
for permission to take this photograph of
the portrait of William Grimsley, Lord Mayor
of Leicester in 1878. |
In the following account, Mrs. Plowman has set out
the Grimsley family genealogy as it has a bearing
on this Choice family. In her letter dated 3 Dec
1980, Mrs. Plowman wrote:
I believe your John and Elizabeth Grimsley had a
son also named John who married a lady named Sophia
who in turn had a son called Francis. Francis Grimsley
married Caroline. They moved to Leicester from Hinckley
about 1841. Francis and Caroline had nine children,
seven sons and two daughters. The seventh child
was Ernest Lord Mayor in 1934.
Ernest married Frances Pepper in 1898 and had one
son and two daughters. He was very interested in
the Methodist Church, being a Lay Preacher for forty
years. He also had a keen interest in young people.
Ernest was also President of the Leicester Labour
Party and Leicester Trade Council. His son,
Reginald Ernest born 1904, died 1952, married Mabel
McDougall in 1928. They had two children, Michael
McDougall born 1929 and Jean Marrion born 1933....
The other mayor was William Grimsley. His grandfather
was also William and he came from Bitteswell.
William moved to Leicester about 1807, when he
married Mary Ann Headley. Among their children
they had two sons named Gabriel and Joseph Garratt.
Gabriel married Elizabeth Cox and they had three
children, William, Mary Ann and Elizabeth. Elizabeth
died when a baby. William went on to become Lord
Mayor, marrying Jane Ellis in 1859. They didn't
have any children. William was Lord Mayor for
twelve days. He died 21 Nov 1878.
Earlier on I mentioned Joseph Garratt Grimsley.
He was my husband's great-grandfather. My husband's
mother was a Grimsley.
I am extremely interested in the Grimsley family,
hoping eventually to match them all up in one
big family tree. I'm sure all Grimsleys are related
to the families in Bitteswell.
Most of my information came from census returns.
That is why I haven't gotten surnames of the wives
of John and Francis.
Mrs. Plowman's research took her across the water
to America. In her letter, dated 2 Dec 1981, she
establishes a English/American Grimsley relationship.
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