Smethurst, Henry (1819-1892)

Amongst the Historic England database of Listed Buildings is a memorial obelisk dating from 1892 commemorating Henry Smethurst.  It is located in People’s Park, Grimsby

The inscriptions around the statue read:

ALDERMAN HENRY SMETHURST JP, MAYOR OF GRIMSBY 1886 & 1887, CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOLBOARD 1880-1889, BORN 1819 DIED 1892.

AN EARNEST AND SUCCESSFUL WORKER IN THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH AND IN THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE FOR MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS.

HIS FELLOW CITIZENS RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO COMMEMORATE THEIR APPRECIATION OF HIS CHARACTER, AS WELL IN HIS PRIVATE AS PUBLIC LIFE.

Mr Smethurst, a leading figure in Grimsby, owned the port’s largest fleet of fishing smacks and the obelisk is  “profusely draped and stacked around with sailing and fishing gear”.

People’s Park, landscaped with a lake, trees, flower beds etc., was presented to the town by Lord Heneage in 1883.

Listing NGR: TA2689708399

You can read the full listing and see a picture on the Historic England website:

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1379907

You can see a portrait of Henry Smthurst dressed in his finery as Mayor of Grimsby, 1885-6 here.  This is a long way from Primitive Methodism as a radical, working class connexion: a journey to respectability.