07/01/2026
We are so proud to be in this historic and beautiful building 🤩
Today is the 165th anniversary of the appointment of William Grange as Town Clerk.
The Willows, 23 Bargate, Grimsby. This fine Victorian house, which was built in 1854, was for many years the home of William Grange (1821-1913).
William Grange served as Town Clerk from January 1861 until his death in 1913. On his 91st birthday, he was acknowledged as Britain’s oldest serving Town Clerk and the news spread as far as Australia, where one newspaper reported:
“It is his modest boast that he has never missed an important council meeting, a mayoral election, or the induction of a magistrate, and never had a decision of his reversed upon appeal during the whole course of his official career.”
From the minutes of a meeting of Grimsby Borough Council held on 7th January 1861:
“At this meeting it was resolved that Mr William Grange is hereby unanimously appointed Town Clerk of the Borough in the place of Mr George Babb, the late Town Clerk deceased...”