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JAMES JILLOTT
Artist, Gentleman, Local Historian and Recorder
Born in 1800 – the son of John, a baker, who married James’ mother, Mary, in 1799. James’ first painting was of his mum, on ivory, staring out in her mob bonnet and frilled collar.
James, a deeply religious man, lived at 1 Burgess Street and he owned his and the four adjacent houses. He became a schoolmaster and taught at the old Mechanics Institute –the foundation for the public library – later to be destroyed during the war.
Later he taught at his own school at the junction of Victoria Street and Pasture Street. He married and had four children, a daughter and three sons, Frederick, James and Albert, all going into the world of printing for the firm Skeltons – which later became Gaits.
James developed his remarkable talent as an artist and a recorder, doing his work certainly for the next generation and beyond, sketching, painting and capturing the mood and feel of old Grimsby. His drawings are a vivid, detailed and characteristic documentation of the buildings at that time and through the 1850s, 60s and 70s.
Many of these buildings would have been on the plan of Great Grimsby 1815 (see map image 1).
Jillott often recorded his art on odd pieces and small scraps of paper, some now appearing weathered and torn but thankfully still legible.
In 1880 he sadly passed and was buried in the parish churchyard. Fortunately though we can remember this gentleman as a fine chronicler, talented artist and important figure in local history for his visual recording of Great Grimsby.
