Greenland Fishery From King's Lynn?: Schooner Days MCCLV (1255)

by C. H. J. Snider

FROM "The Old House" at Clarkson comes this courteous comment by an Ontario history lover, Mr. John Barnett, of the Greenland Fishery Inn of old York mentioned recently:

"I was much interested in your recent article on the Greenland Fishery," writes Mr. Barnett, an earlier president of the Ontario Historical Society. "My interest in this old inn was stimulated greatly after visiting, in 1952, its much more ancient counterpart in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England.

"The Greenland Fishery Inn of Kings Lynn was built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was first a merchants mansion, but some time in the reign of James I became a harbor-front inn. Some time in the early Stuart times it was given the name of the Greenland Fishery Inn, and had a signboard painted depicting a Greenland whaling scene. The name and the signboard were in existence at the time York's Greenland Fishery Inn was built, and had been well known by seamen for at least 100 years earlier. In those days King Lynn was one of the great ports of England.

"If as stated by John Ross Robertson, the signboard (and hence the name) was painted by a transient seaman, I feel sure he must have been a frequenter of the ancient harbor of Kings Lynn, and was familiar with the name and signboard of the old inn there, and that he was repeating from memory its ancient sign.

"I have never been able to find out anything about the antecedents of the proprietor, Edward Wright, although he was a colorful figure of early York, and his son was alleged by John Ross Robertson to have been the first white child born in York. I have wondered if it might not be that Edward Wright come from Kings Lynn or near it.

In late Victorian times King Lynn Greenland Fishery Inn ceased to be an inn and was changed into a local museum, with its main emphasis on things maritime. During the late war the rear part was badly damaged by a German bomb. The front part is still much the same on the exterior as it was when built, and in the postwar renovation, after the bombing the authorities made the owner preserve and keep visible all old beams and structures remaining or which could be restored exactly as they were.

"To me the connection with the Greenland Fishery In of King Lynn, makes York's inn much more interesting. In England I consulted many works on the names of English inns. The same names were repeated again and again in different towns and districts but I was not able to find any mention of a Greenland Factory Inn except in Kings Lynn.

"Kings Lynn was another interesting connection with Canada. The house in which Capt. Vancouver was born is still standing in its original form there. There are few places in England which have so many ancient buildings, unspoiled and little changed which were erected by merchants and guild members.

"In your studies and interest in early Ontario ship and shipping I have wondered if you might not find many links with old King Lynn."

If Schooner Days get to Kings Lynn (and stranger things have happened) he will look up the parish register and see if there is any connection between the Wrights of old York and the Greenland Fishery of Kings Lynn. If the "first white child born in Toronto" was christened John Graves Simcoe Wright. Simcoe Wright was one of the York Volunteers at the capture of Detroit in 1812. He could not have been more than nineteen then.