John Grimes, M.B.E., (1859-1947) 43^rd President

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Mr John Grimes, M.B.E. from Society Archives

We have an obituary for him in Volume LXXIX of the transactions for 1948

John Grimes, M.B.E., 1859-1947

Mr John Grimes was born at Bubbenhall in Warwickshire, on November 10th, 1859, and died on August 6th, 1947. He was educated at All Saints' School, Bloxham, in Oxfordshire, and later played his part in the public life of Cardiff, serving as Hon. Treasurer of the Glamorgan County Branch of the Red Cross for many years, and of two Red Cross Hospitals in Cardiff during the 1914-18 war; he was also Chairman for many years of the local committee of the Timber Trades Benevolent Society, and member of the Pensions Committee for ex-servicemen, and for these various services received the M.B.E.

Mr Grimes' connection with the Cardiff Naturalists' Society was a lengthy one; he joined in 1896, became a member of the Council in 1906, and was President in 1915-16. The subject chosen for his presidential address - The Naturalist and the Gardener - well represented his catholic interests in the field of nature.

His contributions to the meetings of the Biological and Geological Section, in the form of papers and exhibits, were mainly botanical in interest, but ranged also over the fields of entomology and ornithology; his predominant interest in botany was also reflected by his membership of the Cardiff and County Horticultural Society, of which he was Chairman twice. Mr Grimes first exhibited specimens to the Biological and Geological Section in 1915 and thereafter he regularly attended meetings, read a number of papers, and exhibited several specimens every year down to 1940, when he had passed his 80^th year. He was elected to the Committee in 1918, was Hon. Secretary of Field Walks from 1919 to 1923, and President from 1923-25.

Mr Grimes was a keen photographer and formed a very large collection of lantern slides, in which architectural as well as natural history subjects were represented, and from which he showed selections to the Photographic Section as well as to the Biological and Geological Section of the Society; on his death this collection came to the National Museum of Wales through the generosity of his daughter, Miss Winifred Grimes, to whom we also are indebted for much of the information contained in this notice.

H.N.S.

Miss Grimes is included in this picture we have of the family taken in 1912

Mr Mrs and Miss Grimes 18-09-1912 from the society archives

From information about his activities with the Cardiff Flower Show, we can see that he was also a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society

Cardiff Flower Show, Evening Express 26th July 1905

Cardiff Chrysanthemum Society , Evening Express 4th February 1905

And as reported his involvement with the Timber Trades Benevolent Fund was extensive

A Great Future The Cardiff Timber Trade Evening Express, 26th November 1910

Page Update 12-Aug-2018

At the event when we hosted the Insole Court Tree Walk on Saturday on the 9th of June 2018, I was approached by one of the Insole Court research group about a possible picture of one of our former presidents. On finding that book "Contemporary Portraits Men and Women of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Western Mail Limited 1896" I found that it contained a number of portraits of our former presidents.

John Grimes - from Contemporary Portraits Men and Women of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Western Mail Limited 1896

Back to the 150th Anniversary index

Before this... Howard Mountjoy Hallett F.R.E.S. (1878-1958) 42^nd President

Next up... William Evans Hoyle, M.A., D.Sc., M.R.C.S., F.R.S.E. (1855-1926) 44^th President

See our Full list of Presidents

These pages are part of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society 150th Anniversary celebrations and are about our history and are celebrating the people who developed our Society and helped build the city and the cultural heritage of Cardiff. You can read more about that using the links above

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