DOMINIC GRIMOLDI (1781-1844)

Until the middle of the 19th century Italy was a loose collection of independent states, one of which was Lombardy on the southern flanks of The Alps. Before the arrival of the French army under Napoleon these states had operated on what has been described as a feudal system.

St George's Church
Lurago Marinone

From 1792 to 1815, the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic War, Lombardy and neighbouring regions were subject to the effects of the war as the French, the Italians and the Austro-Hungarian Empire all fought to wrest power into their own hands.

The imposition of martial rule, the collapse of the economy and uncertainty over food supplies in time of poor harvests motivated many Italians to leave and look for better lives elsewhere.

Even after the end of the wars the area was unsettled as the declining Habsburg Empire of Austria-Hungary lost its influence and armed struggle ensued between those who wanted a return to the old feudal ways and those people looking forward to unification and democracy. For a more detailed description of life in the area at the time read the Encyclopaedia Brittanica's entry on The Restoration Period.

In this atmosphere Dominic Andrea Grimoldi (1781-1844) left his home village of Lurago Marinone and Gottardo Maffia (1809-1858) left Garzeno. Both headed for London, albeit a couple of decades apart.

Alan Bryan writes: "Angela Borelli wrote to the Church of Lurago Marinone, on my behalf, requesting the details of the Baptism of Domenico Grimoldi, my 4x great grandfather. The information Angela received translates from Latin as:
1781 4th Febuary, DOMENICO ANDREA GRIMOLDI, son of Giacomo Grimoldi and Giulia Vittoria, living at Lurago Marinone, at 2pm, was baptised by me at the Church of St. George Lurago Marinone on the 4th Febuary. Godfather was Carlo Antonio Grimoldi, son of Carlo Giovanni. [Priest] - FRANCESCO PAVONI"

Baptism of Domenico Andrea Grimoldi

• Maria Grimoldi was born on 16 January 1813. She was baptised on 15 February 1813 at the Roman Catholic Church of St Anselm and St Cecilia in Kingsway, Holborn:
  The baptism of Maria Grimoldi, the daughter of Dominici and Elizabeth Grimoldi 'conjugum nata' (product of the union) 16 January 1813. Sponsors Joannes Ronzone and Susanna Ronzone. Per Jacobum Tanner.
  The Church of St Anselm and St Cecilia, from the early nineteenth century, had become quite openly, what it had been quietly and illegally for some time before, the parish church for British Catholics who lived in the local area. It was known as the Sardinian Chapel from 1720 until 1852.
  Maria married Gotardo (Samuel) Maffia in 1834.

• Henry Joseph Grimoldi was born on 21 July 1814 and baptised a month later in St Anslem's Church.
  He learnt his father's skills and became a well known barometer maker in his own right, with his own business in Brook Street, Holborn.
  He married Emily Green in 1838 in St Bride's Church in Fleet Street. They had no children and Emily died in 1880. Henry died aged 79 in 1894.

• Elizabeth Grimoldi was born on 4 November 1815 and baptised on 9 January 1816 at St Anselm's Church.
  Her burial, at the age of one year, is recorded on Boxing Day 1817 at St Mary's Church in Lambeth which gives her residence as York Row. No explanation is known for why the family had moved away from "Little Italy".

• John Baptist Grimoldi who was born on 23 July 1823 and baptised a month later in St Anslem's on 17 August.
  John also learnt barometer making skills probably from his father and certainly from his brother Henry to whom he was apprenticed. John became very successful in this line of work in Melbourne, South Australia. One of his barometers is in a museum in Flagstaff Hill, South Australia. Read more ...

• George Grimoldi was born on 23 March 1825 and was buried in Spa Fields Cemetery, Clerkenwell on 22 Apr 1833.

• Sarah Grimoldi was born 29 January 1827 and, like her brother George, was buried in Spa Fields Cemetery on 12 September 1830.

Dominic and Elizabeth had fallen on hard times around the period when John was born. When Elizabeth was seven months pregnant with John, Dominic was required to appear before the Debtor's Court as insolvent, as reported in "The London Gazette", leading to his bankruptcy.

Dominic was a craftsman and was probably one of the more affluent Italians as referred to by Tudor Allen above. Dominic appears to have bounced back from his bankruptcy and this was probably because of his skill as an instrument maker.

From the report of the bankruptcy case we learn of other addresses and the fact that Dominic had previously had his barometer making business in Amsterdam. Whether this venture was before he came to London or whether he ran the two businesses simultaneously and that was the cause of his indebtedness has not yet been established. It is known, however, that he did return to Amsterdam in the 1830s.

At the beginning of 1829 Dominic were living in the Holborn area with their three surviving children - Maria (16), Henry (14) and John (5). Around the time of Maria's 16th birthday tragedy struck the family when Elizabeth died when only 34 years old. She was buried in the dissenters' graveyard at Bunhill Fields, Moorgate, on 18 January 1812.

The objects produced by Dominic, and Henry and John, are still in demand today, admittedly they are seen as aesthetic rather than scientific items, but still command high values. Some instruments are of such importance that they are in museums in the UK, USA and Australia.

The three barometers shown together here are typical of Dominic's work in London and, possibly, in Amsterdam as well. The barometer on the left has a thermometer, the one on the right incorporates other features such as a clock.

The barometer shown below was produced by Dominic in his Amsterdam workshop. The intricate design and gilt frame make this a very special item. The provenance shown when it was offered for sale in 2008 was that it had been a gift from the Dutch King Willem III. The price reflected the provenance and the quality as it sold for in excess of €23,000.

209 | Tenth of July 1844 at Moulsham Chelmsford | Dominic Andrea Grimoldi | Male | 63 years | Barometer Maker
Asthma, Disease of the Heart and Bronchitis | The Mark of "X" Susannah Baker - Present at the Death, Moulsham Chelmsford
Twelfth of July 1844 | William Wicks, Registrar

At his baptism at St Anselm's on 14 August 1814 Henry Joseph Gromoldi's parents are recorded as Dominic and Elizabeth Grimoldi and his sponsor was Antonius Bernaschina.

Henry married Emily Green on 25 July 1838 at St Andrew, Holborn. He was described as a bachelor of full age, a barometer maker of 16 Brook Street in Holborn and the son of Dominico Grimoldi, a barometer maker.

In the 1841 census he was still in Brook Street, living with Emily and an apprentice, his younger brother John.

Henry submitted one of his gilt framed "improved pediment" barometers to The Great Exhibition of 1851.

Pictured left is a thermometer made by Herny Grimoldi.

Henry was producing "philosophical instruments" until the 1870s and had various addresses in the Holborn area: 16 Brook Street (1839-42); 4 Charles Street (1844); 24 Greville Street (1843-47); 31 Brook Street (1850-71+); Hatton Garden (1870s).

Before 1881 he and Emily had moved to 139 Portobello Road in Notting Hill which is where she died in 1880 and he died in 1894. They had no children.

From the Holborn Journal 30 June 1666:

BAIL COURT, June 23.
Grimaldi and Wife v. the London General Omnibus Company.
This was an action for serious personal injuries. The defendants pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Coleridge, Q.C., and Mr. Day were counsel tor the plaintiff; Mr. Gitard, Q.C., and Mr. M’lntyrc were counsel for the defendants.
It appeared that the plaintil is a mathematical instrument maker in Brooke-street, Holborn. The plaintiff’s wife went by Clarke’s omnibus to see a friend near the Edgware-road. The conductor stopped the omnibus near the kerb as directed by Mrs. Grimoldi, and as she was stepping on the kerb the defendants’ omnibus came upon the wrong side passing between the kerb and Clarke’s omnibus She was knocked down, both wheels passed over her arm and broke it. Her leg was also grazed tbe stocking and dress torn, and the keys in her pcoket broken. She was in bed a month, and confined tp her house for four months. She had been attended ever since by a surgeon, and her arm, which crushed, had still to be dressed by the doctor.
For the defence it was urged that the lady contributed to the accident, and it not been that the defendant's servants were in fault.
The driver said that as he was driving up he saw Mrs. Grimoldi slip down, and that he hhad to pull up sharply; and the conductor stated that he saw her on the foot pavement, with her right arm under her, and her feet hanging over the kerbstone, but that the wheel stopped just as the bus came up to her legs.
The Jury, however, returned a verdict for the plaintiff. — Damages, £250.

In 1841 John was 18 years old but, as is usual with the census of this time, his age shown above has been rounded down to 15; he is an apprentice to his elder brother Henry at 31 Brook Street and is learning the skills of a barometer maker. Ten years later he has set up his own business close by at 28 Leather Lane.

At some time in the 1850s John emigrated to Melbourne in South Australia and set up his own mathematical and meteorological instrument making business there, creating such instruments as the coast barometer shown here (right). He was recorded as being at 81 Queen Street, Melbourne from 1862 to 1883. In 1875 he sold his business to William Samuel Husbands but seems to have reained in interest in the property until 1883.In his later years he lived in a house on Tivoli Road in South Yarra, not far from the "Como Hotel" in a neighbouring street.

In 1866 John was involved in an argument conducted through the letters columns of the Australian press regarding the accuracy of his thermometers at high temperatures.

He was buried in the St Kilda Cemetery aged 76 in a "Presbyterian Monumental Grave" on 27 July 1899. He remained unmarried and had no children.

In the Victoria Museum there are three instruments made by John Grimoldi once used by the Melbourne Observatory:

• a Robinson-type anemometer used to measure the speed of the wind at the Observatory (below left).
• a wet & dry bulb hygrometer with a range of 20-150 deg. F used at the Observatory. Description: Tubes 9 in. (22.9 cm.) long, bulb of normal glass & English lead capillary fitted on a nickel plated brass scale plate mounted on a board. Glass water reservoir with bronzed brass bracket (below right).
• a Fahrenheit thermometer with a range of +20 to +120 degrees.