William Grainge | |
|---|---|
 William Grainge, 1870 | |
| Born | 25 January 1818 Dishforth, England |
| Died | 29 September 1895 (aged 77) Harrogate, England |
| Occupation | Historian, writer |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Self-educated |
| Subject | Yorkshire history |
William Grainge (25 January 1818 – 29 September 1895) was an English antiquarian and poet, and a historian of Yorkshire. He was born into a farming family in Dishforth and grew up on Castiles Farm near Kirkby Malzeard in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where he studied the archaeological site beneath the farm buildings, now known as Cast Hills settlement. Although he left school at age 12, he educated himself well enough to become a clerk to a solicitors' firm in Boroughbridge. He later established a bookshop in Harrogate and published numerous books on local history and topography, besides publishing a number of anonymous poems and discourses about local natural history.
Grainge befriended the young John Farrah, and taught him botany and other natural history. Farrah was a grocer and an amateur botanist, who went on to become a Fellow of The Linnean Society and chairman of Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. After Grainge died, Farrah gave a lecture about Grainge's life and works, and later wrote a tribute to him. Most of what we know about Grainge's life comes from Farrah.