Beatrice Grimshaw

Who was Beatrice Grimshaw?

Beatrice Ethel Grimshaw was a writer and traveller of Irish origin, for many years based in Papua New Guinea.

She was born in Cloona House in Dunmurry, County Antrim, Ireland into a well-to-do family. She was educated privately, at Victoria College, Dublin, in Caen, France, then Bedford College, London and Queen's College, Belfast and never graduated, though it was later claimed she had been a lecturer in Classics at Bedford Women's College. She then worked for various shipping companies and as a freelance journalist in Dublin from 1891-1903 before being engaged by the Daily Graphic to report on the Pacific islands, reportedly, sailing around the Pacific islands in her own cutter. She was commissioned to write publicity for Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, and Tonga. In 1907 she sailed to Papua on a commission from The Times and the Sydney Morning Herald, but remained for twenty-seven years, much of the time at Rona Falls. She became a close friend of Sir Hubert Murray and his unofficial publicist. She joined exploration parties and managed plantations, including one with her brother Ramsay.

In 1936, in company with brothers Ramsay and Osborne she retired to Kelso, New South Wales, where she remained for the rest of her life.