Dutch Fair

The Dutch Herring Fair at Yarmouth was a feature of the Grand Fishery, on which for many centuries the Dutch supremacy in herring fishery and curing was based. In the foreground, hucksters with their stalls do business with the Dutch fishermen. The Nelson monument stands on the left, and the Yarmouth windmills are visible in the middle distance behind the jetty.
Maybe that is why Jerome came to Great Yarmouth.
What we know is that in 1822 he lived in Kingsstreet in Great Yarmout as a French teacher,
About the painter,
Of all Crome's pupils, the most accomplished was George Vincent 1796-1832. Son of
a shawl manufacturer, he became apprenticed to Crome around 1811. After a short stay
in London he returned to Norwich in 1815, becoming a member of the Norwich Society
until 1831. With J.B. Crome and Benjamin Steel, a son-in-law of Crome, he visited Paris
in 1816 - 'They had a charming voyage over, Vincent belching as loud as the steampacket…'.
4 By 1818 he was again living in London, next door to James Stark and
Joseph Clover, and he was already in debt. The following year he toured Scotland, but
despite the success in London of his exhibited pictures and his marriage in 1822,
Vincent's affairs worsened. From December 1824 until February 1827 he was
imprisoned for debt in The Fleet - 'I can paint small pictures here but not any of size'5 -
and soon afterwards, in 1832, he died at Bath. Although his career was short, dated
works of 1823-1828 show a quality that outpaces his Norwich School contemporaries
and matches many others including Callcott and Stanfield. His talent did not escape the
notice of the distinguished collectors James Wadmore and Lord de Tabley, Turner's
patron, who both bought Vincent's pictures, exhibited in London in 1820. The almost
impressionist figure painting of the Dutch Fair at Yarmouth Beach, exhibited at the
British Institution in 1821 and now in the Elizabethan House Museum, Great Yarmouth,
clearly shows his debt to Crome. Vincent's paintings range from cabinet size to 'six
footers' and are often signed with a conjoined monogram.

From the 1300’s to the mid 1800’s Yarmouth was considered by the Admiralty to be a naval port of considerable importance. Indeed, as a result of the important part that Yarmouth ships and their sailors played in the war against the French, the Royal Arms were granted to the borough by Edward Ш.
The area of sea between the town of Yarmouth and the sandbanks offshore, known as the Yarmouth Roads, has always been a safe area for ships to shelter from storms and a popular place to anchor and it was from here in 1799 that the fleet sailed against the Dutch returning victorious with seven Dutch vessels as prizes. The battle took place off Camperdown and to commemorate this battle, a terrace of houses near Wellington Pier was named Camperdown.