Mayor 1889
John Trim, born in Bristol in February 1813 was tried by the judge at Somerset Quarter Session in October 1836, found guilty of stealing blacking and sentenced to fourteen years transportation. Descried as a groom and waiter, he had previously served a month's sentence for some minor offence. He arrived on the ship Charles Kerr on 9 October 1837 and by 1838 had been assigned to Crown Land Commissioner Macdonald of the New England. He was recommended for a ticket of leave by the commissioner in 1843 and returned to Armidale in or about 1846. By the late 1840's he had built a store near a ford over Dumaresq Creek and also built a bridge, called Trim's bridge near the premises. Further stores were opened by the family in Beardy Street and the Great Northern Road (now Crescent Street).
Following a long illness, he died in November 1892 aged 79 years. He married three times and fathered three children by his first marriage; five children by his second marriage and nine by his third marriage. At the time of his death, thirteen children were still living. By 1892 he was a city alderman and held an estate of £12, 000.