Henry Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1799, and in 1818 went to New York City where he became a clerk in the commission house of H. D. & E. B. Sewell.

In 1825 Henry joined his brother Joseph Grinnell and formed Fish, Grinnell & Company. A few years later this became Grinnell, Minturn & Company, a firm whose operations were greatly expanded by its entry into the general shipping business. This company became one of the strongest mercantile houses in New York City.

Henry Grinnell retired in 1850, the same year in which he financed the outfitting of two vessels, the Advance and the Rescue, to search the Arctic for the lost Franklin Polar Expedition. He also helped finance a second rescue expedition three years later. On later occasions Grinnell manifested his unabated interest in polar exploration by contributing to the voyage of Isaac I. Hayes in 1860, and to the Polaris venture of Charles F. Hall in 1871. He was also one of the founders of the American Geographical and Statistical Society.

Henry Grinnell died in 1874.