Coming up this week

December 8th

turkey lectern3.JPG

 

On 8th December 1536, armed men from Holderness who had seized Hull in the Pilgrimage of Grace restored the town to the Mayor and dispersed.

On 8th December 1598, William Strickland died in Boynton. When young, he had travelled to America on voyages of exploration with Sebastian Cabot, and is credited with introducing the turkey to England. Later became a prominent Puritan MP. photo shows the Turkey Lectern in Boynton church.

On 8th December 1629, George Acklam of Bewholme died aged 64, and left £5 to Hornsea church to distribute to the poor every year on Maundy Thursday ‘forever’.

On 8th December 1637, Hull Mayor John Ramsden was buried; he died of plague. Andrew Marvell gave the funeral oration. His son, also John Ramsden, became Hull MP. This outbreak of plague in Hull killed over 2,500 people, and many more left the town. 

On 8th December 1879, William Walden, engineer and brewer, died aged 62. In a time when Hull was beset with cholera, he offered to supply Hull with clean water from Springhead at the rate of 5m gallons of water per day, at a fee of £500, or if he failed, be paid nothing. He succeeded. He is buried in Hull General Cemetery.

Springhead bore hole

December 7th

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On 7th December 1644, Sir John Hotham’s execution date, set for 16.12, was put back after Lady Hotham appealed for more time for him to settle his affairs.

On 7th December 1791, 22 months after being apprenticed at sea, John Sheriff, pupil of Hull Trinity House School, was allowed a land job in the House, ‘on account of his being twice shipwrecked had been discouraged from a further perseverance’.

On 7th December 1958, the crew of Flamborough lifeboat Friendly Forester saved 2 Bridlington fishing boats and landed their crews of 8 men.

 

 

December 6th

On 6th December, it was the tradition in many villages for a Boy Bishop to be elected, to serve to Christmas Eve.

On 6th December 1567, after being admitted to the Council in the North by the Archbishop of York, Sir John Constable of Halsham and Burton Constable was dismissed after opposition from protestant Sir Henry Gates.

On 6th December 1852, Henry ‘Box’ Brown, escaped US slave and actor, performed a panorama of African and American Slavery at The Music Hall, Hull.

Henry Box Brown

 

December 5th

On 5th December 1679, the Commissioner of Sewers ordered that the earth banks of the Julian and Derringham Springs be replaced with brick or stone, to keep Hull’s drinking water from contamination.

On 5th December 2013, high tides and storm surge breach Spurn Point, destroy much of the road, and drown about 30 sheep. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have not repaired the temporary roadway, deciding to leave the Point to nature.

Spurn to river from sea.JPG

December 4th

On 4th December 1688, Capt Lionel Copley, vice-governor of Hull, in support of William of Orange, arrested Lord Langdale, governor of Hull, and Catholic officers supporting James II. Mobs attacked, ransacked and demolished Catholic houses and the ‘mass-house’, and the events of Town-Taking Day were celebrated into 20thC. It is believed that this is the event which was plotted in the parlour of the Olde White Harte.

On 4th December 1841, Joseph Davey, 28, became the new master of the Spurn lifeboat, and master of the tavern, replacing Robert Richardson, the first master, who had served in post for 31 years. Davey did not last so long – he was dismissed in February 1842 when the lifeboat failed to respond to a vessel run aground on the Stony Binks. Fortunately, the crew of the Elizabeth managed to refloat her, and there were no casualties.

On 4th December 1857, William Watson of Seaton Ross, maker of maps and sundials,  died. (b 17.5.1784) photo shows Dial Cottage, Seaton Ross.

On 4th December 1894, Robert Butterfield was elected first Chair of the Nafferton Parish Council; earlier in the year, parish councils had been introduced by the Local Government Act, replacing a number of parish and manor courts dealing with minor local issues. This process was happening across the country. One of the PC’s first acts in Nafferton was to clean the beck, and appoint a beck-watcher to look after the 2 swans donated by Mr Butterfield.

seaton ross.JPG copy

December 3rd

grammar school

 

On 3rd December 1611, William Gee died in Bishop Burton, aged 63.  MP for Hull and a generous benefactor, he left more than £1,000 in bequests to the poor. Gave most of the cost of the new Grammar School. (baptised 16.9.1565)

On 3rd December 1614, Sir John Sheffield, his brothers Edmund and Philip all drowned, with their servants, when the Whitgift ferry across the River Ouse was upset by an unruly horse.

On 3rd December 1805, Abraham Turner, former pupil of Hull Trinity House School, wrote to the House with a report of the Battle of Trafalgar, in which he had been wounded, on board HMS Africa.

December 2nd

On 2nd December 1614, a woman bone-setter from South Dalton set the leg of John the gardener at Londesborough House after he had broken it in a fall from a horse. The Earl of Cumberland paid the costs of his servants’ medical treatment.

On 2nd December 1847, Memiadluk and Uckaluk, of Cumberland Sound, Greenland, gave the first of several exhibitions of their traditional clothing, kayak and hunting equipment on their British trip to raise money and awareness of the plight of their people. Greenlanders were being encouraged to use modern hunting equipment, but supplies were irregular with no permanent British settlement. Photo shows their statues at the side of the River Hull.

On 2nd December 1985, Philip Larkin, poet and librarian, died in hospital in Cottingham of oesophageal cancer at the age of 63. Librarian, University of Hull 1955-85. CBE, Companion of Honour., Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. (born 9.8.1922 Coventry)

 

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December 1st

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On 1st December 1644, Sir John Hotham and Captain John Hotham, his son, were tried for treason at the Guildhall, London; both were convicted and condemned to beheading.

On 1st December 1800, Agnes Sharp, aged 24, was interviewed by the Hedon Mayor and one of the Bailiffs to confirm that she was pregnant, that the child (or children) was likely to be born a bastard, in order to claim payment from the parish. The father was a soldier from Sussex whose unit had left Hedon. Eventually, she received 2s6d a week.

On 1st December 1832, Thomas King and William Duesberry stole 3 chickens from John Carter’s farm, Howden. They were arrested and sentenced at Beverley on 14 Oct 1833, Duesberry getting a prison sentence, but King, who had previous form and did not admit the offence, was transported for 7 years. He was given his freedom in 1846 and seems to have died in Hobart in 1859.

On 1st December 1950, The Port of Hull Society’s Sailor’s Orphan Homes changed its name to The Sailors’ Children’s Society and celebrated with a lunch at the Guildhall.  The Society began as a Christian mission to seamen, and began to house ‘orphans’ (children whose father had died) in the 1860s, opening the Newland Homes in the 1890s.

 

November 30th

On 30th November 1219, William de Forz II, count of Aumale, Lord of Holderness, was declared a rebel and excommunicated for offences against the Crown and the sheriffs of 6 counties were instructed not to give him any help; he had held onto castles after being ordered to restore them to their owners.

On 30th November 1280, the residents of Hedon petitioned government to fix their tax (fee farm) as they were ‘few and poor’ and competition from Ravenserod and Hull were increasing from day to day. The port was firmly in decline. Hedon ship motif can be found in St Augustine’s church.

Hedon ship, St Augustine's

On 30th November 1587, Alexander Crowe, Catholic priest, aged approx 34, was executed in York. Born in Howden, worked as a shoemaker and travelled to Douai; ordained at Rheims 1583. Captured at South Duffield while baptising the baby of Cecily Garnett.

On 30th November 1644, Sir John Hotham began his trial for treason at the Guildhall, London.

On 30th November 1832, Henry John Shepherd, attorney and JP, of Beverley, went bankrupt, having speculated in building projects; his creditors were reported to include mainly individuals who had given him money for investment with no security; the bankruptcy register describes him as ‘dealer and chapman’. Shepherd was again practising as a solicitor in 1833.

 

November 29th

On 29th November 1486, John Thurleby started in a new post as Hull Collector of Customs, joining existing staff Thomas Annesley (collector) and John Wolleston (Controller).

On 29th November 1596, William Knight of South Duffield, and Henry Abbot of Howden were hanged, drawn and quartered as traitors for their Catholic faith. Knight was beatified on 22.11.1987,  Abbot 15.12.1929.

 

English Martyrs, hanged, drawn and quarted for the Catholic Faith in England