Category: death at sea

May 31st

On 31st May 1902, Hornsea residents celebrated the end of the Boer War, with an impromptu service held at the Parish Church at 10p.m., followed by a procession around the town, with people singing and waving flags, while others let off fireworks. This may have included Hornsea Brass Band, which existed until WW1.

On 31st May 1905, Teddy Gudmensen, 33, deckhand, was lost overboard from Hull trawler Swan 93 miles NE of Spurn.

On 31st May 1916, Alfred Dean, stoker 1st class and former Reckitt’s employee, was drowned while serving on HMS Invincible in the Battle of Jutland.

photo shows the Services memorial, East Park, Hull.

Services memorial, E Pk

 

May 24th

Edward I

Edward I statue, Hull Guildhall

 

On 24th May 1300, King Edward I landed in Hessle  from the Barton ferry, his retinue taking up 11 vessels and taking 2 days to make the crossings. Galfrid de Selby was paid 13shillings for the crossing. The King went to Hull and then on to Beverley.

On 24th May 1772, Parliament passed an Act to create the Market Weighton Canal, not just to transport goods, but also to prevent regular flooding of 20,000 acres of land.

On 24th May 1930, Amy Johnson landed in Darwin after flying 11,000 miles; the first woman to fly from the UK to Australia; she received the CBE and great public acclaim.

On 24th May 1943, the crew of Lancaster bomber W4303 crashed at Humbleton on a training flight, killing the 8 crew, aged from 21 to 30. The Australian pilot Bryde and flight engineer Nelson are buried in Brandesburton.

On 24th May 1962, Tom Knight and Saif Messin, engineers, and Bryan Webb, deck boy, 15, were trapped and died when the tug Tollman capsized in Hull’s Alexandra Dock while towing the Finnish ship Inio. The skipper and mate were saved. United Towing made changes to towing systems as a result.

May 20th

On 20th May 1604, Jack Wright of Welwick, Thomas Percy, second cousin of the Duke of Northumberland, Robin Catesby, Tom Wintour and Guido (Guy) Fawkes met at the Duck and Drake Inn, Strand, London, and began the Gunpowder Plot, which eventually included 13 conspirators, including Jack’s younger brother Kit.

On 20th May 1816, Constable Thomas Pashby was fined 40s at the Tiger Inn, Beverley, for neglect of his duty as village constable in Ellerker, apparently for failing to bring defendants to court.

On 20th May 1910, Dora Whitehand, aged 2, drowned on a sofa when the house in Providence Place, Driffield, was flooded. A cloudburst in Cowlam sent a torrent of water down the valley, flooding hundreds of houses to a depth of 6 feet. 2” rain fell in Driffield in an hour. Bridges were damaged, and the furnaces at the gasworks were extinguished. Weaverthorpe was submerged in mud; Helperthorpe and Elmswell were also affected.

On 20th May 1917, Francis Acaster, carpenter, aged 65 of Francis Terrace, Hull, was killed by enemy action whilst a merchant seaman, returning to Hull from Bombay on board SS Tycho of Hull, off Beachy Head.

On 20th May 1941, Dr R.H. Moyes. Voluntary Medical Officer to Civil Defence was awarded the British Empire Medal for gallantry during an air raid.

SS Tycho

May 14th

On 14th May 1595, George Wharton, 12, left Londesborough to work at Gray’s Inn, London for 9 months; he then became a student at Caius College, Cambridge. His mother had died 3 years before, since when he had lived with his uncle, the Earl of Cumberland, at Londesborough. He never succeeded to the title, as he died in a duel aged 24.

On 14th May 1917, James Smith, 30, chief engineer of the Hull trawler Bel Lilly, was lost with all hands North East of Peterhead due to enemy action.

On 14th May 1941, Hull Municipal Kitchens ended a week in which they had served 350k meals, after Hull’s worst bombing, and this despite the destruction of all stocks of food delivered by the Ministry of Food, and of a number of Emergency Feeding Centres.