Category: This week

February 29th

On 29th February 1912, Frederick Richard Soulsby, Master of the steamship Bayardo, was examined as part of a Formal Investigation in Hull Law Courts into the stranding and loss of his ship, returning from Gothenburg to Hull. The Bayardo went aground on 21st January on the Middle Sand in the Humber and could not be refloated. Soulsby was found to be at fault, and was severely censured.

On 29th February 1920, Ronald William Huzzard was born in Hull. A Quaker, he refused to be recruited during WW2, and was an active peace campaigner; he was the first General Secretary of Labour Action for Peace, and was awarded the Frank Cousins Peace Award by the TGWU. (died 30.12.1988)

On 29th February 1960, Hull’s last sidewinder trawler was launched at Beverley. The Arctic Corsair was built by Cook, Welton & Gemmell for the Boyd Line. It is now a museum run by volunteers, moored in the River Hull.

Arctic Corsair

February 28th

On 28th February 1803, Burnett’s Daily Shipping List reported that no ships arrived in Hull, and nothing sailed, for the 2ndday in a row. A heavy gale on Saturday and Sunday 26th& 27thresulted in a number of ships losing their anchors, running ashore and collisions. 8 ships were named as affected.

On 28th February 1823, the conditions of employment of the Matron of the workhouse at Nafferton recorded she was paid 5 guineas a year, plus 5 chaldrons of coals and half a load of whins; her tasks included mending clothes and laundry. There was also a Workhouse Master. (Nafferton was included in Driffield poor law union in 1836).

On 28th February 1826, Joseph Robinson Pease, Hull banker, reported in his diary that confidence in banks was being restored, that the credit of Liddell & Pease Bank stood high, and he believed that the Hull banks ‘never stood better’ after the recent national economic crisis.

pease

February 27th

On 27th February 1468, the will of Joan de Twyer directs that she be buried in the chapel of the Hospital of St Sepulchre ‘juxta Hedon’, a leper hospital endowed by the Twyer family.

On 27th February 1895, Lancelot George Prickett, FCH, engineer, died aged 38 in the service of the Indian Government; as an engineer working on Indian railways. Born 15.12.1856 in Bridlington.

On 27th February 1941, 2 bombs landed in Hotham village, throwing the owner, Colonel Clitherow, into the fireplace. No other injuries are recorded. North Cave church lost its East window in the blast. photo shows Hotham Hall today

On 27th February 1976, Fred Peart, Minister of Ag, Fisheries & Food, reopened Hull’s Albert Dock after refurbishment for the fishing industry. The Cod War which ended in 1976 effectively put an end to Hull’s fishing industry.

hotham hall

February 26th

On 26th February 1381, Archbishop of York Alexander Neville announced his intention to visit Beverley, provoking a mass walk-out of Beverley clergy, most going to Lincoln or London. Neville replaced them with vicars choral from York but failed in his power struggle.

On 26th February 1552, Sir Michael Stanhope was executed on Tower Hill, London, for instigating rebellion, and conspiring to murder John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Stanhope was a Nottinghamshire knight, twice Governor of Hull, where the townspeople complained to the Privy Council of his high-handedness. He also acquired a great deal of land after the Dissolution, including in Sutton-on-Hull.

On 26th February 1671, Robert Constable, Viscount Dunbar of Burton Constable, was indicted at Middlesex Sessions Court with the murder of Peter Varnall and confessed. Hi accomplices were Peter Savage and John Fennick. It seems that Varnall was the innocent victim of young aristos on a drunken spree.

On 26th February 1869, Christopher Sykes, MP for the East Riding of Yorkshire, moved the Bill which later in the year became the Sea Birds Preservation Act, supported by Rev HF Barnes-Lawrence of Bridlington. Up to 232,000 seabirds and eggs were killed, often shot for sport, each breeding season. This earned Sykes the nickname ‘The Gulls’ Friend’. See cartoon below.  Link is to film of ‘climmers’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ynIfnmVK0

On 26th February 1903, Martin Samuelson, marine engineer, died at Hessle, aged 78. Owner of Martin Samuelson & Co, of Neptune Street, Hull, and later Sammy’s Point, who built hydraulic presses, steel boilers and early steel vessels, and the North Bridge. Hull councillor from 1853, Sheriff 1857, Mayor 1858, first colonel of Royal East Yorkshire Volunteer Artillery and JP. (born 2.1.1825 in Liverpool).

On 26th February 1914, the Coverdale family of Hollym played a football match against another family with 11 sons, the Charlesworths of Scunthorpe. The Coverdales won 3: 0.

On 26th February 1935, Thomas Edward Lawrence, known as T.E.Shaw, (‘Lawrence of Arabia’) left Bridlington when discharged from the RAF; he had been supervising armour-plating power launches for target practice. Whilst in Bridlington, he had lived at the Ozone Hotel, Bridlington (now Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club). There is a sundial dedicated to him in South Cliff Gardens.

On 26th February 1942, Pilot F/Sgt Reginald Francis Robb and 5 crew of Wellington bomber Z8536 took off from RAF Pocklington and crash landed at Yapham due to an engine fire. They jettisoned their bombs, but were caught in the blast and all the crew were lost. 4 are buried in Barmby Moor.

Christopher Sykes MP

February 25th

On 25th February 1325, Nicholas le Couper conveyed property in Aldegate, abutting on ‘Wycote Dyk’, to Robert de Preston, draper.

On 25th February 1803, Burnett’s Daily Shipping List reported the arrival of 1 ship from Wells (Wells-next-the Sea, Norfolk?) and 14 ships left the port, for the Davis Straits, London, Lisbon, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Valencia, and Amsterdam.

On 25th February 1862, Miss Turner and Miss Broadley paid for the building work, and donated the land, for Turner Court, Midland Street, Hull. This is the only example of Model Dwellings built outside London by the Labourer’s Friend Society, (founded by Lord Shaftesbury) which became the Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes. The first tenants of flat No 8 were James and Mary Ann Adam, 38, their 9 children and 1 grandchild.

On 25th February 1905, an International Commissionin Paris reported that the Russian Rozhestvensky did all he could to prevent Hull trawlers being fired on in the “Russian Outrage’ (also known as the Dogger Bank Incident’) which killed 3 Hull men. Russia voluntarily paid £66,000 to the fishermen.

On 25th February 1971, Rupert Alec-Smith, Lord Mayor of Hull, formally opened BBC Radio Humberside.

Russian Outrage

February 24th

On 24th February 1814, John Taylor, aged 62, of Soffham Farm, Sutton-on-Hull, was in Chamberlain Road, on his way home from Hull, when he was shot by a man who leapt out from the hedge, robbed him of £30 and ran off. Taylor died a week later, but had identified his assailant as James Forbes, an Irishman. Forbes was tried at York but acquitted despite being identified, for lack of corroborating evidence.

On 24th February 1942, Charles James Kent of Bristol Road, Hull, a foreman in the Rescue Party Service, was awarded the George Medal for gallantry in the rescue of Mrs Crawford (deceased) and Miss Crawford. They were trapped when their house in Eva’s Terrace, De la Pole Avenue, was demolished, and Kent managed to crawl to them and create space for jacks to be used.

On 24th February 1943, Thomas Cooper Kinchin, aged 27, 2ndofficer, of North Ferriby, was lost by enemy action aboard SS Stockport of Grimsby, an Atlantic convoy rescue ship.

Blitz

February 23rd

On 23rd February 1643, Queen Henrietta Maria was woken at 4a.m. in Bridlington Quay by a bombardment of the house by Parliamentary ships; she sheltered in a ditch until the ebb tide moved the ships out of range.

On 23rd February 1724, William Mason was born at Holy Trinity vicarage, Hull. A poet, biographer, composer and garden designer, in 1785 he was  William Pitt the Younger’s  choice as Poet Laureate,  but he refused the post. He is commemorated in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, and in Hull with a cream plaque. (d 7.4.1797) see picture below

On 23rd February 1830, a report in the Hull Packet said that Revd John Earle’s boarding school at Driffield had been relocated to Watton Abbey, the stately home of the Legard family. It remained there for 10 years, and Earle took on the living at Watton church.

On 23rd February 1919, Company Sgt Major Kelly died of flu in Hull Royal Infirmary. He had been discharged from the East Yorkshires a week before, after serving in WW1 from September 1914. He is buried in Hedon Road cemetery.

Wm Mason

February 22nd

Henrietta Maria, Brid

On 22nd February 1643, Queen Henrietta Maria landed in Bridlington Quay with arms from Holland for the Royalist army based at York. photo shows a memorial to the event in Bridlington

On 22nd February 1919, Percy Cawkwell, 22 of Hull, was discharged in Nottinghamshhire from the Royal Army Medical Corps;  he had served as a stretcher bearer in France, Belgium and Italy. He set off on the train for his home in Hull.

 

February 21st

On 21st February 1651, George Holroyd, vicar of Foston, was tried at York Castle and imprisoned for uttering a seditious sermon; he had preached against bloodshed on a day of thanksgiving for military and naval successes.

On 21st February 1803, Burnett’s Daily Shipping List reported that more than 100 small vessels got out of Hull harbour that morning and the night before.

On 21st February 1947, 9 Jackson’s bread delivery lorries were trapped in a snowdrift overnight  on Arras Hill, Market Weighton. They were dug out by colleagues, who had to walk miles to reach them. The East Riding Council reported spending £3,000 a day to the Army to keep the roads open and get supplies to villages cut off by snow. photo shows Little Weighton railway cutting during that period

little weighton cutting 1947

February 20th

On 20th February 1889, ‘Riding the stang’ took place in Hedon, for the 3rdconsecutive night, for a man who beat his wife; a procession sang, shouted, hit pans, banged drums and whistled and finally burned the man’s effigy on Market Hill. Also known as charivari, skimmington, or rough music in other areas.

On 20th February 1918, former Reckitt’s employee Private George Charlton, 32, was killed in action on service with 11thEast Yorks (2ndHull Pals). Buried Roclincourt, France. photo (Imperial War Museum) shows some of the Hull PALS.

Hull PALS