September 20th

On 20th September 1188, St John’s church at Beverley and most of the town were damaged by fire. St John’s remains were not found until 1197.

On 20th September 1535, John Colynson and Thomas Savage, yeomen of Holme on Spalding Moor were declared outlaws after spending more than a year in sanctuary in Ripon. They sought sanctuary in 1534, confessing to stealing a horse. Savage confessed to the murder of Amery Burdett, but Colynson did not confess, though a coroner’s jury found them both responsible, and indicted others as accessories.

On 20th September 1769, Felice de Giardini, famous violinist, played at the start of a 3-day festival to celebrate the installation of the new organ at Beverley Minster, the first festival of its type in the north of England. New music by Handel was performed, including the recently completed Messiah; tickets were 2s6d and 5s.

On 20th September 1779, Mr Foster, Bridlington quay master, reported that John Paul Jones’ American squadron of ships had attacked a large fleet of colliers and ran them into the harbour.

On 20th September 1813, Thomas Nutbrown was born in Eastrington.  Probably the same person who, aged 14 in 1828, applied to the Howden poor relief officers for some new clothes, and was granted a second hand coat. He died aged 72 in Leeds Township, Quebec, Canada, on 25 Sept 1885.

On 20th September 1883, Rev Edward Cragg Haynes died aged 62 in Swinefleet, after serving there for 32 years. Born in Barbados, classed as ’free coloured’, had links to the Clapham Sect. Set up a Grammar School in Swinefleet attended among others by Joseph Rank. (christened 3.6.1821)

On 20th September 1902, Stevie Smith was born Florence Margaret Smith in Hull. Poet and novelist, most famous for ‘Not waving but drowning’. D 7.3.1971 see photo

On 20th September 1903, Annie Marshall, 16, domestic servant, from Lissett, was raped, shot twice, suffocated with grass and thrown in the river at Scampston by Charles William Ashton, 19, of Cottingham, farmhand.  Ashton knew her well. He was found guilty of murder and hanged at Hull Prison on 11thDecember the same year.

On 20th September 1954, the Selby to Driffield rail line was closed for regular passenger traffic, a service of one regular non stop train each way plus occasional summer excursions ran until June 1965. The line was abandoned after the last freight train ran later that year.

On 20th September 1955, Robert Greenwood Tarran, of the Wolds, Beverley High Road, Hull, died aged 63. Civil engineering contractor, and founder of Tarran Industries Ltd, former Sheriff of Hull, and chief Air Raid Warden during WW2. He moved the Wilberforce monument, at his own expense, and was responsible for building 20,000 prefabs after the war. He was also suspected of complicity in profiting from deals over council land in Endike Lane, in a law case during which his colleague Digby Willoughby committed suicide.

StevieSmith

September 16th

On 16th September 1643, an artilleryman with a lighted match blew up the magazine at Hull North blockhouse and killed himself and 4 others.

On 16th September 1698, Robert Prudom established, and was the first pastor of, the first Baptist chapel in East Yorkshire. The building in Applegarth Lane, Bridlington is only 12 feet square. see photo

On 16th September 1829, Dr John Alderson, MD died aged 71, physician to Hull Infirmary from 1795. A polymath, he was one of the founders of the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society, and of the London Geological Society, wrote acclaimed works on fever and paralysis, established Sculcoates Refuge, (which eventually became De la Pole Hospital), and wrote on agriculture, geology, and supernatural apparitions. The funeral of this popular doctor attracted 12-15,000 mourners. He was buried in a family vault at St Mary’s Sculcoates. His statue can be seen on Anlaby Road. (b 1758 Lowestoft)

On 16th September 1846, George Hudson, MP and ‘railway king’ stayed overnight at Sutton on Hull, went to Bridlington Quay for breakfast, back to Hull, then travelled to Northampton. Joseph Robinson Pease marvelled that such a journey within 13 hours would have been unthinkable 20 years before.

Applegarth La chapel

September 14th

On 14th September 1484, Anne de la Pole, great granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, was betrothed aged 8 to the Duke of Rothesay, future King James IV of Scotland, as part of peace negotiations between the 2 countries. Her brother John, 1stEarl of Lincoln, was then Heir Presumptive to the English throne. Anne never became Queen, however, as on the death of her uncle Richard III, she was sent to a convent and became a nun at the Abbey of Syon.

On 14th September 1581, the Hull Mayor and aldermen agreed to pay 12d per week towards the keep in God’s House (i.e. the Charterhouse) of keelman Christofer Harrison, on account of his being blind and aged.

On 14th September 1643, Sir Thomas Fairfax, Hull governor, opened the sluice gates to flood all areas from Derringham Dyke to Dunswell, during the 2nd siege of Hull, to keep the royalist guns away from the town.

On 14th September 1828, Thomas Thompson MP died aged 72. A Methodist and member of the Clapham Sect, he provided land to poor families to keep them out of the workhouse. Wrote History of Church & Priory of Swine. Father of Thomas Perronet Thompson. (b 5.4.1754  Swine)

On 14th September 1853, Hugh Edward Strickland went to examine railway cuttings near Retford, and stepped out of the way of a goods train and was killed by a train coming from the opposite direction. Inventor of the power loom, ornithologist and geologist, Fellow of the Royal Society. (b2.3.1811 Reighton)

On 14th September 1861, John Kingston, chimney sweeper and soot dealer of 16 Worship St, Hull, gave his annual bill to Hull Charterhouse for £5 for sweeping chimneys, with a note that his prices would rise in the following year due to a new law forbidding sending children up chimneys to clean them.

 

childsweep2

August 30th

 

 

Brid Priory churchOn 30th August 1510, Bridlington tanner Henry Braderig claimed sanctuary at the church of St Cuthbert, Durham, for killing Robert Lelome in the grounds of Bridlington Abbey. With 2 other tanners, Roland Hall and Robert Yong, he had struck Lelome with a dagger, and he died 2 weeks later. The attack happened 11 months earlier, in September.   photo shows Bridlington Abbey church today

On 30th August 1767, James Savage was born in Howden.  Journalist, printer and bookseller, librarian, antiquarian, and newspaper editor. Wrote ‘A History of Howden Church’ 1799 and a history of Wressle in 1805, and a number of other books. (Died  Taunton 19.3.1845). (Suggestion, unverified, that he was Howden town clerk, was accused of claiming excessive expenses, and left Howden 1801 with the parish records, refusing to return them until the town paid him monies due; the books were not recovered).

On 30th August 1854, Robert Wilberforce, rector of Burton Agnes and Archdeacon of the East Riding, resigned after leading a doctrinal controversy which raged in the Hull newspapers for many weeks. Shortly after this, he joined the Catholic church.  He died before he could be ordained. He was a son of William Wilberforce.

On 30th August 1913, Elizabeth Barr, 25, was shot at Watton by former partner and the father of her child, Henry Moore of Kelk, who then shot himself. A letter from Moore to his father indicates his action was premeditated. Barr died 2 days later, and Moore the following week. A coroner’s jury found Barr’s death was due to wilful murder.

On 30th August 1940, Abdo Nassa, age 50, fireman, died by enemy action whilst a merchant seaman in Atlantic convoy, on board SS Chelsea of Hull.

August 26th

On 26th August 1310, King Edward II visited Beverley.

On 26th August 1346, Sir John de Sutton fought on the English side at the Battle of Crecy.

On 26th August 1800, Hull surgeon Edward Oxley advertised in the Hull Packet his invention Modena Fossil, as a speedy and effectual cure for ‘hooping-cough, palsy, rheumatism, asthmatic fits, … diseases of the breasts…’ The Medical Observer was very scathing of this product which it described as oil of amber.

On 26th August 1809, Hedon borough constable Edward Hoe received £1 8s wages for transporting Agnes Sharp and her son William to Friskney in Lincolnshire (her husband’s parish), as Hedon parish was not liable to pay her benefit. Her 9 year-old-daughter Rachel was entitled to settle in Hedon, and was left behind.

On 26th August 1824, on the traditional day of Swine Feast, the Feast mainly consisted of dancing and ‘riot’, most residents providing food for their friends on the Sunday before, leading to disorder which the magistrates could not control, reported author Thomas Thompson.

On 26th August 1833, Captain Richard Wallis Humphreys of the whaler Isabella in Baffin Bay picked up explorer Captain John Ross and 19 of the crew of his ship Victory. It had become stuck in ice and been thought lost for 4 years.  Humphreys was awarded a silver cup by the town of Hull at a dinner given at the Vittoria Hotel in January 1834. (The Isabella herself was trapped in ice and sank in 1835.)

 

John_Ross_rescued_by_Isabella,_1833

 

August 24th

On 24th August 1399, a schism within the church led to controversy about the post of Meaux Abbot Thomas Burton, and rather than involve the abbey in the costs of litigation, he retired and wrote “The Meaux Chronicle’, the history of the abbey.

On 24th August 1662, on Black Bartholomew’s Day, also known as the Great Ejection, Josiah Holdsworth, curate of Sutton-on-Hull, was dismissed for refusing to conform to the Book of Common Prayer, along with 2,000 other Puritan ministers across the country.  They included Anthony Stephenson at Roos, who stayed in the village as physician, and Stephen Arlush of Howden, who continued to preach in a private house as a Congregationalist, also John Ryther of North Ferriby, who spent some years in prison for illegal preaching. And Mr Robinson at Cottingham, Mr Luddington at Sculcoates, Mr Thos Micklethwaite at Cherry Burton.

On 24th August 1759, William Wilberforce was born in High Street, Hull. The Parliamentary champion of the abolition of slavery, he collaborated for 50 years with Thomas Clarkson. MP for Yorkshire 1812-1825. Buried in Westminster Abbey. (d 29.71833)

On 24th August 1789, the Preston house and shop of William Sanderson were broken into by James Hartley of Manchester. Hartley was hanged at York Castle on 17.4.1790.

On 24th August 1921, an R38 airship exploded and crashed into the Humber on its last trial flight; 44 members of the crew died. Debris narrowly missed sightseers on Victoria Pier, Hull. photo shows wreckage

On 24th August 1943, Flight Officer Charles Keirl, 23, and 13 other airmen died when 2 Halifax bombers of 78 Squadron collided in fog; one air gunner survived. Keirl is buried in Queensgate Cemetery, Beverley. There is a memorial at Hull Bridge.

 

R38wreckage1

July 16th

On 16th July 1796, 10 days after the introduction of the Dog Tax of 5s per dog per year, the Hull Advertiser reported a considerable number of rotting dog carcases, after owners killed their dogs and threw them in the street.

On 16th July 1802, Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of poet William, visited Beverley with friends, commenting on the beauty of the town and the minster.

On 16th July 1807, a Bastardy examination of Ann Linwood, single woman of Hedon
revealed that the father of her son, born on 28 Jun 1807 in Hull was gunsmith Owen Probin. Owen Probin was murdered 7 years later (the events are probably not related).

On 16th July 1885, Hull & Barnsley Railway and the Alexandra Dock officially opened.

On 16th July 1904, the Beverley Guardian reported a new phenomenon, ‘the hatless brigade’, when pedestriansof both sexes had been seen in Hornsea without any head covering whatsoever.minster beverley.JPG

June 25th

On 25th June 1488, brewers Cornelius Jonson and William Rowyll, both of Hull, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley, for a murder they both admitted; unfortunately, the register does not record who they killed, or why.

On 25th June 2007, Michael Barnett died of hypothermia in Hessle during catastrophic flooding when he became trapped trying to unblock a drain; 10,500 homes were evacuated in Hull and East Riding; many people were unable to return home for several months. photo shows Wold Road area of Hull.

On 25th June 2010, Alan Plater, playwright and prolific TV dramatist, died on this day. Lived in Hull from age 3, and a life-long Hull City supporter. In 1970, co-founded the Humberside Arts Centre, in Spring Street (later Humberside, then Spring St Theatre). Wrote ‘Don’t build a bridge, drain the river’ about Hull, and ‘Sweet Sorrow’ for Hull Truck about Philip Larkin. Awarded several BAFTAs and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. (b 15.4.1935 Jarrow)

Hull Floods 2007

June 23rd

Ezekiel Rogers window

Ezekiel Rogers window, Rowley church.

On 23rd June 1660, Reverend Ezekiel Rogers died aged 70, in Rowley, Massachusetts, after 22 years as vicar of a new Puritan settlement.  The new town was named after Rowley in East Yorkshire, from where he led a group of about 100 Puritans to America in June 1638. Became Rector of Rowley in 1621, aged 31, and served there for 17 years. (b 1590 in Wethersfield, Essex)

On 23rd June 1766, Sara Jenkinson, the infant daughter of Richard Jenkinson of Hutton Cranswick, fell from a little girl’s arms and died within 30 minutes. There was a coroner’s inquest.

On 23rd June 1768, John Courtney, aged 34, gentleman, of Beverley, married Mary Jesse Smelt, aged 24, at St Mary’s, Lowgate. The bride dressed in a white ‘night gown’ and white hat, the groom in a white suit. Only family and servants attended the church and family members dined with them afterwards. The bells of both churches rang for them. They returned to their future home in Beverley in the evening. In his diary, John refers to his future wife at all times as ‘Miss Smelt’.

On 23rd June 1787, the Clerk to the Beverley to Driffield Turnpike Trust wrote to T. Baxter, the owner of Bell Mills, Sunderlandwick, threatening him with prosecution if he allowed anyone to cross his land to avoid paying tolls. 2 months later the Trust asked T. Baxter to lock the gate near his mill, and to prosecute anyone who broke it down.

On 23rd June 1812, Major-General Barnard Foord Bowes of Cowlam was wounded at Battle of Badajoz, but recovered to fight at Salamanca.

On 23rd June 1848, Uckaluk died of measles aboard the Hull ship Truelove, on their way home to Nyadlik, Greenland. She and her husband Memiadluk had visited England to highlight the poor conditions in their homeland.  They took part in talks in Manchester and York. 

On 23rd June 1853, Captain John (or Thomas) Bowlby set sail for Cumberland Sound in the Arctic with 3 ships, with the aim of forming a settlement there; they took goats and building materials. The surgeon on the trip was William Gedney, who had been on board the Truelove with Captain Parker in 1847.

On 23rd June 1898, Winifred Holtby was born at Rudston. Social reformer, novelist and journalist, she was famous and respected for her work in South Africa and elsewhere. ‘South Riding’ became her most famous novel, published after her death. She is buried in Rudston. (d 29.9.1935)

June 16th

On 16th June 1487, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, died aged 22 (or 25), in the Battle of Stoke (near Newark) fighting against Henry VII, attempting to place Lambert Simnel on the English throne.

On 16th June 1793, the 42nd Regiment of Highlanders in Hull and 200 soldiers were sent to service at Fish Street Congregational Chapel.

On 16th June 1872, Sarah Stickney Ellis died aged 73.  A Quaker turned Congregationalist, she was a prolific author, and advocate of women’s education. (Born 1799 at Ridgmont, Burstwick)

On 16th June 2012, Hull-born Joe Longthorne, a singer of Romani heritage, was awarded an MBE for services to charity. (b31.5.1955)

 

joe longthorne