Tag: Blitz

8th May

On 8th May 1660, the day on which it was proclaimed in London that Charles II had been King since the execution of his father, Hull ordered the arms of the Commonwealth removed from Hull Town Hall,  to be replaced with the King’s arms, and that the town’s maces be engraved with the King’s arms.

On 8th May 1926, mounted police on Monument Bridge, Hull, baton charged crowds trying to prevent volunteers signing up in the City Hall, on the 5th day of the General Strike. 41 people needed hospital treatment.

On 8th May 1941, Hull suffered its worst air raid on of WW2 overnight; 420 people killed, 800 injured, more than 800 fires; the Prudential building collapsed on top of its basement air raid shelter; 3,000 houses were destroyed and a further 9,000 damaged. 35 churches were hit, 2 synagogues, 14 schools; 2 million sq ft of factory space damaged or destroyed; notable buildings such as House of Powolny restaurant; extensive damage to the docks, including the destruction of Riverside Quay. 40,000 people made homeless in the month. A large number of commendations for gallantry were made this night and the following night – too many to record here.

On the same night, a German landmine fell on Magdalen Lane, Hedon, killing 12 people and destroying 2 houses.

April 5th

On 5th April 1788, Catherine Savage, of Holme on Spalding Moor, was hanged at York for entering Stephen Ridsdale’s Welton house and stealing clothes. Ridsdale was a tailor and stay maker. Savage’s husband, Abraham, was sentenced to transportation.

On 5th April 1806, George Ormond, 30, of Hull, was hanged at York Castle for forging bank documents from Raper, Clough & Swann Bank, York.

On 5th April 1837, Alexander Gordon Carte, ordnance storekeeper at Hull Citadel, had one of his inventions, Carte’s Sea Service Rocket Apparatus, recommended for adoption by the Liverpool Dock Committee. He also invented the self-adjusting cork lifebelt, and an alarm system. His safety equipment was on view at the Great Exhibition in 1851. photo shows a cork lifelt from the 1860s

On 5th April 1916, Jesse Matthews died of shock in Barnsley Street, Hull, the only casualty of a Zeppelin raid which damaged a house in Portobello Street. The Zeppelin was hit by gunfire.

cork lifebelt, 1860s

April 3rd

On 3rd April 1674, Amos Cropper, 25, of Hull, was hanged at York for the murder of Joseph Beck of Dewsbury on the king’s highway near Huddersfield.  His body given to surgeons to be dissected.

On 3rd April 1835, W. Wilkinson died at Hull. The end of a boiler fell on him at the workshop of his employers Messrs Brownlow and Pearson. A plate was inserted on his headstone in Castle Street Cemetery by the engineers and fellow workmen as a testimony of their respect for his mechanical genius and moral worth.

On 3rd April 1941, Mr Stanley Cockerill, voluntary warden, was recommended for gallantry award for action in dealing with a fire bomb at Hull.

W. Wilkinson mechanical genius.JPG

April 2nd

Chas I trial

On 2nd April 1380, Alexander Neville, Archbishop of York, granted to the burgesses of Beverley the Westwood and all rights attached to the land.

On 2nd April 1607, John Alured was baptised in All Saints Church, Preston. He was elected MP for Hedon in 1640, and was a judge at the trial of Charles I. Died 1654. picture above shows the trial

On 2nd April 1652, Luke Hinderson, aged 45, of Stamford Bridge, was hanged outside Walmgate Bar, York, with 3 others, for robbing Peter Ellison, butcher of York, and leaving him for dead.

On 2nd April 1660, John Ramsden & Andrew Marvell were elected MPs for Hull; the votes cast were: John Ramsden 227, Andrew Marvell 141, Mr Barnard 113, Wm Lister 80, Matthew Allured 55 and Baron Thorp 35, in all 651.

On 2nd April 1774, George Belt of Howden was hanged at York Castle for breaking into and robbing the house of Mr Althorpe, near Howden.

On 2nd April 1785, William Riley, 23, was hanged for robbing John Borr of Hull near Newland.

On 2nd April 1916, a BE 2c aircraft of Beverley Royal Flying Corps Squadron 47, crashed at the Racecourse due to engine failure while defending the area from a Zeppelin attack.

 

March 31st

Andrew Marvell

On 31st March 1621, Andrew Marvell was born in Winestead to local vicar Andrew Marvell, who later became Master of Hull Charterhouse. Marvell junior was a renowned poet, and MP for Hull several times. During the Civil War, he travelled in Europe, prompting some to suggest he was employed as an English spy. He acted as London agent for Hull Trinity House. Died in Hull 1678, and is buried in St Giles in the Fields, London

On 31st March 1801, Captain Mitchinson, of the Hull whaler Blenheim, was found not guilty of the murder of 2 members of the Press Gang, (John Burnick and John Sykes) his defence being that he was handcuffed and locked in his cabin at the time. Burnick and Sykes were buried in Drypool Cemetery.

On 31st March 1941, having just completed a successful campaign for blood donors, Dr David Diamond, Deputy Medical Officer for Hull, was killed instantly when a land mine made a direct hit on the Shell Mex Building, Ferensway, the ARP Headquarters. A heavy raid on the docks destroyed offices, a garage, works, houses, dog kennels and warehouses at Albert, Alexandra, Town and Victoria Docks. A total of 200 deaths was recorded in March.

hull-blitz-shell-mex

March 25th

Warton's Hospital.JPG

 

On 25th March 1725, Sir John Warton died at 77 in Beverley. He was reputed to be the richest man in England, even though his father’s estates had been depleted by fines to Parliament for Royalism. He was elected MP for Hull, and twice MP for Beverley, but took little active interest in Parliament.  In his will, he left £4,000 for the repair of Beverley Minster, £1,000 to Warton’s Hospital, £500 to the charity school, £100 to the poor and £100 to each parish in Beverley. photo shows Warton’s Hospital

On 25th March 1780, Peter Horsfield, a negro servant to Mr Knowsley, curate of Boynton, married Elizabeth Lawson, daughter of the vicar of Weaverthorpe. It was fashionable at the time for rich families to employ black servants.

On 25th March 1868, Rev John Healey Bromby died at 97 at Hull Charterhouse; he was up to then the oldest working minister of the Church of England.

On 25th March 1904, a ‘Smoking Café and Lounge’ was opened in the basement of the Prudential Building, Victoria Square, a landmark Hull building. In 1941, the whole building was demolished by a German bomb.

On 25th March 1927, the Ministry of Agriculture closed the Crown Colony at Sunk Island, a failed experimental farm settlement for ex-servicemen set up during WW1. This is referred to in Winifred Holtby’s ‘South Riding’ as Cold Harbour colony.

Sunk

March 19th

Rose Ellen Carr

On 19th March 1293, only 5 days after his valuation of Myton, King Edward I had new records of tenants drawn up, and ordered the improvement of roads to his new town of Kingston on Hull. The roads to Hessle, Beverley and York already existed.

On 19th March 1913, Rose Ellen Carr died at Hornsea aged 70. Although illiterate, and facially disfigured, probably as the result of a kick from a horse when she was a child, she was ran a success business as a carrier and taxi owner, and was reputed to be able to carry a 16-stone sack of grain under each arm. She was also a passionate Primitive Methodist preacher.

On 19th March 1941, 92 Hull residents died in an air raid; 70 people were seriously injured.  This was the 12thraid since the beginning of the year. The National Picture Theatre on Beverley Road was hit; they were screening Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’ at the time. photo below shows ruin of the cinema

On the same day, Mr & Mrs Severs and their 2 children were killed by a land mine at Highfield Farm, Hutton Cranswick. Other damage nearby probably intended for Hull included 70 high explosive bombs and incendiaries at Watton Abbey Farm, mostly in the fields, the destruction of Mrs Arnell’s grocer’s shop, and a fire in Hutton church.  Arthur Swift of Wawne Common Farm recorded a land mine, incendiaries and high explosives, which blew out all the windows and tiles off every building in the farm. The ghost of a Watton Abbey monk was said to have been seen that night.

nationalpicturetheatre

March 17th

Kiplingcotes

On 17th March 1646, Henry Hildyard of Winestead was fined £4,660 as a Royalist (a ‘delinquent’) in order to recover his goods which had been sequestered by Parliament. (He had been a  Colonel of the trained bands which formed King Charles’ bodyguard for about 2 weeks in 1642, then retired to Surrey for the rest of the war). The fine was later reduced by half in payment for Hull Manor House which had belonged to him and which Parliament had given to the town of Hull.

On 17th March 1930, Judith Patricia (Pat) Albeck was born in Hull to Polish migrant parents. She was an award-winning designer of textiles and ceramics, known for her work for the National Trust. She is commemorated in Hull with a cream plaque. (d 2.9.2017)

On 17th March 1945, a cinema queue outside the Savoy Cinema, Holderness Road, Hull (the site is now Boyes store) was bombed and strafed; 12 people were killed, 22 wounded.

On 17th March 1966, Barbara Foster fFailed to win the Kiplingcotes Derby when her horse collapsed and died.

Pat Albeck

 

March 6th

On 6th March 1851, two days of severe storms, coupled with high tides, caused several breaches in Spurn Point, and made the Low Light insecure. The lifeboat was damaged, and several of the crew’s cottages were flooded. The extraction of gravel was halted, but did not finally end for many years.

On 6th March 1862, Joseph Wildridge, aged 14, apprentice, was attacked by another apprentice, probably named William Webb, on board Hull fishing smack Fairy. He was  so severely injured that he had to be returned home by another vessel, and died on 9thApril. He was unable to report on the events leading up to his attack, and a court case failed to prove a case against his assailant, as the crew would not testify.

On 6th March 1883, a great storm affecting the whole of the East coast resulted in huge losses in the Hull fishing fleet. Accounts vary: up to 230 Hull fishermen and 32 fishing smacks are recorded as lost.

On 6th March 1916, Zeppelin L14, after attacking Hull, dropped bombs on Burstwick and Owstwick, with no further casualties, before passing out to sea.

On 6th March 1919, the RAF Squadron 248 at Hornsea Mere seaplane station disbanded. From August 1918, it flew coastal patrols with Short 184 and Fairey Hamble Baby floatplanes off the Yorkshire coast. photo shows a short 184

 

short-184

March 5th

On 5th March 1514, John Taillour of Beverley claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley, for ‘the security of his body’, but the register does not state who was threatening him, or why.

On 5th March 1642, Queen Henrietta Maria stopped one night at the Manor House, Burton Fleming. She was still on her way to York to join her husband, Charles I, with arms from Holland. She is then said to have stayed 2 weeks at Boynton with the Stricklands. Luckily, Sir William, Parliamentary MP for Hedon, was away in London.

On 5th March 1646, Hull merchant Leonard Scott was fined £74 10s as a member of the Royalist army (a ‘delinquent’) in order to recover his goods which had been sequestered by Parliament.

On 5th March 1916, Martha, Ethel and Mira Ingamells of Linnaeus St, Hull, were among the 18 people who died in the 2ndZeppelin raid on Hull; 60 people were injured. Queen Street was hit, as were Linnaeus St., Porter St., Church St and Selby St, and Earle’s shipyard. A mob afterwards smashed up a vehicle belonging to the Royal Flying Corps, presumably in anger at their failure to defend the town, resulting in hasty installation of 7 guns, and the general strengthening of defences around the Humber. Bombs were also dropped on Gembling and Woodmansey.

WWI Zeppelin