John Shaw – Hull & East Yorkshire History Calendar

April 19th

On 19th April 1672, Rev John Shaw(e) died aged 64 . Puritan Lecturer at St Mary’s, Hull, then at Holy Trinity. In 1651 Master of the Charterhouse, where so many flocked to hear him preach that troops kept them out. One Sunday more than 300 people camped out at night as the soldiers had closed all the town’s gates. (b 28.6.1608 Sykehouse)

On 19th April 1689, 4 Beverley aldermen recorded that they were considering prosecuting the vicar of St Mary and St Nicholas, Rev John Brereton. Before then, the town council had recorded their thanks to him for his generous gifts to the town. They then discovered that he had purloined several church collections, as well as money collected for the relief of persecuted French Protestants. 4 days later, Brereton resigned his posts and later left Beverley.

On 19th April 1821, an Act of Parliament approved lighting the town of Hull and adjacent places with gas (replacing lighting with whale oil). Gas manufactured from whale oil was used until 1830, when it was replaced with coal gas.

On 19th April 1891, former pupil of Hull Trinity House School Frank Dick, 23, died of yellow fever in Rio de Janeiro.

On 19th April 1902, Beilby, 3^rdBaron Wenlock, of Escrick, spoke at a public meeting in Beverley to recruit for an East Riding Yeomanry Regiment; the meeting was poorly attended, as it was Market day.

January 7th

On 7th January 1651, John Shaw was confirmed in post as Master of Hull Charterhouse; a radical, he was already a very popular Lecturer (i.e. preacher) at Holy Trinity. The previous incumbent at the Charterhouse, Wm Styles, had said he would never quit the post voluntarily if Shaw were to replace him.

On 7th January 1884, the steamer European landed in Hull, bringing the Spurn lifeboat for repair from Holland, where it had been found on the Dutch island of Texel after breaking from its moorings in a gale on Christmas Day.

On 7th January 1889, Alice Norah Blyth, aged 10, died in the care of Port of Hull Society’s Sailor’s Orphan Home.

Orphan deaths, Sailor's Orphan Home — Western General Cemetery

July 8th

On 8th July 1497, Thomas Thompson, labourer of Stamford Bridge, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John ‘for the security of his body’. The register does not state why he was in fear for his life.

On 8th July 1642, King Charles I sent a troop of infantry and cavalry to set fire to windmills outside Hull, aiming to starve the besieged town; they were repulsed. John Shawe, Holy Trinity lecturer said this incident incensed many previously uncommitted Hull people and turned them against the Royalists. Charles also issued a proclamation from ‘our court at Beverley’, part of the continuing ‘paper war’.

On 8th July 1840, the 3rd day of a horse racing meet at the George Inn, Aldbrough, offered prizes up to £4, and included a men’s foot race for a hat valued at 10s, and a wrestling match to win a pair of gloves. In later years, the prizes for the horse race included a purse of gold, saddles and bridles. However, the field where the sports were held may have been lost to the sea.

On 8th July 1940, Mrs Evelyn Cardwell of East Carlton Farm, Aldbrough, arrested and disarmed a German airman who had parachuted from a crashed bomber. She was presented on 1.8 with the British Empire Medal by King George VI at Marine Hotel, Hornsea.

royal visit Hornsea

June 8th

On 8th June 1300, a year after Hull’s establishment, King Edward I gave a charter to allow the mayor and aldermen to pave the major streets, with a central gutter for ease of drainage. The work began in 1301.

On 8th June 1661, King Charles II wrote a letter to the Hull Mayor, prohibiting John Shaw from preaching in Holy Trinity, as he was too radical a Puritan. He retained his post as Master of the Charterhouse, and his sermons there continued to draw large crowds, but he resigned the following year.

On 8th June 1806, in a kitchen accident, in Hull, Mrs Lambert reported being struck on the back by a large hanging lump of sugar she had dislodged; she expected that if it had hit her on the head, she would have died.

On 8th June 1815, the Commissioner of Customs acquired the former Neptune Inn, Whitefriargate, as a Custom House. The Inn had opened in 1797, but had never made the expected profit of a first-class coaching inn. The building now houses Boots Chemists.

On 8th June 1821, the troopship Thomas of London was driven on to the Binks sands, in the Humber; the 26 troops, crew, 2 women and a child were rescued, and 1 woman drowned, despite brave attempts by the captain, Lieutenant Pritchard, to save her. The operation by Robert Richardson, master of the Spurn lifeboat, and crew, took 11 hours.

On 8th June 1829, Ira Aldridge, celebrated American actor of African heritage, performed in Hull for the first time, at the Theatre Royal, Humber Street; over a long and distinguished career he visited Hull several times, and performed at the Nag’s Head, Driffield in 1841.

Ira-Aldridge-Covent-Garden-1833-public-domain1