military – Hull & East Yorkshire History Calendar

12th May

On 12th May 1585, Dr Thomas Vavasour died of diseas in Hull Castle after being imprisoned in damp and overcrowded conditions with the whole of his household for many years. A physician and scholar, he was a prominent Catholic, was excommunicated and arrested. He was buried in Drypool churchyard, which stood within the garrison walls of Hull.

On 12th May 1698, Hull grassman Hugh Stringer was given a contract by the town council to cart away rubbish, clean the streets, and ensure that residents kept the street clean in front of their house.

On 12th May 1855, Sir (William) Alfred Gelder, FRS, FRIBA was born in North Cave. As an architect, was involved in clearing Hull’s Victorian slums and reconstructing the city, in partnership with City Architect Joseph Hirst. Liberal, Mayor of Hull 1899-1903, later MP for Brigg and Hull alderman. Received the freedom of the city 1930. Died 26.8.41.

On 12th May 1859, Paull fisherman Thomas Marritt drowned whilst fishing in Whitebooth Roads, in the Humber. His body was found in the river between Hessle and Hull in June.

On 12th May 1874, Grace (8) and Lucy (7) Cuthbert of Easington died when their clothing became trapped in the machinery of the family mill, where they were playing.

On 12th May 1903, the Prince and Princess of Wales (later George V & Queen Mary) unveiled a statue to Queen Victoria in Hull; their escort was the first task of the newly created East Riding of Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry.

On 12th May 1915, an anonymous person wrote a letter addressed to George, at German Pork Shop, Waterworks Street, Hull, warning him that his shop was to be ‘broken up’ because of anti-German feelings as a result of the sinking of the Lusitania. Hohenrein’s Pork Butchers was attacked by a mob.

On 12th May 1945, retired Hull City Architect Joseph Hirst died aged 81 in Selby. Was responsible, with Mayor Alfred Gelder, for the transformation of Hull in the late 19thC, with the creation of Victoria Square, City Hall, and Alfred Gelder St. His designs include the Market Hall, Beverley Road Baths, Carnegie Library, Pickering Almshouses, Castle Hill Hospital. He was involved in planning new council estates in the 1920s. Wrote “The Blockhouses of Hull’ and ‘Armorial Bearings of KuH’. (b24.5.1863 South Milford) Hirst appears to have no memorial in Hull.

On 12th May 2013, Professor George William Gray, CBE, died aged 86. He moved to Hull in 1946 and worked as a laboratory demonstrator at Hull University. Went on to lead the research which resulted in LCD technology. Received many awards, including Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Kyoto International Gold Medallist. He is commemorated in the George Gray Room in Hull History Centre.

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.

April 18th

On 18th April 1801, Hull Trinity House gave financial support to 7 mariners who had returned home after being taken prisoner in the war against the French.

On 18th April 1864, Hull Mayor John Lumsden called a public meeting in Hull Town Hall, Lowgate. The topic was a petition to invite the Italian nationalist General Garibaldi to Hull. He was in England, but unable to come to Hull, and returned to fight in Italy.

On 18th April 1911, Francis Frederick Johnson, was born in Bridlington, where he lived all his life. An architect, his early work was mostly local, and he did much restoration work on country houses. His work was increasingly recognised nationally and internationally, and he worked up to his death aged 84. He was awarded the CBE, for work including St Margaret’s Hilston; St Michael & All Angels, Orchard Park; Winestead Rectory restoration; Cottingham Rectory. Many of the buildings he designed were given listed status in 2017. He is buried at Reighton with his life partner, Edward Ingram, local historian. (d 29.9.1995) photo shows Hilston church

On 18th April 1932, the Thorpe Enquiry into land deals on Hull Council reported its findings that Sir Digby Willoughby (who had committed suicide the month before), Alderman Francis Finn, and builder Robert Tarran, were involved in corrupt land deals.

hilston church & tower.JPG

April 17th

On 17th April 1595, a week after the birth of Frances Clifford at Londesborough House, her parents gave a feast for 70 people, including friends and family and local people; the menu included caviar, 11 types of fish, lamprey pies, turbot pies, eel, mutton, chicken and rabbit, salad, cheesecake and fruit tart and custard.

On 17th April 1627, army deserter Richard Towler was taken under escort to Hull with orders to either rejoin the forces heading for Germany from which he had deserted, or be returned to York as a prisoner. 1,350 soldiers had sailed from Hull in 1626 to support the King of Denmark in the Thirty Years War.

On 17th April 1797, Hull Trinity House paid £1 5 shillings to William Taylor and Robert Masgill, of the ship Jupiter, which had been captured by the French.

On 17th April 1803, George Wallis, aged 73, died in Hull. Hull’s most prominent locksmith, he created a collection of arms and armour, and opened what may have been Hull’s first museum. His painting can be seen in Wilberforce House. His son George invented a swivel-mounted harpoon gun for the whaling trade. (b 20.4.1731 in Lockington).

On 17th April 1878, George Herbert Stancer, was born in Pocklington. He was a sports journalist and administrator of cycling associations. He beat the record for a tandem tricycle ride from London to Brighton in 1910 (with L.S. Leake) in 5hrs 59mins 51secs. He was awarded the OBE, Died October 1962.

Geo Herbert Stancer

April 15th

On 15th April 1643, Captain John Hotham wrote to Queen Henrietta Maria that he had a plan involving both Hull and Lincoln, which would be a real service to the King.

On 15th April 1696, the Skipsea manor court appraised the value of timber which Stephen Grenestowe had found on the beach at 10d, which he had to pay to the Lord of the Manor, who owned all items washed up.

On 15th April 1801, James Glenmon and 2 shipmates, returning from being held prisoner in Holland, received financial relief of 7s6d from Hull Trinity House.

On 15th April 1807, at the Humber Tavern, Paull, compensation was agreed by the Army to landowners and tenants (of at least 3 years) when land was taken to build Paull Battery to defend Hull against Napoleon.

On 15th April 1912, Joseph Groves Boxhall, 28, was 4^thOfficer on the Titanic. In charge of lifeboat No.2, whose 25 passengers were the first survivors to reach the Carpathia. (b.23.3.1884 in Hull) right on photo below

On the same day, Algernon Henry Barkworth, 48, gentleman of Hessle, was a passenger on the Titanic. He survived by jumping from the ship and later climbing aboard a lifeboat. Few people in the water survived; he put his survival down to wearing a fur coat over his lifebelt and carrying a suitcase. far left on photo, taken at Tranby House, Hessle

On 15th April 1941, a heavy air raid sank a lighter in Hull’s Alexandra Dock, damaged rolling stock and warehouses, and demolished No 22 Warehouse.

Algy Barkworth, Catherine Hester, Evie, Edmund with Henry Edmund & Dorothy tranby Hse

April 6th

On 6th April 1486, John Heryson, husbandman of Middleton on the Wolds, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley, for killing Thomas Metcalfe of Melmerby with a staff earlier that day.

On 6th April 1713, Brigadier General Luke Lillingstone died aged 60 in North Ferriby. He had served in Ireland and Martinique. He is chiefly known for advertising Ferriby Grange for sale due to military debts. His monument is in Ferriby church. see picture

On 6th April 1816, George Hudson, aged 15 or 16, was fined 12s6d for bastardy. It appears he then left his affluent home in Howsham under a cloud and moved to York. He eventually became known as the ‘Railway King’.

On 6th April 1911, Hull Corporation Transport introduced free passes for blind people.

Luke_Lillingston

March 30th

john-wilson-carmichael-the-shipyard-at-hessle-cliff-1820_a-l-10072237-8880731

On 30th March 1693, John Frame’s shipyard at Hessle Cliffs launched the man-of-war, the Humber, for the Navy, of 1205 tons, carrying 490 men and 80 guns. John Wilson Carmichael’s painting of the shipyard at Hessle Cliffs is in Ferens Art Gallery

On 30th March 1757, Mary Ellah of Broomfleet was hanged at York Castle, and her body burnt, for murdering her husband.

On 30th March 1782, scaffolding collapsed while builders were installing a roof beam in the new Congregational Chapel in Fish Street, Hull; 5 men fell to the ground, 3 of them seriously injured.

On 30th March 1851, the census figures recorded that more than half of the Hull population did not attend church on the given date, and that around 15% of the population described themselves as Church of England. (N.B. figures may have serious omissions, e.g. prisons, workhouses).

On 30th March 1860, the Turner’s Trust (Beverley) charity was registered as part of the will of printer Matthew Turner, to distribute sums of £10 10s each to well conducted, honest, deserving, sober and discreet domestic servants. At its first distribution in 1862, there were 240 applicants, of whom 68 were successful. The charity still operates. Turner is buried in Coronation Gardens.

March 29th

On 29th March 1241, William de Forz II, count of Aumale, Lord of Holderness, died of illness beside the Mediterranean, en route to Jerusalem, aged between 45 and 50. At times close to Kings John and Henry III, he changed sides and rebelled several times, was excommunicated twice, having to seek sanctuary in Fountains Abbey, but was pardoned.

On 29th March 1689, Sir John Hotham, 2^ndbaronet, was buried, after dying aged 57 of a violent cold. He had just been greeted enthusiastically as the new governor of Hull, having come from Holland with William of Orange. He was the grandson of Sir John Hotham, the Hull governor who turned away Charles I.

On 29th March 1759, John Courtney recorded in his diary that the Beverley Assembly Rooms in North Bar Street/Lairgate hosted ‘a very splendid show of ladies and gentlemen and a very agreeable ball’; Beverley lacked industry, but was a desirable place for gentry to build large Georgian houses.

On 29th March 1776, Eliza Bordington and Thomas Akerman, 37, of Flambrough, were hanged at York Micklegate Bar for poisoning Mr Bordington (presumably Eliza’s husband), and Eliza’s body was also burnt.

On 29th March 1874, John William Duncan, aged 12, was a member of Hull’s Spring Bank Orphanage’s new brass band. The band gave its first performance, marching from the Trinity House Almshouses, Beverley Road, to Victoria Pier and back. They only knew 4 tunes. They went on to play by request at cricket matches, school treats and concerts.

On 29th March 1972, Joseph Arthur Rank died aged 83. The son of Joseph Rank (see 28.3), he ran his flour milling company, and became interested in films began as a way of getting the Methodist message across. He set up The Rank Organisation in 1937, producing films, and owning 650 cinemas and 5 film studios. 1^stBaron Rank. (B 22.12.1888 at Chestnut Villas, Holderness Rd, Hull).

joseph rank

March 28th

On 28th March 1783, Alexander Cavalie Mercer was born in Hull. He was a British artillery officer who served at Waterloo and wrote a journal of his experiences. Also a painter of merit. (died 9.11.1868)

On 28th March 1854, Joseph Rank was born in Holderness Road, Hull. His father was Hull miller James Rank. Joseph built his own mill and came to automate the flour milling process. He set up the business which became Rank Hovis McDougall. He set up a number of charities. Father of J. Arthur Rank.(d 13.11.1943)

On 28th March 1864, the first train of the Hull & Hornsea Railway left Wilmington Railway Station, Hull, at noon. Financial problems caused the company to be taken over by the North Eastern Railway Company 2 years later.

On 28th March 1882, the head of Withernsea pier and the saloon were washed away in high seas, as the damage done in 1882 was cheaply repaired with timber, not iron. They were never replaced.

On 28th March 2011, Dave Foster and Mick Bateman bought Bettison’s Folly, Hornsea, for £1 plus legal fees. The tower was built in the 1850s by brewer William Bettison, supposedly so that his servant could watch for his return home and have his meal ready as soon as he arrived. A siren was put on the tower during WW2, when it was also used as an air-raid lookout.

Bettison's Folly

March 15th

On 15th March 1471, King Edward IV’s army regrouped at Kilnsea, but met resistance in Holderness, with 6,000 men led by Sir John Westerdale, vicar of Keyingham, and/or Martin de la See, Lord of Barmston; Westerdale was later imprisoned in the Marshalsea. Edward was allowed to pass to Hull, where Mayor John Tutbury shut the gates and refused to let him in. From there Edward proceeded to York via Beverley.

On 15th March 1618, the 1^strecorded Kiplingcotes Derby was run; it is said to date back to 1519. The winner receives £50, but the 2^ndreceives the sum of the entry fees, which may be much more. Even in wartime, severe weather or foot and mouth outbreaks, at least 1 horse has completed the course to ensure the continuity of the event. In 2018, due to flooding, one rider walked the course. Race rules state that if the race is not run one year, it must never be run again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJu7HI3SXIc

On 15th March 1783, Thomas Perronet Thompson was born in Hull. He was an anti-slavery activist, MP, businessman, soldier, author and first governor of Sierra Leone (d 6.9.1869)

On 15th March 1979, Helen Grocock, 13 years, failed to win the Kiplingcotes Derby when her pony collapsed and died a few yards from the finishing post.

On 15th March 2001, Farmer Stephen Crawford was the only participant in the Kiplingcotes Derby, due to foot and mouth disease. Course clerk Sue Hillaby appealed to people to stay away.