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.

10th May

On 10th May 1346, John de Manby and Eobert de Seton, both of Beverley, were convicted before the king at Nottingham of the death of Adam Coppendale, merchant of Beverley, at Barton on Humber.

On 10th May 1377, King Edward III’s parliament issued a statute pardoning the Mayor and town of Hull. I have not found what the pardon was for, and Edward was very ill at the time, and died in June.

On 10th May 1527, Thomas Richerdson, husbandman of Lockington, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley, for debt.

On 10th May 1595, the Howden churchwardens ‘paid to the lame soldiers by the Chief Constable warrant 21s8d’.

On 10th May 1707, Hull-born Dr Thomas Watson, Bishop of St David’s made proposals to contribute to the cost of rebuilding almshouses in North Church Side, Hull. Later correspondence indicated that he wished to influence the rules by which they were to be managed.

On 10th May 1854, William Marshall’s flax mill at Patrington was burnt down, throwing 100 people out of work.

On 10th May 1866, asked the town council to cover a foul ditch where sewage collected in pools; the ditch remained open. Hedon had suffered badly from cholera in 1849. The ditch was not covered until 1873.

On 10th May 1910, Robt R. Leonard & Son sold at auction the effects of the Hull Racecourse Company, including luxury furniture and fittings from the grandstand, and grounds equipment. The racecourse was at Twyers land, Preston South.

On 10th May 1946, Maureen Lipman was born in Hull.  TV and film actor, stage performer, and writer, CBE. Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hull in 1994.

 

 

April 26th

 

john-hotham-1-sized

On 26th April 1642, the Hull Mayor received a letter from King Charles (now in York) demanding admittance to the town, and confirming Sir John Hotham as a traitor, and not to be obeyed.

On 26th April 1796, Capt Metcalfe, of Hull Trinity House, assisted in quelling the second day of riots in Hull. The price of bread was high, and starvation a reality, poor people spending 60-80% of their income on food. A crowd sacked a mill outside town, seized flour and meal, and took goods being landed from Lincolnshire. They attacked market traders and insisted on paying a lower price for goods.  The Riot Act was read; 2 people were jailed.

On 26th April 1828, Matthew Harrison, 40, of Beverley, was hanged at York Castle for horse stealing, with 2 associates.

On 26th April 1867, the Hull whaler Diana returned to port after 353 days away, mostly spent trapped in ice in Frobisher Bay in the Arctic. 10 (or 13) men died of scurvy and dysentery.  Captain  John Gravill is buried in Hull General Cemetery.

 

April 21st

On 21st April 1499, Hull barber Richard Colyn sought sanctuary in the church of St John, Beverley, and confessed to committing homicide, and to being to an accessory, as he was present at the death of a man called Scotton, killed at Hull on 18thApril.

On 21st April 1803, Burnett’s Daily Shipping List reported 2 ships arriving from London, and 5 ships leaving port, heading for London, Hastings, Koningsberg, Amsterdam and Yarmouth.

On 21st April 1884, William Goodin, aged 34, with other mill workers, tried to put out a fire at Barker’s mill, Wawne Road, Sutton, with buckets, but was badly burned, and the mill was destroyed.

On 21st April 1982, the North Sea ferry Norland, captained by Don Ellerby, left Hull for Portsmouth, on the way to the Falklands as part of the Task Force, with 60 volunteers from the regular crew; she carried 800 men of 2 Para to San Carlos. Hull trawlers Farnella, Cordella, Junella, Northella and Pict were also requisitioned by the Navy and used as mine-sweepers. Capt Ellerby was later awarded the CBE. photo shows the Norland in the Falklands.

Norland in Falklands

 

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, 2ndbaronet, 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. 1stBaron Rank. (B 22.12.1888 at Chestnut Villas, Holderness Rd, Hull).

joseph rank

March 14th

On 14th March 1293, as part of the process of creating his new port of Kingston upon Hull, King Edward I had Myton valued, at £24 8s a year, including 2 windmills, a grange, a sheep farm, arable land and 2 areas called Southwick and Milnwick.  He purchased lands in both Wyke and Myton from Meaux Abbey, but it took many years before they were content that they had been suitably repaid.

On 14th March 1471, during the Wars of the Roses, King Edward IV landed about 2,000 men at Ravenspurn when a storm drove them into the Humber for shelter. Some ships landed as far west as Paull.

On 14th March 2013, Norman Collier died aged 87. Comedian, famed for TV stand-up routines, including the ‘faulty mic’. (b 25.12.1925 in Grotto Square, Mason Street, Hull)

normancollier

January 6th

On 6th January every Plough Monday, in the15th and 16th centuries, Hull Trinity House  Guild presented the Miracle play of Noah in the streets of Hull.

On 6th January 1600, George Wolstenholme, Esq (59), Thomas Wilson, Esq (48), Richard Thomas (60), James Norrison (39), Robert Noke (43), Francis Mitchell (46), and Henry Hutchinson (29), all of Hull, murdered Captain Thomas Fletcher, of the ship Nancy, of Hull, mate Guy Foster, and William Forest and George Fowler, seamen of same ship. All 7 were convicted at York on Monday 2ndApril 1600 of murder and smuggling, and their bodies given to surgeons of York and Hull to be dissected and anatomized.

On 6th January 1764, flooding was so bad that the Holderness turnpike was unusable  between Hull and Bilton until 1stApril. One man and a horse were drowned attempting the route. The building of Holderness Drain was begun that year.

On 6th January 1839, the Nafferton house of Mr Thompson, a miller, was destroyed in ‘the Great Storm’ and his 2 sons, his daughter and a servant girl were all killed. Joseph Robinson Pease reported salt spray from the South-West on windows at Kilnwick Percy (i.e. it had come from the nearest coast in that direction, South Wales). photo shows Kilnwick Percy from the air

On 6th January 1840, William Dunn pleaded guilty at Beverley Sessions Court to a burglary. He was convicted and sentenced to transportation for life.

kilnwick percy.JPG

 

December 21st

wm constable

On 21st December 1633, the Duke of Cumberland’s staff bought supplies of oysters (600 at 6d per 100) for Christmas at Londesborough House on his behalf when he was in York on business.

On 21st December 1721, William Constable was born at Burton Constable. He inherited the Constable estate, and is chiefly remembered for restoration work on the Hall, and as an amateur scientist and collector of art and artefacts; his Cabinet of Curiosities may be the most complete in any stately home. He became grossly overweight, suffering from gout, probable hypochondria and addiction to medication containing opiates. (d 18.5.1791) see photo with his sister Winifred

On 21st December 1824, Richard Arthur Worsop of Howden Hall recorded in his diary that he supported a charity which had been continued by the owners of the Hall since the 17th Century; he gave 6d each to 40 poor people of the parish, and a bushel each of wheat and coals to a further 10. He recorded several other charitable gifts in his diary, including a sheep to the workhouse.

On 21st December 1838, Hull banker Joseph Robinson Pease established, and was elected President of, Hull Labourers’ Friendly Society, having established a society in Hessle which had built a cottage there.  There were already dozens of friendly societies in Hull by this time, and this new group may have been more of a building society than a self help group. Pease was certainly no democrat (he described democracy as a ‘pestilent curse’).

On 21st December 1857, Henry Smith Bright, manager, Hull Cotton and Flax Mills, was found guilty at York Assizes of forging deeds of transfers of shares, and sentenced to 6 months’ penal servitude. His actions appear to have precipitated the closure of the Hull Flax and Cotton Mills and the bankruptcy of the partners in the Harrison Watson & Co bank on 24.9.1857.

On 21st December 1957, Edward Benn, 43, bosun, of Hull Rd, Hedon, died as result of accident aboard Hull trawler Cape Palliser off Iceland.

November 27th

On 27th November 1642, Royalist soldiers claiming to be Danish sailors, were in Hull as spies. Their aim was to open the gates when they saw a signal from a troop of Cavaliers coming from York. They opened the gates, but the lantern belonged to a miller returning home. Their cover had been blown; the Cavaliers had been routed and did not arrive. 2 of the Royalists were killed and the rest taken prisoner. N.B. I have not been able to verify this story.

On 27th November 1948, William Jackson & Son Ltd opened the first self-service grocery store in the area (beating Cusson’s by only 10 days). The experiment failed, requiring an extra employee to be taken on, and the store reverted to normal service within a year. photo shows an early Jackson’s store.

On 27th November 1969, the tug Hullman capsized in the River Humber off Grimsby whilst towing the Conoco Arrow, and 3 of her 10 crew died. The tug was recovered and returned to service. On 23.10.1971, she was lost in the North Sea while towing a crane barge.

Wm Jackson & Co

November 21st

On 21st November 1798, Elizabeth Darling, of Scale Lane, Hull, on the death of her father, continued to run his business as apothecary, although as a woman she was unable to train formally.

On 21st November 1823, Joseph R. Pease reported in his diary a fire in their oil windmill; due to thick walls, adjoining warehouses were not affected. 3 fire engines attended. Pease blamed the carelessness of 2 workers.

On 21st November 1940, Sidney Hall, aged 17, mess boy, of Hull, was lost by enemy action with all 45 crew of SS Cree of London; the Merchant Navy  ship, returning to UK from Sierra Leone, was torpedoed by a German submarine.