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

February 6th

On 6th February 1611, Stephen Taylor, steward of the household and receiver-general at Londesborough House, home of the Earl of Cumberland, bought a barrel of white herrings from Hull merchant Mr Foddle. He also bought sea fish landed at Scarborough and Carlisle, but had bought eels from Thomas Williamson of Hull the previous December.

On 6th February 1889, John William Dishman, aged 10,  Died in the care of Port of Hull Society’s Sailor’s Orphan Home – photo: memorial in Hull Western General Cemetery

On 6th February 1901, William Bernard Traynor, a sergeant in the 2ndBattalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, went to the aid of a wounded man under heavy fire at Bothwell Camp, South Africa, and was severely injured; he was awarded the Victoria Cross ‘for valour’. Traynor was born in Moxon Street, Hull. (31.12.1870)

Orphan deaths, Sailor's Orphan Home
Western General Cemetery

 

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

December 1st

john-hotham-1-sized

 

On 1st December 1644, Sir John Hotham and Captain John Hotham, his son, were tried for treason at the Guildhall, London; both were convicted and condemned to beheading.

On 1st December 1800, Agnes Sharp, aged 24, was interviewed by the Hedon Mayor and one of the Bailiffs to confirm that she was pregnant, that the child (or children) was likely to be born a bastard, in order to claim payment from the parish. The father was a soldier from Sussex whose unit had left Hedon. Eventually, she received 2s6d a week.

On 1st December 1832, Thomas King and William Duesberry stole 3 chickens from John Carter’s farm, Howden. They were arrested and sentenced at Beverley on 14 Oct 1833, Duesberry getting a prison sentence, but King, who had previous form and did not admit the offence, was transported for 7 years. He was given his freedom in 1846 and seems to have died in Hobart in 1859.

On 1st December 1950, The Port of Hull Society’s Sailor’s Orphan Homes changed its name to The Sailors’ Children’s Society and celebrated with a lunch at the Guildhall.  The Society began as a Christian mission to seamen, and began to house ‘orphans’ (children whose father had died) in the 1860s, opening the Newland Homes in the 1890s.

 

October 7th

On 7th October 1659, William Stallen of Patrington was fined for slander, accusing Jeames and Mary Adams of stealing John Reynard’s corn.

On 7th October 1846, the York & North Midland Railway opened the line from Hull to Beverley; on 1.5.1865 the line from York was extended south from Market Weighton.

On 7th October 1894, Ellen Sleeth, aged 14, died in the care of the Port of Hull Society’s Sailor’s Orphan Home. There is a memorial in Western General Cemetery

On 7th October 1920, the sale of the Rolston Estate took place after the sudden death of Major Haworth-Booth, with 1577 acres sold, including 9 farms, Rolston Hall, cottages, waterworks and a rifle range.

Orphan deaths, Sailor's Orphan Home

September 22nd

On 22nd September 1690, Beverley Corporation gave permission to create a racecourse between the Newbald and Walkington roads. Horse racing had probably taken place on Westwood for 300 years, but this was the first time a course was formally laid out.

On 22nd September 1716, Leonard Chamberlain, draper, died at Hesslewood House, Hessle, and left property and estates in Sutton, Stoneferry, Selby, Dunswell and Hessle and his charitable bequests continue to this day. A Presbyterian, he supported those who had been discriminated against on religious grounds, gave money for educating the poor ‘of whatever persuasion or denomination soever’.  Commemorated in Chamberlain Road and Chamberlain Street, Sutton. photo shows one of the Sutton properties

On 22nd September 1761, to mark the coronation of King George III and Queen Charlotte, Col Duncombe’s Battalion of militia drilled in Beverley Market Place, and fired volleys, while the Corporation held a dinner for the officers, the bells rang, and in the evening there were illuminations.

On 22nd September 1778 was the official opening of The Dock, Hull. (It became known as Queen’s Dock after Victoria visited the city in 1854). The first ship in was the whaler Manchester, decorated all over with flags of the nations, followed by the Favourite, the largest ship in the port at 1,000 tons (burthen). 20,000 spectators were entertained by cannon fire and a musket salute from the garrison, and the great and the good were fed and sumptuously entertained.

On 22nd September 1856, Count de Werdinsky died in Hull aged 53, in abject poverty, after variously representing himself as a Polish count, inventor and doctor. He was a bankrupt, a fraudster, and had several counts of assault and indecent assault against women. His memorial is in the Western Cemetery

On 22nd September 1914, the crews of HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, 3 Navy cruisers, were sunk by a German u-boat, with the loss of 1,450 lives. This not only led to a public outcry, but also the need to provide for a large number of orphaned children. Some of the children were admitted by Hull’s Sailors’ Children’s Society and put up in its holiday home in Hornsea, as well as in the Newland Homes. By 1915, 108 children of seamen lost in action were admitted, from across the country.

leonard chamberlain sutton.JPG

 

 

September 21st

On 21st September 1638, Mountjoy Blount, Earl of Newport, sent King Charles’s thanks to Captain William Legge (who replaced Sir John Hotham as governor of Hull) for fortifying Hull and setting up an arsenal for the Scottish campaign.

On 21st September 1875, John William Duncan, aged 14, orphan, left Spring Bank  orphanage to become a cabin boy on a steam ship leaving Hull for Savannah, USA. photo refers to a different organisation – Spring Bank was the home of Hull Mariners’ Church Sailors’ Orphan Society

 

Seamen's orphanage

July 24th

On 24th July 1614, Ralph Hansby founded almshouses for 3 poor persons at Bishop Burton.

On 24th July 1622, Lawrence Taylor, rector of Londesborough,  died intestate, and the York Consistory (Ecclesiastical) Court gave custody of his 6 children, and a 7thchild born in October, to his brother William, to be supported until age 21. No information on the fate of his widow.

On 24th July 1894, John William Russell was shot dead on Albert Dock, Hull, by Arthur Kendall. Russell was trying to defend Crossland from Kendall. Kendall was convicted at York Assizes, his sentence commuted to penal servitude.

On 24th July 1912, a heavy cloudburst over Westwood brought flooding to Beverley town centre. Water was a foot deep on Walkergate.

On 24th July 1942, bus inspector Ernest Goddard, aged 50, and 14 others, including 5 children, were killed in an air raid on Withernsea; as well as 2 bombs, in Queen Street and the bowling green, the German Dornier bomber had used small arms fire on local people.

On 24th July 2011, 5 thieves stole the 300kg statue from Nelson Street, Hull; called Voyage, the statue was created by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir, as a symbol of the relationship between Hull and Iceland.  A replacement statue was unveiled 11.5.2012.

iceland statue plinth.JPGphoto shows the empty plinth.

July 19th

On 19th July 1692, Elizabeth Howe, nee Jackson, aged 57,  was hanged for witchcraft at Salem, Massachusetts with 4 other women; at the age of 3, she was among the Puritans who emigrated from Rowley to found Rowley, Massachusetts.

On 19th July 1750, Hull soldier John Hasselbe made a sworn statement to John Wood, Deputy Mayor, that when he was on duty at Beverley Gate between 1.00 and 3.00, his musket went missing, and he suspected it had been stolen and concealed.

On 19th July 1783, Christopher Atkinson, MP for Hedon & corn factor, was tried in London for perjury, found guilty and committed to prison for 12 months, , first being pilloried at the Corn Exchange, London, and expelled from the House of Commons.  He resigned from his commercial post, but stood again as MP for Hedon in 1796 and 1802 and was elected. He later changed his name to Saville. picture shows Atkinson at the pillory

On 19th July 1786, Hull’s Rev George Lambert visited several sick parishioners, and commented on the contemporary habit of family and friends crowding into the room with the minister, so that the sick person was unable to speak openly.

On 19th July 1794, Edward Bogg, carpenter’s mate,  was shot and killed on board Hull fishing vessel Sarah and Elizabeth Off St Abb’s Head by the crew of a naval press gang on the frigate Aurora; 3 other crew were injured; the coroner’s court returned a verdict of wilful murder by Captain Essington; the captain was sent to the East Indies for several years and never stood trial.

On 19th July 1849, an All England Eleven cricket team played a 30-day match against a Hull amateur side at the Hull Athenaeum Club ground, Anlaby Road. Despite funding from the Hull Sheriff and both MPs, the entrance fee was 1s a day. The professionals won by an innings and 82 runs.

On 19th July 1919, 368 children living at Newland Homes, Cottingham Road, Hull, took part in official peace celebrations included games and setting fire to an effigy of the ex-Kaiser.chrisatkinson MP