Rank – Hull & East Yorkshire History Calendar

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

November 28th

On 28th November 1427, Richard Reedbarowe received royal assent to erect a lighted beacon at Ravensporne (Spurn Point) to prevent shipwrecks, and to maintain it by charging vessels a fee.

On 28th November 1901, Sarah Hebden of Hodgson Street, Hull, was battered to death by her nephew, Arthur Richardson. He was the first person to be hanged in Hull Prison, Hedon Road on 25.3.1902.

On 28th November 1904, Hull’s first telephone exchange opened at the former Trippett Street Baths. In 1913, Hull’s became the only municipally owned telephone service, after all other services were bought by the Post Office.

On 28th November 1955, Mr John Davies, of J. Arthur Rank Organisation, officially opened the new Cecil Cinema, replacing the building destroyed in the blitz on 8.5.1941. Architects Gelder & Kitchen. Davies was accompanied by his wife, film star Dinah Sheridan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P3–fkaeP8

Cecil cinema

September 20th

On 20th September 1188, St John’s church at Beverley and most of the town were damaged by fire. St John’s remains were not found until 1197.

On 20th September 1535, John Colynson and Thomas Savage, yeomen of Holme on Spalding Moor were declared outlaws after spending more than a year in sanctuary in Ripon. They sought sanctuary in 1534, confessing to stealing a horse. Savage confessed to the murder of Amery Burdett, but Colynson did not confess, though a coroner’s jury found them both responsible, and indicted others as accessories.

On 20th September 1769, Felice de Giardini, famous violinist, played at the start of a 3-day festival to celebrate the installation of the new organ at Beverley Minster, the first festival of its type in the north of England. New music by Handel was performed, including the recently completed Messiah; tickets were 2s6d and 5s.

On 20th September 1779, Mr Foster, Bridlington quay master, reported that John Paul Jones’ American squadron of ships had attacked a large fleet of colliers and ran them into the harbour.

On 20th September 1813, Thomas Nutbrown was born in Eastrington. Probably the same person who, aged 14 in 1828, applied to the Howden poor relief officers for some new clothes, and was granted a second hand coat. He died aged 72 in Leeds Township, Quebec, Canada, on 25 Sept 1885.

On 20th September 1883, Rev Edward Cragg Haynes died aged 62 in Swinefleet, after serving there for 32 years. Born in Barbados, classed as ’free coloured’, had links to the Clapham Sect. Set up a Grammar School in Swinefleet attended among others by Joseph Rank. (christened 3.6.1821)

On 20th September 1902, Stevie Smith was born Florence Margaret Smith in Hull. Poet and novelist, most famous for ‘Not waving but drowning’. D 7.3.1971 see photo

On 20th September 1903, Annie Marshall, 16, domestic servant, from Lissett, was raped, shot twice, suffocated with grass and thrown in the river at Scampston by Charles William Ashton, 19, of Cottingham, farmhand. Ashton knew her well. He was found guilty of murder and hanged at Hull Prison on 11^thDecember the same year.

On 20th September 1954, the Selby to Driffield rail line was closed for regular passenger traffic, a service of one regular non stop train each way plus occasional summer excursions ran until June 1965. The line was abandoned after the last freight train ran later that year.

On 20th September 1955, Robert Greenwood Tarran, of the Wolds, Beverley High Road, Hull, died aged 63. Civil engineering contractor, and founder of Tarran Industries Ltd, former Sheriff of Hull, and chief Air Raid Warden during WW2. He moved the Wilberforce monument, at his own expense, and was responsible for building 20,000 prefabs after the war. He was also suspected of complicity in profiting from deals over council land in Endike Lane, in a law case during which his colleague Digby Willoughby committed suicide.

StevieSmith