Selby – Hull & East Yorkshire History Calendar

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 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

June 14th

On 14th June 1505, Thomas Wryght, husbandman of Hull, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley; the register does not state for what offence he was being pursued.

On 14th June 1702, the congregation of Cottingham church raised 8s 1/4d in a collection for the repair of St Germain’s church at Selby.

On 14th June 1772, John Robinson, yeoman and Susannah Evans, spinster, both of Skipsea, left Susannah’s 3-year-old illegitimate daughter on a dungheap in Gransmoor to die. Robinson was fined, to remain in gaol until the fine was paid; Evans’ sentence appears to have been 2 weeks on bread and water in prison, the crime described in the court record as a ‘misdemeanour’. (Presumably, the child was severely ill, injured and/or disabled if she remained where she was put).

Beverley Minster

May 24th

Edward I

Edward I statue, Hull Guildhall

On 24th May 1300, King Edward I landed in Hessle from the Barton ferry, his retinue taking up 11 vessels and taking 2 days to make the crossings. Galfrid de Selby was paid 13shillings for the crossing. The King went to Hull and then on to Beverley.

On 24th May 1772, Parliament passed an Act to create the Market Weighton Canal, not just to transport goods, but also to prevent regular flooding of 20,000 acres of land.

On 24th May 1930, Amy Johnson landed in Darwin after flying 11,000 miles; the first woman to fly from the UK to Australia; she received the CBE and great public acclaim.

On 24th May 1943, the crew of Lancaster bomber W4303 crashed at Humbleton on a training flight, killing the 8 crew, aged from 21 to 30. The Australian pilot Bryde and flight engineer Nelson are buried in Brandesburton.

On 24th May 1962, Tom Knight and Saif Messin, engineers, and Bryan Webb, deck boy, 15, were trapped and died when the tug Tollman capsized in Hull’s Alexandra Dock while towing the Finnish ship Inio. The skipper and mate were saved. United Towing made changes to towing systems as a result.

May 15th

Flambrough On 15th May 1498, Robert Barker of Wistow, near Selby claimed sanctuary at Beverley’s church of St John, for the murder of John Towree at Wistow on 9^th May.

On 15th May 1591, priest Robert Thorpe, and Thomas Watkinson were executed at York – Thorpe being hanged, drawn and quartered for treason, and Watkinson hanged as a felon for harbouring priests. Both were arrested at Menthorpe on Palm Sunday, when neighbours saw palms being taken into Watkinson’s house, by the local magistrate John Gates.

On 15th May 1613, Lady Grissell Clifford, Countess of Cumberland, died, aged 54 at Londesborough. She appears to have been generous to the local poor, and almost the entire female populations of Londesborough and Shipton attended her funeral. Memorial in Londesbrough church.

On 15th May 1618, Phillip Constable of Wassand Hall was killed in a duel at White Cross, Leven, by Edmund (or Edward) Percy. Constable buried in Goxhill. Difficult to verify any details, except that Philip Constable died in 1618, and that duels were considered a foreign introduction at the time.

On 15th May 1896, a temporary dam created during building work for the Fish Dock extension, Hull, burst, and the sudden rush of water smashed and sank the fishing smack Young Greg.

On 15th May 1951, motor mechanic Edward Slaughter, of the Flambrough lifeboat crew, was awarded an RNLI bronze medal and Mrs Porter’s Award (given annually for the bravest deed of the year by a lifeboat man). A boy was badly injured falling 150 feet from the Flambrough cliffs, and E.S. swam to him, got him on to a stretcher and guided the stretcher to the cliff top.