April 20th

On 20th April 1602, Robert Watkinson of Hemingbrough, aged 23, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London, as a Catholic priest; he was arrested almost immediately on returning to England after ordination at Arras, France.

On 20th April 1803, a sloop was ‘burnt to the water’s edge’ in Hedon harbour.

On 20th April 1808, Thomas Wilbe, 31, of Hull, was hanged at York Castle for raping a girl under 10 years old.

On 20th April 1892, former pupil of Hull Trinity House School, and Chief Officer of the Elliot of Caernarvon, William Henry Ansell, 29, died of yellow fever at Santos.

On 20th April 1976, Rev Wm Whitehead, on the 190thanniversary of the first recorded measurement of distance from Mappleton church to the sea, recorded the distance to the cliff edge.  At 898 ft 10”, it was almost exactly 1,000 feet less than in 1786, an average of 5ft 3” p.a.  Film clip: https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/z8jfb9q

mappleton.JPG

April 13th

On 13th April 1280, Richard de Vescy, also known as Kesham, was offered the post of Rector of North Ferriby by Lady Agnes de Vescy, but Archbishop Wickwane ran a campaign to remove illegitimate clergy, and declined.  Richard de Vescy and several supporters occupied the church, seized its property, and beat up priests and clerks trying to obtain possession ‘almost to death’. The archbishop did not recover the church until October, and ordered some of the supporters to perform penance.  2 years later, Richard de Vesci was appointed rector of Escrick.

On 13th April 1563, Hull Mayor John Smith presided over a council meeting that agreed that no ships in the Haven should carry a fire or lit candle at night on pain of a fine; this was imposed after a vessel called the Dragon was set alight by negligence, and put other ships nearby in danger. A further law was passed in 1584 prohibiting the heating of tar on board ships, and all gunpowder had to be offloaded within 24 hours of docking, on pain of 8 days in prison, and a 20shilling fine.

On 13th April 1743, Mary Maister (nee Cayley) , her baby son and 2 maidservants, died in a fire at the original Maister House, High Street, Hull, which spread quickly up the wooden staircase.  Henry Maister rebuilt the house the following year with a stone staircase. This National Trust property is currently closed.

On 13th April 1838, Hull & Selby Railway ran an excursion from Selby to Hull, returning the same day.  From Howdendike to Hull by packet boat, arriving Hull 1.00, leaving again 5.00p.m. First class and best cabin 8shillings, 2ndclass & common cabin 6shillings.

On 13th April 1886, Ethel Leginska, nee Liggins, was born in Pemberton Street, Sutton-on-Hull. A musical child prodigy,  she made her debut performance as a pianist on her 9thbirthday, at St George’s Hall, Hull, and was playing in London’s Queen’s Hall the following year. At 11, she went to study in Frankfurt. She was a concert pianist, conductor, teacher and composer. She established the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston English Opera company, and National Women’s Symphony Orchestra, and was director of Chicago Women’s Symphony Orchestra. (d 26.2.1970) . She was the first woman to conduct many of the world’s leading orchestras, first woman to conduct grand opera (her own opera), and a pioneer for women in music.

Ethel Leginska

 

April 11th

On 11th April 1493, William Vasour of Newton, Wilberfoss, died in a field in Sutton-on-Derwent after being attacked by Henry Taillour with a dagger.  On 17thApril, Taillour arrived at the church of St John, Beverley, and claimed sanctuary for the crime.

On 11th April 1519, Robert Tailor, a weaver from Stamford Bridge, claimed the sanctuary of St John’s church, Beverley, for debt.

On 11th April 1803, Burnett’s Daily Shipping List reported that 3 vessels arrived in Hull, from Leith, Colchester, and Salou; 4 ships left, for Newcastle, Shields, Memel and Riga.

On 11th April 1941, Mrs Edith Robson died in Sutton House, Sutton-on-Hull. She bought a house as a free maternity home for poor mothers, ran it successfully, and donated it to Hull Corporation. Robson Way is named for her and her husband, Edwin; they donated land for a playing field in Church Street, Sutton, in memory of their daughter Barbara, who died aged 13 of meningitis in 1925.

On 11th April 1963, Karen Briggs was born in Holderness Road, Hull. She is one of Britain’s greatest judokas; she won 4 World Championships and 5 European championships. She was awarded an MBE, and an honorary doctorate from University of Hull 2013. Now Mrs Karen Inman.

karenbriggs2

 

March 13th

On 13th March 1640, on instructions from the Duke of Northumberland, Sir Edward Osborne, for the Council in the North, arranged for 2,000 horse and men to be quartered in and around Hull, together with arms for them.

On 13th March 1801, Hull Trinity House sent a further 6 North Sea Pilots to Yarmouth to support the naval attack on Copenhagen.

On 13th March 1827, Revd Richard Johnson died, aged about 71. Known as Australia’s First Preacher, he and his wife Mary joined the first Fleet, and he became chaplain to the prison colony of New South Wales in 1786. They created a school and both taught up to 200 children. He returned to Hull in 1800 and was curate to Rev Thomas Dykes at St John’s church for a time. (B Welton c1756) picture shows Australia’s first church, built by Richard Johnson in 1793

On 13th March 1942, Alexander Gallacher, 37, donkeyman, of Hull, died by enemy action, whilst a merchant seaman on board SS Destro, of Hull, off Tobruk.

first-church-Aus1793

March 12th

On 12th March 1511, Elizabeth Nelson, spinster of Pollington, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley, for felony and murder of an infant (possibly her own child) at Hull.

On 12th March 1553, on the surrender to King Edward VI of the castle and fortifications at Hull, the King granted to Ralph Constable former monastery lands in Swine, Newton Grange, and all the extensive lands formerly belonging to the dissolved Hospital of St Sepulchre, Hedon. He was also the tenant of the site of Hull Charterhouse.

On 12th March 1622, Josias Lambert, schoolmaster, left the employment of Francis Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, after 9 months teaching ‘scholars’, which may have included some of the Londesborough House household staff and/or their children. The Earl also supported the village school at (Market) Weighton. photo shows Londesborough church

On 12th March 1647, Sir Matthew Boynton died at Bainton aged 56. Sheriff of Yorkshire twice, MP twice (once for Hedon and once for Scarborough), 1stBaronet, of Barmston. He helped capture Sir John Hotham when he intended to surrender Hull to the Royalists. His son Colonel Matthew Boynton was killed fighting for the Royalists in the Battle of Wigan Lane in 1651. (bapt 26.1.1591)

On 12th March 1697, the Brethren of Hull Trinity House charged almost £21 for the launch of the 60-gun Royal Navy ship HMS Kingston from Hessle. Work included laying buoys from the launching site to Hull.

Londesborough

March 10th

Holy Trinity

On 10th March 1425, Hull Holy Trinity Church, was consecrated; building began in 1291 and was interrupted by the Black Death.

On 10th March 1447, Henry VI issued a charter enlarging the county of Hull to include Hessle, North Ferriby, Swanland, West Ella, Kirk Ella, Tranby, Willerby, Wolfreton, Anlaby, the site of Haltemprice Priory and Derringham Dike.

On 10th March 1623, George Tummond, butcher, of Patrington, was found dying at sunrise in Winestead, after starting to walk home from the alehouse in Ottringham. Holderness was notorious for its floods.

On 10th March 1800, George Hudson, the “Railway King’, was born in Howsham.  He  made a great business and political career from sharp practice and bribery (was MP for Sunderland, and Lord Mayor of York). He became hugely rich, but was disgraced, and imprisoned for debt, though released when his debts were paid by public subscription. In 1845, he bought the Londesborough Estate for £470,000. D14.12.1871

On 10th March 1823, John Bacchus Dykes was born in Hull. By the age of 10, was assistant organist at St John’s Church, Myton. Became a vicar, and composed over 300 hymn tunes, including ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save’ and ‘We plough the fields and scatter’. (d 22.1.1876)

On 10th March 1921, Mr J.H. Tate proposed a motion at Hornsea Golf Club that ’Old Jack be shot’! It is assumed Old Jack was the horse used to pull mowers and rollers on the course.

On 10th March 1954, Alex May, master of the tug Fenman, died in hospital after the tug was overrun by the ship she was towing, the Rudolf, and sank, on the way into Hull’s Alexandra Dock. 2 of the crew were swept away. There was 1 survivor.

February 29th

On 29th February 1912, Frederick Richard Soulsby, Master of the steamship Bayardo, was examined as part of a Formal Investigation in Hull Law Courts into the stranding and loss of his ship, returning from Gothenburg to Hull. The Bayardo went aground on 21st January on the Middle Sand in the Humber and could not be refloated. Soulsby was found to be at fault, and was severely censured.

On 29th February 1920, Ronald William Huzzard was born in Hull. A Quaker, he refused to be recruited during WW2, and was an active peace campaigner; he was the first General Secretary of Labour Action for Peace, and was awarded the Frank Cousins Peace Award by the TGWU. (died 30.12.1988)

On 29th February 1960, Hull’s last sidewinder trawler was launched at Beverley. The Arctic Corsair was built by Cook, Welton & Gemmell for the Boyd Line. It is now a museum run by volunteers, moored in the River Hull.

Arctic Corsair

February 28th

On 28th February 1803, Burnett’s Daily Shipping List reported that no ships arrived in Hull, and nothing sailed, for the 2ndday in a row. A heavy gale on Saturday and Sunday 26th& 27thresulted in a number of ships losing their anchors, running ashore and collisions. 8 ships were named as affected.

On 28th February 1823, the conditions of employment of the Matron of the workhouse at Nafferton recorded she was paid 5 guineas a year, plus 5 chaldrons of coals and half a load of whins; her tasks included mending clothes and laundry. There was also a Workhouse Master. (Nafferton was included in Driffield poor law union in 1836).

On 28th February 1826, Joseph Robinson Pease, Hull banker, reported in his diary that confidence in banks was being restored, that the credit of Liddell & Pease Bank stood high, and he believed that the Hull banks ‘never stood better’ after the recent national economic crisis.

pease

February 25th

On 25th February 1325, Nicholas le Couper conveyed property in Aldegate, abutting on ‘Wycote Dyk’, to Robert de Preston, draper.

On 25th February 1803, Burnett’s Daily Shipping List reported the arrival of 1 ship from Wells (Wells-next-the Sea, Norfolk?) and 14 ships left the port, for the Davis Straits, London, Lisbon, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Valencia, and Amsterdam.

On 25th February 1862, Miss Turner and Miss Broadley paid for the building work, and donated the land, for Turner Court, Midland Street, Hull. This is the only example of Model Dwellings built outside London by the Labourer’s Friend Society, (founded by Lord Shaftesbury) which became the Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes. The first tenants of flat No 8 were James and Mary Ann Adam, 38, their 9 children and 1 grandchild.

On 25th February 1905, an International Commissionin Paris reported that the Russian Rozhestvensky did all he could to prevent Hull trawlers being fired on in the “Russian Outrage’ (also known as the Dogger Bank Incident’) which killed 3 Hull men. Russia voluntarily paid £66,000 to the fishermen.

On 25th February 1971, Rupert Alec-Smith, Lord Mayor of Hull, formally opened BBC Radio Humberside.

Russian Outrage

February 24th

On 24th February 1814, John Taylor, aged 62, of Soffham Farm, Sutton-on-Hull, was in Chamberlain Road, on his way home from Hull, when he was shot by a man who leapt out from the hedge, robbed him of £30 and ran off. Taylor died a week later, but had identified his assailant as James Forbes, an Irishman. Forbes was tried at York but acquitted despite being identified, for lack of corroborating evidence.

On 24th February 1942, Charles James Kent of Bristol Road, Hull, a foreman in the Rescue Party Service, was awarded the George Medal for gallantry in the rescue of Mrs Crawford (deceased) and Miss Crawford. They were trapped when their house in Eva’s Terrace, De la Pole Avenue, was demolished, and Kent managed to crawl to them and create space for jacks to be used.

On 24th February 1943, Thomas Cooper Kinchin, aged 27, 2ndofficer, of North Ferriby, was lost by enemy action aboard SS Stockport of Grimsby, an Atlantic convoy rescue ship.

Blitz