January 26th

St Andrews Dock memorial
Zebedee’s Yard

On 26th January 1509, William Ivenson, Hull tailor, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley for debt.

On 26th January 1516, John Catton, husbandman, of Allerthorpe, claimed sanctuary at the church of St John, Beverley, for felony.

On 26th January 1884, former pupil of Hull Trinity House School John Blakeston drowned after falling into the sea while reefing sails on the Barque Cape City off Rosario, Cape Horn.

On 26th January 1926, Ronnie Hilton was born Adrian Hill  in Hull. A singer, had 9 top 20 hits in the 1950s, and was also a radio presenter and pantomime artiste.  d 21.2.2001

On 26th January 1968, Hull trawler Kingston Peridot made her last contact by radio. See 10.1

On 26th January 1972, students at Hull University held a sit-in, called The January 26 Movement, in the Students Union building. It was part of an anti-apartheid campaign to persuade Hull University to divest itself of shares in Reckitt & Colman, which had extensive interests in South Africa and Rhodesia. The sit-in ended on 7th February.

ronnie-hilton-a-windmill-in-old-amsterdam-1965

January 9th

On 9th January 1779, Morfitt Kilham, Richard Basehead, Isaac Cockshaw, John Emerson and Robt Fowler were each paid 1s for a day’s work filling the ice house on Beilby Thompson’s estate at Escrick Hall from the river, together with a share in a cheese worth 4s8d.

On 9th January 1836, Hull Trinity House provided relief to the families of men whose vessels were shipwrecked at the Davis Straits fishery.

On 9th January 1875, drivers Charles Sissons and William Jackson, and conductor Edward Read staffed Hull’s first tram when the Beverley Road line opened, and carried 1,116 passengers on the first day. The fare for the whole distance was 2d. Two trams operated a half hourly service, hauled by Flemish horses.

On 9th January 1935, Clarence Tomlinson aged 17, and 12 (some sources say 14) shipmates, died on board trawler Edgar Wallace off St Andrews Dock, Hull, when the ship foundered on a sand bank and sank, returning to home dock after trip to Bear Island.  The engineer of the salvage team also died when the tug Boatman capsized. 3 survived.

 

 

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 9th

On 9th December 1644, Capt John Hotham had a second trial, this time for betraying the trust placed in him as a parliamentary commander. Found guilty and sentenced to beheading on 1stJanuary.

On 9th December 1754, pensioners in Trinity House almshouses were required to attend every Divine Service in the chapel, or lose one week’s pay for every default.

On 9th December 1917, the Spurn lifeboat rescued the crew of the steam ship Florence of Stockton when they ran aground in heavy seas. Coxswain Robert Cross jumped into the sea with a line, and with crewman G. Martin, stood on the sands until all of the crew were safely in the lifeboat. Cross received the RNLI Silver Medal, and Martin received a Monetary Award.

On 9th December 1959, half of the tower of St Martin’s Church, Wharram Percy, collapsed in a storm, 10 years after the last service held in this abandoned village, now probably the subject of more archaeological investigations than any other place in England.

Wharram Percy

December 7th

john-hotham-1-sized

 

On 7th December 1644, Sir John Hotham’s execution date, set for 16.12, was put back after Lady Hotham appealed for more time for him to settle his affairs.

On 7th December 1791, 22 months after being apprenticed at sea, John Sheriff, pupil of Hull Trinity House School, was allowed a land job in the House, ‘on account of his being twice shipwrecked had been discouraged from a further perseverance’.

On 7th December 1958, the crew of Flamborough lifeboat Friendly Forester saved 2 Bridlington fishing boats and landed their crews of 8 men.

 

 

December 3rd

grammar school

 

On 3rd December 1611, William Gee died in Bishop Burton, aged 63.  MP for Hull and a generous benefactor, he left more than £1,000 in bequests to the poor. Gave most of the cost of the new Grammar School. (baptised 16.9.1565)

On 3rd December 1614, Sir John Sheffield, his brothers Edmund and Philip all drowned, with their servants, when the Whitgift ferry across the River Ouse was upset by an unruly horse.

On 3rd December 1805, Abraham Turner, former pupil of Hull Trinity House School, wrote to the House with a report of the Battle of Trafalgar, in which he had been wounded, on board HMS Africa.

November 25th

On 25th November 1641, Nicholas Pearson, parish clerk at St Mary’s Beverley, wrote this rhyme in the parish register, as a reminder of the dates when the Catholic church traditions forbade the celebration of marriage: ‘When Advent comes do thou refrain till Hillary set ye free again. Next Septuagissima saith ye nay But when Low Sunday comes thou may. Yet at Rogation thou must tarry Till Trinity shall bid ye marry.’ However, Pearson was a Puritan, showing perhaps that many traditions continued in the Church of England.

On 25th November 1818, Hull Trinity House started a fund to build cottages for the Spurn lifeboat crew, to help the lifeboat get under way more quickly after a call. £800 was raised.

On 25th November 1857 (or 1851) died when the steam packet Empress collided with the Ouse ferry in the dark at Whitgift. 3 passengers from Sheffield also died.  Verdict of accidental drowning by the carelessness of the ferrymen. photo –  Whitgift

Whitgift

October 31st

On 31st October 1640, the gentry of Cottingham, Swanland and other villages petitioned Sir John Conyers to remove his regiment to other quarters, as they were eating up all their cattle fodder and supplies, and many other ‘insupportable damages and dangers’. Many troops had already been removed from Hull into the surrounding villages for similar reasons. The petition was not successful, although the troops did look for other quarters.

On 31st October 1646, Sir Robert Hildyard of Patrington was fined £610 as a Royalist (delinquent) in order to recover his goods which had been sequestered by Parliament. He was a member of the King’s Privy Council.

On the same day, Michael Wharton of Beverley was fined £1,600 for the same reason. He had been a captain in the Royalist army.

On 31st October 1793, John Woodhead, mason, was killed at work on the building site of the Neptune Inn, Whitefriargate. Hull Trinity House gave his widow a gratuity of £5 5s.

On 31st October 1833, the Humber pilots’ work for that day included taking men from Trinity House to relay the Bull buoy.

On 31st October 1929, George Jackson Bentham died suddenly, while boarding a train home, in the company of a young lady not his wife. Hull city councillor, JP, and MP for Gainsborough, he was the son of the founder of Wm Jackson & Son, and the company’s managing director. He changed his name by deed poll to that of his Liberal hero, Jeremy Bentham.

 

Pilot Office

October 29th

On 29th October 1810, Hull Trinity House delivered the first Spurn lifeboat, arriving at the Point from South Shields towed by the brig Thomas. (and see 15.11)

On 29th October 1889, Daniel Patten, aged 25, died of enteric fever at the Colonial Hospital, Gibraltar; the former pupil of Hull Trinity House School was 2nd officer of the SS Marengo.

On 29th October 1829, Rawcliffe merchant and eccentric Jemmy Hirst, died aged 91.  He travelled in a wicker carriage, driven by sails or by his pet bull, Jupiter. Created a flying machine and other contraptions. Wore a waistcoat of drakes’ feathers, a lambskin hat 3 yards in circumference, harlequin breeches and a red coat with blue sleeves to the races. Went hunting riding his pet bull and used pigs as pointers.

Jemmy Hirst

October 27th

On 27th October 1720, Ann Watson, nee Headon, of White House, Stoneferry, left her estate at Stoneferry for a hospital for widows or daughters of clergymen, old maids, and for a school. In Sutton she left 26s p.a. to distribute bread to the poor who attended divine service that day.  She left several other bequests in different parishes; Ann Watson Street is later named for her; she is buried in Hedon, and has memorials there and in St James Church, Sutton.

On 27th October 1849, Hull Trinity House purchased chalkstone to protect the Spurn lifeboat cottages from the sea, as high tides and gravel extraction had greatly damaged the Point.

On 27th October 1907, Charles Henry Wilson died aged 74 at Warter Priory. Son of the founder of the Wilson Line, he was MP for Hull, then Hull West, a JP, and High Sheriff of Hull. He paid for the Seaman’s Mission in Posterngate (now the Mission pub). Deputy Lieutenant of the East Riding, he became the 1stLord Nunburnholme in 1906. photo shows part of his memorial in Warter church.

Chas Wilson Nunburnholme