March 25th

Warton's Hospital.JPG

 

On 25th March 1725, Sir John Warton died at 77 in Beverley. He was reputed to be the richest man in England, even though his father’s estates had been depleted by fines to Parliament for Royalism. He was elected MP for Hull, and twice MP for Beverley, but took little active interest in Parliament.  In his will, he left £4,000 for the repair of Beverley Minster, £1,000 to Warton’s Hospital, £500 to the charity school, £100 to the poor and £100 to each parish in Beverley. photo shows Warton’s Hospital

On 25th March 1780, Peter Horsfield, a negro servant to Mr Knowsley, curate of Boynton, married Elizabeth Lawson, daughter of the vicar of Weaverthorpe. It was fashionable at the time for rich families to employ black servants.

On 25th March 1868, Rev John Healey Bromby died at 97 at Hull Charterhouse; he was up to then the oldest working minister of the Church of England.

On 25th March 1904, a ‘Smoking Café and Lounge’ was opened in the basement of the Prudential Building, Victoria Square, a landmark Hull building. In 1941, the whole building was demolished by a German bomb.

On 25th March 1927, the Ministry of Agriculture closed the Crown Colony at Sunk Island, a failed experimental farm settlement for ex-servicemen set up during WW1. This is referred to in Winifred Holtby’s ‘South Riding’ as Cold Harbour colony.

Sunk

May 20th

On 20th May 1604, Jack Wright of Welwick, Thomas Percy, second cousin of the Duke of Northumberland, Robin Catesby, Tom Wintour and Guido (Guy) Fawkes met at the Duck and Drake Inn, Strand, London, and began the Gunpowder Plot, which eventually included 13 conspirators, including Jack’s younger brother Kit.

On 20th May 1816, Constable Thomas Pashby was fined 40s at the Tiger Inn, Beverley, for neglect of his duty as village constable in Ellerker, apparently for failing to bring defendants to court.

On 20th May 1910, Dora Whitehand, aged 2, drowned on a sofa when the house in Providence Place, Driffield, was flooded. A cloudburst in Cowlam sent a torrent of water down the valley, flooding hundreds of houses to a depth of 6 feet. 2” rain fell in Driffield in an hour. Bridges were damaged, and the furnaces at the gasworks were extinguished. Weaverthorpe was submerged in mud; Helperthorpe and Elmswell were also affected.

On 20th May 1917, Francis Acaster, carpenter, aged 65 of Francis Terrace, Hull, was killed by enemy action whilst a merchant seaman, returning to Hull from Bombay on board SS Tycho of Hull, off Beachy Head.

On 20th May 1941, Dr R.H. Moyes. Voluntary Medical Officer to Civil Defence was awarded the British Empire Medal for gallantry during an air raid.

SS Tycho