Volunteers Archives - Page 5 of 10 - Friends Of Hull General Cemetery

Anniversary November 1846

October 29, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Volunteers2 Comments

This month is the anniversary of a very important point in the Cemetery’s life. On the 5th of November 1846 the Company’s board held an important meeting. The Cemetery wasn’t due to open until the June of 1847 so planning was still taking place. At this meeting two important points were discussed the ramifications of which are still being felt today.

The first point discussed was the extension of the Cemetery’s land holdings. Remember that it was only in the spring of 1846 that the Company had bought their original site from Henry Broadley. Even before the Cemetery opened they were hopeful of extending the site to the north. Seemingly the Board were so confident of the success of this venture.

More land to be bought

How this point was raised at this Board meeting was due to John Shields. As you all know, he was the first superintendent of the Cemetery. As he described the reason why he had brought it to the Board’s attention,

‘Mr Shields informed the board yesterday that Mr Nutchley and himself had seen Mr Wilkinson and that he had offered the Board the field contiguous to the cemetery grounds at £300 per acre, with the understanding that a final answer should be given by Saturday next.’

The Board were obviously interested in this development. As can be seen by the map below Mr Wilkinson owned the site that now comprises Welbeck, Thorseby, Newstead Streets as well as further land. On the map ‘the land to be taken for the enlargement of the cemetery’ was also owned by Mr Wilkinson.

So, yes the Board were interested. £300 per acre was a reasonable price, similar indeed to what they had paid Henry Broadley.

The Board agrees

Accordingly the Board agreed to accept this offer. As the minute books state,

‘After conversation thereon it was resolved unanimously that Mr Wilkinson’s offer be accepted and that Mr Todd be instructed to inform him the same and arrange the terms of payment in the following manner if possible viz £500 to be paid on the 1^st of July 1847 and the balance at the end of three years from thence with interest thereon at 4% per annum having also the option of paying off the same earlier on giving three months’ notice of their intentions to do so.’

All well and good so far. However, as you all should know by now, The Company’s dealings were always fraught with disaster.

The Board meeting of the 18th

If we look forward to the Board meeting of the 18th the situation had drastically changed.

The Board received a letter from Mr Wilkinson’s solicitor, Mr Samuel Lightfoot, who is buried in the HGC and whose stone still stands.

This letter was clear and unequivocal in its language.

‘We are the more surprised at this inasmuch as you have been apprised both by Mr Wilkinson and ourselves, that the offer which you made to purchase would not be accepted.’

What happened?

What had happened? We are not privileged to know all the details. We can safely assume that C.S.Todd, the secretary and solicitor of the Company, had performed his task as instructed. He was, after all, extremely competent, later to become the Secretary to the Local Board of Health and later still the Sheriff of Hull. So it is unlikely any blame would lie with him.

The most likely problem was that the Company’s terms of purchase were not to Mr Wilkinson’s liking. After all, he had not said he wanted to sell his land for anything less than cash up front. Not the complicated purchase scheme the Company had suggested. This may have been agreeable to Henry Broadley but Mr Wilkinson was not that man.

That also Mr Wilkinson had stipulated a time limit for the purchase. If he had seen this offer from the Company as a method of extending the negotiations this may have prejudiced him against going through with the sale.

And a more damning factor was that the Cemetery Company jumped the gun. Part of the solicitor’s letter stated that the Cemetery workmen had,

‘broken down Mr Wilkinson’s fence in great parts.’

To take this action before the ink was dry on the sale was stupid, especially with a man of Mr Wilkinson’s temperament.

An enemy for the future

With this action, compounded with further infractions in the December, the Company had made an enemy of their neighbour. His distrust and enmity of the Company bore fruit long after Mr William Wilkinson had died for his wife and son continued the vendetta.

Surprisingly his son chose to be buried in HGC and I have often thought this was a token revolt against his parent’s.

An alternate history?

The chance to extend the Cemetery to the north was lost forever. But let’s just imagine for a moment how an alternate history of the HGC may have run.

One of the aspects of this alternate history would have been that the Dukeries would never have been built. It is also questionable whether Garbutt’s Avenues project would have taken off. After all the residents of such an area may have enjoyed being near neighbours to the Park, the Cemetery perhaps not so much.

With the Cemetery extending to the north it would have had no need to extend to the west. Would the Local Board of Health have opted to begin the municipal burial ground that became Western Cemetery northwards instead of westwards? If this had happened the Avenues project would almost certainly not have happened.

The creation of Chanterlands Avenue

The creation of Chanterlands Avenue may not have begun either. When the Western Cemetery burial ground was simply the five acres leased from the Hull General Cemetery it was offered in 1884 another 15 acres of land as an extension. The person offering this land? Why none other than a representative of William Wilkinson’s son. Vendetta’s last a long time. He also offered another 20 odd acres further to the west.

However he stipulated that as he had extensive land to the north he wanted a 40 foot road created in between these lands as an access road to his property. The Council readily agreed and this was the beginning of Chanterlands Avenue.

Back at the Board meeting of the 5th

The second point at the meeting above was raised by Cuthbert Brodrick. Not a board member although a shareholder he had been invited to attend. The subject at issue was how to enclose the Cemetery grounds. As you may remember the chair, John Solomon Thompson, had made extensive field trips to cemeteries in London and Birmingham. The Creation of Hull General Cemetery: Part One

As such he knew what was out there. Although the need for the strict security that some of the cemeteries of London had employed to keep out the grave robbers was now redundant walls and gates were the norm. An example of which is below from Nunhead Cemetery.

With this in mind Brodrick had been entrusted with providing plans for such necessary items.

Unfortunately no such copy of the plans have come down to us. Suffice to say that, upon consideration, the Board felt that,

‘Mr Broderick attended the Board with a design for the wall and iron fencing which were considered and after discussion it was determined that as the expense would be so very large, it was advisable to put up a wood fencing.’

Wood rather than brick

The result was that Cemetery was fenced rather than walled. In the short term the Board made a judgement call on the cost. They were in the midst of an ever increasing sea of costs at that time. The laying out of the Cemetery, the buildings necessary for its workings, the staffing costs etc were all coming from the increasingly small sum that had been gathered as a result of the share subscription. With no income until the Cemetery opened the next year the Board probably felt that some cost cutting measures were needed.

That these plans appeared at the same meeting that the projected extension of the Cemetery’s lands outlined above, with the costs this would entail, was unfortunate. At the same meeting,

‘Mr Harker attended the board with a plan of the engine house, boiler house and stalls and also with a plan of the fencing which were referred to a meeting of the board to be held Saturday next.’

Cost cutting

More expense. The Board were probably looking at some area where cost could be cut. What better than replacing the idea of an expensive wall with a much cheaper wooden palisade?

Well, as I said, a short term cost cutting eventually became a serious headache for later generations of Board members. The fence continually needed maintaining. Let us not forget how far it stretched. From the workshops in the north east corner, along the Dukeries side, past Thoresby School, along the western edge, back along Spring Bank West until it reached the gates at Princes Avenue corner. At no point in time was it free of maintenance costs. When the Cemetery Company fell on hard times it was one of the first things that fell by the wayside.

The result of this far-reaching decision, made in November 1846, is still with us as you can all see. The anniversary still resonates today.

Once again it would be interesting to imagine what would have been the result if the decision had been to take on Brodrick’s designs. I think I’ll leave that one with you to follow where it may lead.

Pete Lowden

Pete Lowden is a member of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery committee which is committed to reclaiming the cemetery and returning it back to a community resource.

petelowden.co.uk

Cemetery Wildlife October

October 29, 2021 by Helen Bovillin General, Volunteers, Wildlife2 Comments

The “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” is how John Keats described Autumn in his famous 1820 ode to this season. The cemetery has not seen any mists this month but there has been the usual Autumnal mix of rain and cold days and sunshine and warm days.Cemetery Wildlife September

Plants

Many of the plants are now bearing that fruitfulness, including the Guelder Rose shown at the start of this report. This is the season when it now becomes obvious why the Snowberry is so named, and its white berries are a good source of food for the cemetery wildlife. Please note however that they are poisonous to humans!

The Pyracantha bushes are now full of their distinctive reddish-orange berries and they look particularly striking along the grass verge on Spring Bank West. They are an excellent source of food for the many birds living in and around the cemetery.

Last month seems to have been the best one for Elderberries and Brambles, with very few ripe fruits left on the bushes. But there are still a few Brambles left, some of which are not quite ripe enough for the cemetery wildlife to eat.

The Blackthorn bushes still have a few of their dark purple Sloe berries on them, although only in small numbers as you can see here.

The Yew trees still have some of their small red berries on them. The Berberis bushes growing in various places have started to show some nice autumn colour on their leaves. They have small oval dark berries growing along the branches.

There are not many traditional-looking flowers to be seen this month other than a few Dandelions on the grass verge and small patch of Feverfew.

But the most abundant flowers to be seen this month are on the Ivy. Initially the flower heads don’t look much like a traditional flower. But when you look at them in closer detail you can see all the usual elements you’d expect to see in a flower, but just positioned differently. If in the course of writing future editions of this column I have a “slow news month” then I may use that opportunity to talk about Ivy in greater detail.

Butterflies and other insects

The only Butterflies I saw this month were a few Speckled Wood in the central grassy area of the cemetery during a warm spell earlier in the month.

There is an abundance of Ladybirds though – they can be seen just about everywhere. Some are the native British ones and some, like the one on the Feverfew photo, are non-native Harlequins.

Birds

Nesting season is now over. Some dry sunny days in the middle of October provided the ideal conditions for the volunteers to check the nest boxes to see which ones had been used. This is the second year of doing this so it was interesting to compare this year’s findings with last year’s.

A total of 41 boxes were checked and 26 of them had been used, giving an occupancy rate of 63.41%. (Last year a total of 40 boxes were checked and 24 had been used, giving an occupancy rate of 60%).

These figures suggest that this year was more successful than last year. But three of the original boxes were either no longer present or were not located. There are also 5 new boxes that were put in place too late to be included in last year’s check.

I could split the above figures according to nest box design and even down to the size of the hole in the front of the box. This would generate more statistics, some of them quite impressive, but this is intended to be just a brief overview of the volunteers’ work relating to the cemetery wildlife.

Nest hygiene

For reasons of hygiene nest boxes are always cleaned out and left empty ready for the birds to start all over again in the Spring. This is in accordance with guidelines from the relevant wildlife organisations. The nests we found were like miniature works of art, carefully built from dried hogweed stems, twigs, feathers and leaves. Most if not all of the nests contained moss which the birds can easily find on the trees and headstones.

I can’t say for definite who the occupants of the nests were but the first one was from a nest box with a 25mm hole. This would suggest it had been occupied by either a Blue Tit or a Coal Tit.

The second nest looks a lot cosier, doesn’t it? The white material appears to be artificial filling of some kind and I think the small amounts of red material are wool are from the Poppies that are attached to the small wooden crosses dotted around the cemetery. These are to commemorate the graves of soldiers from WWI and WWII.

I can’t say for definite which species of bird built this nest. But it came from a box with a 32mm hole which would allow for a slightly larger bird such as a Great Tit or even a Nuthatch. It was occupied last year too.

As mentioned earlier, the checking of the nests is not quite complete and needs a bit more work. A few additions and clarifications to our existing data could make future checking easier and the results more meaningful. Perhaps this time next year, after 3 years of checking the boxes, we will be able to publish a full report of our findings on the website.

Conclusion

October has been a quiet but colourful month for the cemetery wildlife, and the birds are becoming easier to see as the leaves start to fall. The daylight hours may be less but there is still plenty of time for a leisurely stroll. I’m sure you’ll manage to see at least one of these endearing little characters during your time here!

Helen Bovill

Helen is a keen photographer and nature lover. She spent a large part of her working life at the Land Registry. She is a member of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and various other similar organisations. Living close to the Cemetery for over 30 years she has seen the fortunes of the site fluctuate and has joined the FOHGC to make a positive difference.

Reverend James Sibree

October 29, 2021 by Bill Longbonein Facebook Archive, History, Volunteers2 Comments

One of the many men who had first-hand experience of the cholera epidemics in Hull, was the Rev James Sibree. He was appointed the non-conformist Chaplain to the Hull Cemetery Company when the Cemetery opened.

Cholera

In his book ‘Recollections of Hull’, he gives a harrowing account of the never ending funerals that he conducted at the cemetery during the summer of 1849.

He states “ The men employed in digging the graves had no respite, but pursued their doleful task both night and day. At first single graves were dug for the reception of 8 or 9 bodies; but the demand for room became so urgent that double graves were constructed, in which coffins were piled one upon the other, without any earth between them. Only 2 of these, however, were opened; the sight was so appalling that the men refused to dig any more. The cemetery hearse was in constant requisition to remove the stricken poor from all parts of the town, and the common phrase of the men was about fetching ‘another load’.

Dark Valley

The cholera plot presented the appearance of a quarry or a ploughed field. There was no time to make the graves neat. Persons were seen crowding the entrance gates early in the morning, long before the wearied Superintendent was up, to order graves for friends or relatives who had died during the night; and, sad to relate these informants were themselves, in a day or two, called to pass through the ‘Dark Valley’, so short was the summons.

Sometimes as many as 5 or 6 mourning trains were crowding the gravel walks of the Cemetery at the same time, while during the day, at some periods, the trains occupied the entire space between the Beverley Road end and the Cemetery gate”.

Family life

Rev Sibree was born in Frome, Somerset in 1805. He married Lydia Jane Newsom in 1832. Sadly Lydia died giving birth to their daughter, also called Lydia. Luckily the child survived and lived until 1909 aged 76.

James married Martha Goode Aston in 1835. They moved to Hull were he became the Independent Minister for Salem Chapel, in Cogan St. They lived in a large house, 6 Tremayne Terrace Anlaby Rd. This was situated between Fountain St and Arlington St.

They had 6 further children. One of his sons, James became a civil engineer and independent missionary, travelling to Africa and writing of his experiences. Another son, Thomas born 1841, married Rachel Coverdale in 1866.Sadly their daughter Ethel Mary died the following year, aged 9 months. This family emigrated to Adelaide South Australia, where they had another child, Leila Rachel, Unfortunately, both her and her father died in 1869.

Buried in the cemetery

Ethel Mary Sibree is buried in Hull General Cemetery, along with her grandparents Henry and Mary Ann Coverdale. Although not listed in the EYFHS MI books ,the Rev James Sibree is buried in Hull General Cemetery. James Sibree died in December 1891.The family gravestone has not survived.

Bill Longbone

Bill Longbone has had a long relationship with the Hull General Cemetery. He is an active member of the FOHGC and manages the work of the volunteers on the site. His biographical sketches of some of the people buried in the cemetery are one of the highpoints of the success of the Facebook site.

Cemetery Wildlife September

September 25, 2021 by Helen Bovillin General, News, Volunteers, Wildlife2 Comments

As Summer Ends and Autumn begins we are now at that time of year when the days are roughly the same length as the nights. Cemetery Wildlife – August Well, for a couple of weeks anyway. At the time of writing it looks like this September is set to be the warmest one on record. For a few days we had temperatures in the mid to high 20s and it has been very dry with rain falling on only a couple of days. This has created perfect conditions for a leisurely stroll to appreciate the cemetery wildlife.

Birds

Not much to report this month – the birds are still around but proving hard to capture on film. The ones born this year are slowly starting to develop their adult plumage, such as this Chaffinch.

You can see the steely blue crescent starting to appear around the head, indicating that this one is a male.

The volunteers sunk a shallow dish into the ground in the Quaker Burial Ground recently and the birds seem to appreciate this. No doubt other wildlife such as Squirrels and Foxes will appreciate it too.

On a couple of days towards the end of the month I heard a Tawny Owl calling at sunset and this is very encouraging as the call seemed to be coming from the direction of the Owl boxes.

And finally, I was surprised to see a couple of Parakeets flying overhead while I was walking along Princes Avenue! They were quite high up but from their call I could tell they were Ring-necked Parakeets. It was disappointing to realise they were not headed for the Cemetery but probably for Pearson Park or East Park, where they have occasionally been sighted.

Butterflies and other insects

There are still some butterflies around including this Red Admiral on the grass verge along Spring Bank West. It is a shame that it landed on a piece of litter but this butterfly looked too perfect not to take a quick photo!

There were also some Small Whites along the verge, and a Holly Blue feeding on a Thistle.

But the butterfly most often seen inside the cemetery is the Speckled Wood. They seem to be the easiest ones to photograph because they rest mainly on leaves and remain still long enough to get a good photo.

This was taken in the recently trimmed meadow area in the centre of the Cemetery. The volunteers took care not to cut down the Teasel and as soon as the area around it was cleared the plant was buzzing with insects.

It is also that time of year when there are plenty of spiders around. One of the most common ones is the Cross or Garden Spider. It is a member of the Orb-weaving family and has a distinctive cross marking on its abdomen. Many can be found in our gardens and parks as well as in the cemetery. Look out for them and if you’re lucky you might get to see one creating its web. It’s a fascinating process.

This one has its prey neatly trussed up ready for consumption at a later date. The photo on the left shows a different spider of the same species, resting on our gardening equipment.

Also seen in the meadow area was this attractive White-lipped Snail.

Plants

There are very few plants in flower at the moment. A few Hogweed are still in flower, but most have now gone to seed – a good food source for the cemetery wildlife.

Other flowers seen this month are Feverfew, Thistle and Smooth Sow-thistle. There is also some Cyclamen in flower near the Cholera Monument, although this is not a wild flower.

Many of the plants have now started to produce berries and I hope to write in more detail about this next month.

Mushrooms

I have not found anything new this month, other than the usual very tiny Fairy Inkcaps growing in groups on the ground.

Conclusion

The cemetery is a great place to see and hear wildlife. It is a great place to remember and appreciate the lives of the people who are buried here. It is also a great place to appreciate the artistic beauty of the headstones and memorials.

Also it is a great place for photography. As we head into Autumn the changing colours of the leaves and the increasing levels of light create the perfect setting for taking photos of the cemetery wildlife. Why not give it a go and share your photos on our very popular and vibrant Facebook page?

Helen Bovill

The Hardeys

September 19, 2021 by Bill Longbonein Facebook Archive, History, Volunteers1 Comment

Mrs Richard Hardey was a noted local female portrait artist. She and her husband Richard are buried in Hull General Cemetery. The Hardeys were artists and were pioneers in the new art of photography.

Hannah Maria Hudson was the daughter of a Wesleyan Minister. The Rev. Benjamin Brook Hudson and his wife Hannah were her parents. Hannah Maria was born in Dumfries in 1815, but moved to Barrow upon Humber, where her father was a minister.

Richard Hardey was born in Barrow upon Humber in 1816. Richard and Hannah married there on 23 April 1840, and later moved to Hull.

1851

In the 1851 census the couple were living at number 2 Kingston Square, at the house that was later to become part of Madame Clapham’s Costumier’s. Hannah was listed as an artist, and Richard a Commission Agent. Hannah’s mother and father lived nearby in Talbot St, off Wright St.

Hannah was an extremely talented, but relatively unknown portrait painter, working under the name of Mrs Richard Hardey. There are examples of her work in The Ferens and the Town Docks Museum. One of these works is a particularly good portrait of James Overton, painted in 1851, and depicted above.

1861

In 1861 they were still living in Kingston Square, but were childless. Hannah was still listed as an artist, whilst Richard is now listed as a photographer.

Sadly, Hannah developed breast cancer and died in January 1865.

On 1st May the same year, Richard opened his Photographic Studios at 14 Saville Street. Hannah’s father also died later that year, and her mother 2 years later in 1867.

Richard remarried Elizabeth Reynard in 1866, and in 1868 bought James Walker’s photographic studio in Doncaster, where he became quite successful.

Back to Hull

He sold the business in 1882 and moved back to Hull, and lived in Wellington Lane until his death from bronchitis in 1889 aged 73. His second wife, Elizabeth, lived in Morrill St and died in 1922 aged 81.

Richard and Hannah are buried in Hull General Cemetery together with Hannah’s parents, the Rev Benjamin Hudson and his wife Hannah. The headstone still stands, albeit with weather related vertical cracks in the stone.

The headstone marks the last resting place of the Hardeys, pioneers in photography.

Elizabeth, Richard’s second wife, is buried in a separate grave close by, but the headstone no longer exists.

Bill Longbone

Heritage Open Days

September 19, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin Events, History, News, Volunteers, Walks2 Comments

As part of the Heritage Open Days there were two guided walks arranged.

The first one, on the 11th, was blessed with good weather, and as such attracted a large crowd. So did the second on the 18th. The count for each walk was around 50 to 60 people.

When dealing with such large groups one has to employ a louder voice. You also need to bypass some headstones as it’s just impossible to accommodate all of the people around them safely.

Also, in large groups, people move at a different speed and the slowest speed becomes the group norm. This usually means you cannot do all of the walk. This is what happened on the both walks. We concentrated on the headstones along the north side of the cemetery and terminated the walk at the Workhouse mound.

My reasoning for this was that the newcomers to the Cemetery may have never ventured into the site. They may have been a little intimidated to go out of sight of Spring Bank West. Therefore the back road would have been new territory to them and that’s why I chose it.

I hope everyone who ventured into the wilds of the Cemetery enjoyed it.

New guided walk

One of the results of these truncated walks was that another walk has been arranged to take place. This will be on October 2nd at 11.00 a.m.

The walk will go from Princes Avenue corner along the south side of the Cemetery. Along the way you’ll find the grave of a man who managed to bribe the electors of the 1853 parliamentary election. You’ll see the grave of an artist who lived through the Indian Mutiny. The grave of the man who built the iron Eleanor Crosses that grace the cemetery, the grave of the man who founded the Wilson shipping line and many others.

I’m looking forward to next years’ Heritage Open Days.

Pete Lowden

Pete Lowden is a member of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery committee which is committed to reclaiming the cemetery and returning it back to a community resource.

petelowden.co.uk

Mysteries

September 17, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Volunteers

A couple of years ago I was told that there was to be a talk at the History Centre. It was entitled ‘The Mysteries and Secrets of Hull General Cemetery’. I thought I’ll pop along to that. I’m always open to increase my knowledge of the site

About a couple of months before the talk I was in the History Centre. Chatting to the staff I was told by the person who usually books the monthly talks that she was sorry. She said HGC was usually my topic and that the booking had happened whilst she was off ill. I was touched by this nod to my idiosyncrasy. I said I was happy to share the topic but I was intrigued as to what the mysteries and secrets were, as to my knowledge, there were very few if any. She nodded.

It was common knowledge amongst the staff there that I had copied or photographed every item that they possessed about Hull General Cemetery and that I had acquired a few things myself that they didn’t possess.

As it turned out the talk didn’t talk about any mysteries or secrets in HGC. Don’t get me wrong here. It was a good, well researched talk and it definitely had lots of visuals to keep the punters happy. But the ‘mysteries and secrets of Hull General Cemetery’, well, I’m afraid there was little sign.

Not Hollywood

That circumstance lies in the fact that the life of HGC is not a movie script. Harrison Ford does not uncover the catacombs of the ‘lost chapel’. Sam Neil, whilst cutting back the brambles, does not find he’s walked into a velociraptor nest. No, sorry. Highly unlikely. Much more likely is that Harrison Ford would find the remains of a shooting-up drugs gathering or that Sam Neil would tread in some maggot ridden kebab.

Yes, there are stories within the cemetery. Stories of its trials and tribulations. Stories of the people who are buried there. But it is not the Marie Celeste. It is not Area 51. It is not the X-Files. The truth isn’t ‘out there.’ It’s a shame but that’s the way it is.

The real Secrets and Mysteries

The secrets and mysteries, if they exist, are found in far more mundane places. They are written in numerous documents. These documents take a lot, and I mean hundreds of hours, of painstaking research to extract that small nugget of information you are seeking. And this process takes a number of years. At the end, the result may be as unexciting as finding that a miscalculation on the part of some clerk a century ago can now be cleared up. But to someone with that penchant for ‘the truth’ it;s like gold dust.

I did mention my idiosyncrasy, didn’t I?

So, with my Harrison Ford / Sam Neil hat on, I have entered this dangerously tedious world many times.

There are two mysteries I’d like to put forward. The first one is about the mystery of Thomas Skerrow and, to add background, the rest of his family. The second one could be titled, ‘What did they do with bodies?’ You’ll understand when you read it.

In some ways these mysteries are mundane and perhaps only of interest to someone like me with that specific ‘nerdiness’ mentioned above but they are mysteries. And I can’t confidently say I have solved them. Yes, I know that my solutions are the most likely yet something still bugs me. See what you think.

Thomas Skerrow

Thomas Skerrow was a gravedigger. You should all know by now my affinity with such people. One could say that it’s in the blood but thankfully it isn’t. Other wise I’d probably be dead from tetanus or anthrax by now. Quite nasty soil borne diseases. No thank you.

Not in the blood but I do have some understanding of these under sung heroes’ roles. And indeed the stresses that were placed upon them. A Grave Digger

Thomas Skerrow had been employed by the Company since its inception in 1847.

As I’ve mentioned before, the workforce of the cemetery, received less than star billing in its production. I suppose that’s why I want to highlight them. Without them the Company would have failed, and the citizens of Hull would have had to put up with the horrific conditions of burial that took place prior to the HGC.

His death

We first learn of Thomas Skerrow by his death. Here’s his burial entry in the HGC burial register.

He died on the 9th April 1854 and was buried on the 12th.

Edward Skerrow, his father

The family already had a family grave as his father Edward had died the previous November. This was a particularly sad case as his father committed suicide. His death resulted in a post mortem and the death reached the local press.

When Edward’s daughter Fanny married later that decade she was still so mortified by the death of her father she refused to provide her father’s name to the registrar. In the burial register of the Cemetery his cause of death is listed as ‘insanity’.

Cowkeeping

Edward Skerrow had been born at Tadcaster in 1791. He lived at 21, Canning Street and his occupation at his death was cowkeeper. Not as outlandish an occupation as we sophisticates of the 21st century would believe. It was quite common for small entrepreneurs to keep a number of cows. These could be hired out for breeding or when ready, sold for slaughter.

However the major source of income from keeping cows was milk. Milk was sold door to door to the gentry. The poorer classes often bought some too though mainly for weaning purposes. It was a thriving industry. Approximately where the old Edwin Davis Store stood in Bond Street was the site of a street called Milk Street because of the number of cows pastured there in the early 19th century..

Alan Harris, in his The Milk Supply of East Yorkshire, 1850-1950′, quotes F.M.Eden saying that in the closing years of the 18th century, ‘for 2 to 3 miles round‘ Hull land was devoted to grazing ‘for the convenience of the inhabitants.‘

Harris also states, and this is probably appropriate to Edward Skerrow, that,

‘Within the towns themselves, still smaller pieces of land were used for purposes that, if not strictly agricultural, must nevertheless have created in their vicinity an unmistakeable aroma of the countryside. {…} William Eleanor, another Hull Cowkeeper, occupied in 1851 a yard and a range of outbuildings behind residential property in North Street, Myton.’

Now Edward was in a fairly lucrative business if he kept his herd healthy. Plus he had a sizeable property as the map below shows so his herd may well have been quite sizeable too.

Yet, as the newspaper article above shows he was an alcoholic and an opium user.

Opium for the masses

Let’s be clear here. Opium was the drug of choice of many people then, from all classes. Queen Victoria enjoyed her laudanum as much as the workman who bought his pennyworth of opium for his pipe. It deadened the pain of living. It took away guilt, hunger and emotion. In Britain of the 1850s that was something to be cherished.

As for the alcohol, it was as readily available as was the opium. As were the public houses. You may note that Edward’s post mortem was conducted in a public house. This was that a public house was, in essence, neutral territory. It could accommodate the officials and the witnesses for such a gathering. It is only in the recent past that civic buildings have eclipsed the public houses in this role. Coroners, magistrates and other civic officials conducted their affairs from hostelries. It was felt less threatening and more fair.

The downside of that was that they were everywhere. So, if you had an issue with alcohol, then it would be difficult to avoid it.

Hannah

So, Edward Skerrow was dead. In death he left about £100 to his widow Hannah. By the 1861 census her son Edward junior had taken on the cowkeeper role and she disappears from the public eye for about 20 years.

She resurfaces in 1881, living in Hallgate, Cottingham and is described as a ‘property owner’. She died a year later and I’m sure no one could smell any trace of cows or manure at her funeral.

Of interest, the younger brother of Thomas, Edward, took over the Cowkeeping business from his mother some time in the late 1850s as mentioned above.

Prior to that he too worked for the Cemetery Company. In 1858 he found a box laid beside the cholera monument. Inside were two babies, born prematurely and probably dead at birth. The box was handed to the police who investigated but to no avail. Another mystery but probably all too common back then.

Back to Thomas

Back at Thomas. He died of a heart condition. The Company went as far as resolving to buy a headstone for his grave.

And now we come to the mystery. Or mysteries shall we say.

Firstly, there is no record of a stone being erected on the grave. From the entry above in the HGC minute books it appeared to be quite straightforward. A stone was to be erected and James Sibree, the Cemetery’s chaplain, was to write an inscription for the stone. Was it just forgotten? Quite unlikely. That the Company wanted to do something to mark Thomas Skerrow’s passing in the first place is unlikely but that they said they would and minuted this gives credence to the fact. So where was the stone? It wasn’t destroyed in the 1970s as far as we know. Did it ever exist?

No, I cannot solve this part of the mystery.

What compounds the mystery is this. In September 1858, the Board had given the tenants at the west end of the Cemetery notice to quit. One of these people, John Hill, sent a sharp letter to the board. The minute book tells the story.

The Company under attack

Mr Thompson and Mr Todd, chair and secretary respectively of the Company, appeared to be unduly worried at this attack. Why? The man was behind in his rent. He had been given notice to quit. All was above board. That they both, busy men that they were, went to see Mr Hill shows something of the anxiety this letter from Mr Hill caused them. Again I ask why? The Cemetery was in fine shape and often cited as a boon to the town. What would such gentlemen care for the word of a disgruntled tenant? What harm could his tittle-tattle do?

We already know that Thomas Skerrow died from heart failure. He wasn’t crushed by any graveyard calamity was he? What was Mr Hill alluding to? Was the probable cause of death something he caught during this particular job that later affected his heart? Could any damage to Thomas’ heart have been caused during this particular task?

Ordinarily I would dismiss such questions. I have a death certificate and burial entry all saying the same thing. That’s gold plated in my book. But I still have that nagging doubt, simply caused by two of the major players in Hull at the time, going out of their way to discuss an irate tenant’s baseless claim. Both of these men were learned, C.S.Todd was a solicitor and later became the Sheriff of Hull. They could and should have laughed at this or possibly taken legal action. They did neither.

With my Probation Officer head on I find it’s just a little odd. What do you think?

Cholera

And the second mystery is shorter but more difficult. As most of you will know in 1849 cholera hit Hull for the second time.

The Cemetery fulfilled a public duty and buried the corpses in a timely and safe manner. To cater for the great mass of bodies the Cemetery Company set aside two full compartments and two halves. This was recorded in the Minute books of the 9th August 1849.

As can be seen from the map below taken from the Cemetery records the compartments chosen were 96,97,122 and 123.

The Cholera monument was erected in Compartment 96. All fine so far.

The problem

Now we come to the problem. Many of the people who died from cholera were not buried in those plots. Yes, if a family grave had already been purchased the relative could be buried irrespective of the cause of death. What is more surprising is that many of the burials in the portion assigned to the Cholera ground appear to have been in Compartment 121.

Unfortunately there is no Compartment 121 in the Cemetery except for a rump that was sited under what is now the shops on Princes Avenue. So, what’s going on?

That this issue was not noticed for 50 years is surprising. Michael Kelly, the last Superintendent, noticed it and remarked on it during his tenure. But it was obviously a mystery to him too.

Compartment 121

Let’s look at one of these graves. Grave number 18844 is a public grave. It was first dug for Ann Levitt who died of cholera on September 4th. She was buried that same day. The following day Charles Cheeseman, Elizabeth Gossop and 8 year old Bridget Dunbar joined her. Cholera was the cause of death for all of them. This was the last entry for burials in Compartment 121.

The first burial in Compartment 121 took place on August 12th, grave number 20645. It was filled within two days and a new one opened at 20647. All were cholera deaths.

Now we know that the burials were taking place. They were recorded meticulously by the Cemetery staff at the time. The problem is where are they? The grave numbers do not match any other grave numbers in the cemetery. Quite frankly, they do not exist.

So, we are left with a mystery. Those people were buried in the Cemetery but not in the grave number given, and certainly not in the Compartment 121.

Yes, a clerical error perhaps. I agree with Michael Kelly; they must be in Compartments 122 and 123. I’d just like to know how we could ever find that out.

Over to you to solve this mystery.

Pete Lowden

Pete Lowden is a member of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery committee which is committed to reclaiming the cemetery and returning it back to a community resource.

petelowden.co.uk

Anniversary October 1946

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin Events, History, Volunteers1 Comment

This October we celebrate a more recent anniversary. It’s definitely within living memory.

On the 8th October 1946 the Cemetery Company decided to terminate the employment of a grave digger called Borrillwould have . It just hadn’t worked out, Mr Borrill was simply too scared to work in a cemetery on his own. Why he accepted the post of gravedigger is beyond me.

Also on the above date they decided to give a chap called Frank Coulson a start. The wage was £4 8 shillings for a 44 hour week. He would begin work on the 19th. If Frank Coulson proved O.K. the plan was to dispense with Charles Collinson too. A Grave Digger

As it proved Frank was a good worker and the plan went ahead.

However on the 14th December 1948 the Board decided that Frank had to go. Not because of his work but simply because the Cemetery’s finances were so bad they could not afford to employ staff any longer.

As you can see the Board decided to use ‘casual labour for grave digging’ from then on. From that point the dereliction of the Cemetery increased until, as we know, it became a wilderness.

What happened to him?

So what happened to Frank Coulson? Well I can fill in a part of his story.

Frank Coulson was born in 1920 in Shoreditch, London. Unlike today Shoreditch was a deprived area then. It was slum territory, soon to be the battleground between fascists and their opponents in the 1930s. His childhood probably could be described as ‘patchy’.

I have no knowledge of what he did in the war, if anything. He was a small man, probably no more than 5 foot 4 inches. His physique may have been a barrier to his enlistment. However, as we can see immediately after the war, he is employed by the Hull General Cemetery Company. After the termination of his contract there I’m certain he began to work for the Corporation in the same role.

By the time I met him, in August 1974, he was the chargehand of Northern Cemetery. He was known as ‘Cocker’ simply because he spoke with a cockney accent. However he had no friends. He sat in the middle of the messroom, on his own, at his table. The gravediggers sat at one end of the room and the gardening staff sat at the other end. He sat in the middle.

My first meeting

I first met him in this way.

I walked into the messroom and, like in all good westerns, the conversation stopped. It was 7.20 a.m. He had his back to me but when he noticed the conversation had stopped and everyone was staring past him he jumped up and turned around. He saw me and asked me what I wanted and I replied. I said I’d been sent as gravedigger and he motioned me to the gravedigger table.

There were probably a dozen people in there. Everyone was staring at me. Ken Wilde, a gravedigger, asked, ‘had I done gravedigging before’ and I said ‘no’ which caused a gust of laughter from all quarters of the room. The viewpoint of the room was obviously that this long haired gawky hippie won’t last long. And judging by their welcome I tended to agree with them.

I lasted 6 years 11 months and so many days before going to University. I outlasted all the gravediggers that were sat at the table that day.

His decline and death

Back to Frank.

Frank began to fail in 1976. He began to make mistakes. Often he’d misread where to set up the digs. Once he forgot all about a funeral and it had to be held back while we prepared it for burial. Management took notice. By the May he was gone. His wife had died the year before. His son lived in London and never visited. To some extent I think he lost interest in what he was doing.

As luck would have it I lived in the next terrace to him in Mayfield Street. I rarely saw him. But I heard him enough times. He had a penchant for playing Hawaiian music. Fine at first but after 3 or 4 hours of it, well I could have smashed his head in with a coconut.

In March 1985 he died. On his own and probably unloved. The neighbours alerted the police. They had seen many flies crawling on the inside of his front window. The police broke down the door and found his body. He’d been dead for a few weeks, sat next to his electric fire. The result was, as you can probably imagine, unpleasant.

A sad end. He was never a person you could like. Too bumptious, too assured of himself with nothing behind it to back it up.

But he was my first chargehand when I became a gravedigger. I know how difficult that job was. I did it for nearly 7 years. He did it for 30. I tip my hat to you, Frank. You earned my respect. I’m sorry I never told you.

Pete Lowden

Pete Lowden is a member of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery committee which is committed to reclaiming the cemetery and returning it back to a community resource.

petelowden.co.uk

William Henry Moss

September 13, 2021September 14, 2021 by Bill Longbonein Facebook Archive, General, History, Volunteers

William Henry Moss was born in London in 1814 and was articled as a solicitor. He came to Hull in the 1840’s and married Eliza Charlotte Blundell, daughter of Henry Blundell, (founder of Blundell, Spence & Co) and his wife Maria (Porter) in 1840. The marriage resulted in seven children.

The couple are recorded as living in Russell Place, Linnaeus Street in 1841. In the subsequent census’ they are living at 4 Kingston Terrace, Beverley Road, adjacent to the Mariner’s Almshouses (now Kingston Youth Centre). In 1848 he is recorded as being in partnership with Francis Lowe of Moss, Lowe Solicitors, later, Blundell, Moss, Lowe & Co, at 19 Parliament St.

Civic responsibility

William was the company solicitor to the Hull Docks Company, and was very active in local politics. He promoted the Free Library in Hull, and was twice elected Mayor of Hull, firstly in 1856, and again in 1862.

He remained an Alderman for many years. Whilst Mayor, he paid for the marble statue of Queen Victoria in Pearson Park. The statue had been commissioned in 1861 by Zachariah Charles Pearson to commemorate an earlier Royal Visit. However due to Pearson’s bankruptcy, he was unable to pay for the work. Moss picked up the bill.

Grief for the family

His daughter Maria Blundell Moss died aged only two months in 1858. His son, Bernhard Martin, died two years later aged four.

William died of pleurisy in 1874 aged 60, and his wife Charlotte died aged 71 in 1888.

The family are buried in Hull General Cemetery, but their headstone was removed in the 1970’s. The East Yorkshire Family History Society recorded the inscription.

Bill Longbone

APPRA

September 13, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin General, News, Volunteers

The Avenues and Pearson Park Resident’s Association, or APPRA as its more commonly called, published an article about the work of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery this quarter. I’m posting it as I think it may as well be covered here. I wrote it some tine ago. I hope you find it interesting.

Pete Lowden

Pete Lowden is a member of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery committee which is committed to reclaiming the cemetery and returning it back to a community resource.

petelowden.co.uk