anniversary Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Friends Of Hull General Cemetery

Anniversary January 1874

December 13, 2021December 17, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Volunteers2 Comments

New Year’s Day is the anniversary of some interest. This anniversary of January 1874 shows that Gothic may be nice to look at but as to living in it. Well that’s another matter.

On that day in 1874, the superintendent wrote to the Board and asked to leave the lodge. The superintendent, Edward Nequest, had lived in the lodge since the previous occupant had died.

The previous occupant was John Shields. He was the first superintendent of the cemetery and had died in 1866. However he had requested to move out of the lodge some time before this and moved to a house in Derringham Street.

After Edward Nequest had moved on the lodge was rented out to George Ingleby, the gardener for the Cemetery. Michael Kelly, the next superintendent took on the lodge. He too found it trying and asked to be able to find his own accommodation.

Just before its demolition in 1925 the chairman had referred to it at the AGM as, ‘the old, perished, insanitary lodge.

So, it’s quite possible that although the lodge was beautiful to look at, it was not a great place to live in.

Nequest said in a presentation to the Board that,

‘that the Lodge in which he resided was very damp and unsuitable to live in and having requested the Board to provide him with a residence outside the cemetery and the matter having been considered it was resolved that Mr Nequest do provide himself with a suitable house and that the Company allow him £20 a year towards the rent of such house and provide him with coals and gas heretofore.’

Census entries

That the Board accepted this demand so easily perhaps shows that they were fully aware of the force of his argument. After all they met in one of the rooms of the lodge and must have seen how bad things were.

Edward Nequest moved from the lodge to a house on Spring Bank. In the image above, taken from the 1881 census, Edward then lived at 7, Zoological Terrace.

By the time of the 1891 census this address had been renumbered to 183, Spring Bank. Edward continued to live there until his death in 1920. The house stood on the corner of Norwood Street only a few doors away from Peter Hodsman, the master stonemason of the cemetery. Stonemason of the Cemetery

This image was taken by Chris Ketchell just over 25 years ago. In the 1980s it was a butcher’s shop.

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 December 1914

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin History, Volunteers

The anniversary this month has striking similarities with events today in that it deals with refugees.

In August 1914 the United Kingdom, along with its allies, France, Russia and Belgium entered into a conflict with the Central Powers of Germany and Austro-Hungary. This conflict has become known to us as the Great War and it began with the Germans invading Belgium. The conflict lasted for just over four years.

However, like all such modern conflicts, the victims were not confined to the armed forces. Belgium was almost completely occupied by the Germans except for a small south west corner. The rest was under martial law and, like today, the civilians fled the conflict zones. Propaganda reared its head and graphic horror stories were circulated as to the tragedy the Belgians were suffering.

For, as these postcards show, the results could be terrible.

At the very least the loss of your possessions and home.

And the ultimate sacrifice was your life

In contrast with today, the more enlightened view of this period was for Britain to welcome these refugees. They were offered food, warmth, shelter and protection. Sadly, this was often given too late for some. Although they may have managed to flee from the Germans and escape the continent the damage for some was already done.

The minute book

On the 21st December 1914 there is an entry related to this suffering in the Company minute books. It reads,

‘The secretary reported that since the last meeting an application was made to bury a Belgian refugee (a nun from Antwerp) who had died in Hull. He communicated with Mr Jackson, the chair, who instructed (the secretary) to make no charge for the burial. The Rev Mother of the Convent of Mercy, Hull, where many more refugees had been given asylum and who are all quite destitute, expressed herself as being very grateful for the company’s kindness. The chair’s action was approved.’

The nun’s name in the Convent was Sister Marie. Her birth name was Therese de Diken.

Her burial took place in compartment 60, grave number 8249 on the 20th November 1914. As may be seen in the image below her name appears as the occupant of said grave.

However she is not the sole occupant of the grave. She was the first person in it but not the last. Obviously, as a nun, she would not have had children. And yet the other occupant is a child.

Her name was Matihilde Cortebeck. She was buried on the 29th July 1916 and she was aged only 14 when she died of consumption. Who was this young girl? That she was a catholic is evidenced by her burial in the catholic area of the cemetery. Another clue was that Moses was the undertaker. Even in my time Moses and Sons was always the preferred undertaker for Catholic burials. Her name perhaps shows she too was a foreigner. She may have been another refugee. Did she have no family? Her residence is given simply as Beverley so no clues there. Yet another mystery of the Cemetery.

The Terninck Foundation

Meanwhile let’s return to Sister Marie. She was the Mother Superior at the Terninck Foundation in Antwerp. This had been set up in 1697. As the Foundation’s website states today,

Fondatie Terninck was founded in 1697 by Canon Christiaan Terninck. He was deeply moved by the misery of distressed children in Antwerp at the time. When he found a foundling on the sill of his front door, he sprang into action. He founded a school and monastic community to take in poor orphaned girls and provide them with shelter and clothing. But these children also acquired here – and above all – a solid religious education and the necessary skills in needlework.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, the sisters fled with a group of children to Great Britain, where they stayed until after the war. On return, and in gratitude that there were no deaths during the war and the home had remained undamaged, a statue of Saint Joseph was placed in the front of the building. (Above the large doorway to the left)

Terninck Foundation

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 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

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

Anniversary September 1868

August 24, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Volunteers1 Comment

The anniversary this month is unusual. It shows a more human side to the Hull General Cemetery Company board. I hope you like it.

I’ve often painted the Hull General Cemetery Company as hard-hearted. Grasping capitalists striving to secure whatever gain they can get. And I’m usually right. Which is where an instance where they are seen in a more charitable way should be highlighted. This is one of those times.

Plus ca change

Scattered through the Minute Books of the Company, one finds instances of damage done to the Cemetery grounds. Often these are thefts from graves. No, not bodies, but flowers. Sometimes whole bushes. Or property damage to the fences or cemetery buildings. In 1902 some young boys from the newly opened school in Thoresby Street smashed all of the windows in the Chapel. Well, all of the windows that weren’t already smashed, for the Chapel was already quite run-down.

In September 1868 the Board was informed by Mr Nequest, the superintendent, of further damage. And by a repeat offender.

The Withingtons

Before we look at what the Board decided to do let’s take a quick look at John Withington.

He was born in Howden in 1850 and baptised at the Anglican church there. His father, Samuel, had been born in the USA but was a British citizen. He had moved back from the USA at some time. However he is a little difficult to track down.

Family research? Who needs it?

His mother too, Mary Jane Cramp is also elusive. In the marriage register she states that she is ‘of this parish’, meaning Holy Trinity, Hull. In the census of 1851 she states that she was born there. However there is no record of this.

Their daughter Emma, is stated to have been born in Hull. This may be true. However she was baptised in Keighley. So we can see that things aren’t quite straightforward. Welcome to family history research.

Samuel and Mary Jane’s marriage took place in 1835 as may be seen above. By the time of the 1851 census, 10 months after John Charles is born they live in Howden.

1851 Howden

Samuel is the clerk, come station master, of Howden station. By the 1861 census Samuel has moved his family to Hull. They now live in Pearson Street, a nice neighbourhood. Samuel is a coal merchant dealer and appears to be making a good living at it.

1861 Hull

By the 1861 census above Emma is no longer in the household and there is an Emma Withington living as a servant to a share broker in Chorlton, Manchester. This, incidentally, is a possible site for Samuel in the 1841 census but our focus is drifting a little here. More interestingly is the arrival of grandson which may explain Emma’s disappearance. One must keep up appearances, especially in a good street.

As we know in September 1868 John Charles, who would have been aged 17, was apprehended stealing from the Cemetery. By the time of the 1871 census, which invited further information from the public, we can perhaps catch a glimpse of why.

1871 and the reason why

John Charles’s name is above. The final column notes ‘Invalid from epilepsy’. Was it this that lead to his behaviour? Thefts that appeared to have no reason behind them. What on earth would he want the Cemetery notice board for?

Madness in all its forms

Epilepsy. ‘Touched by God’. A gentle way of speaking about this disease. Yet epileptics were also viewed as imbeciles, idiots, lunatics and, more obviously, problems. Lord Shaftesbury, the great philanthropist, saviour of the poor climbing boy of chimney sweep lore, had an epileptic son. He voiced, with sorrow and disdain, the general opinion of the public shown towards epileptics.

‘Epileptic fits are treated like madness, and madness constitutes a right, as it were, to treat people as vermin.‘

This usually meant confinement in an asylum where, because of the nature of the disease in that it was not curable, was for the long term.

As a young man I worked in an institution with people with learning difficulties. Their behaviour was portrayed as ‘challenging.’ That word covers quite a few things, none of them pleasant.

How would someone cope in that environment who only had epileptic fits occasionally? What would be the end result of that incarceration? How long could that person’s sanity remain?

That the Withington family kept their son at home shows great love and courage. That the Cemetery Company showed some insight into the family’s issues is even more incredible.

The Cemetery Company shows its heart

The Board decided that they would not press any charges against the boy. Instead the Board communicated with the boy’s father. They said that if the father,

The family must have maintained this promise for he does not feature again in the Cemetery’s books. However, this may be due to the fact that John died in 1874. A shortened life was often the fate of epileptics.

John’s death

A weight was probably lifted from the minds of his parents with his death. The worry of what would happen to their son after their deaths would have weighed heavy. I wonder if their grief was assuaged in any way by that thought? I doubt it.

John was buried in Hull General Cemetery in a family grave. He was the first occupant. By the time it was filled it contained his father, mother and a younger brother. The stone was removed in the 1970s.

A rather sad anniversary item. Sorry

Anniversary August 1907

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 August 1907

July 22, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin Volunteers

This month’s anniversary is rather bitter-sweet. It is the anniversary of the Board of Directors being reminded of an anniversary in the past. I wonder what went through their minds when Michael Kelly showed them his finds.

In 1907 the Company sold the frontage land on Princes Avenue for development. This development was to be the land for the present day shops. In selling this land the Company made a nice profit. The land had considerably increased in value since the Company bought it. This profit went into the shareholder’s pockets.

The down side to the sale was that many of the working buildings of the Company would need to be removed. This was a graphic show of how far the Company’s fortunes had sunk.

The Lodge

Also affected was the the Lodge and the eastern cottage as well as the gate posts and gates. The lodge was to lose part of its front and the eastern cottage was to be demolished all together. To accommodate the widening of Princes Avenue the entrance to the Cemetery shifted slightly, swinging its eastern end further north.

In the consequent demolition of the frontage of the Lodge this month’s anniversary focuses.

What was found

On the 13th August 1907 the secretary and superintendent of the Cemetery, Michael Kelly, reported to the Board.

As some of you may remember this brass plate, document and coins were mentioned last month in the third and final part of the Creation of Hull General Cemetery. The Creation of Hull General Cemetery: Part Three Sixty years later they turned up again.

Qualms?

It is interesting to note that the Board felt that these reminders of the beginning of the Cemetery should be kept. Some residual afterglow from that heady day must still have been felt by these Directors the Directors who were busily selling of Company land and demolishing Company property. I wonder if they felt any qualms about what they were doing?

The documents have come down to us safely. they are in the History centre. The brass plate? Well, I’ve never seen any sign of it.

Hopefully a brighter anniversary next month.

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: July 1880

June 26, 2021June 30, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Wildlife

This month the anniversary we are celebrating is an unusual one It took place in July 1880.

One of the problems that Hull General Cemetery faced, and surprisingly is still facing, is access to water. Not the rising water that you’d expect from a cemetery built alongside two drains. No, the problem was, and is, the difficulty in obtaining fresh water.

There was a well built when the Cemetery opened. This was in the work yard to the north east of the site. This was used by the workforce for watering the Cemetery horse, cleaning the stables, cutting the stonework and other tasks.

What a bore!

However there was nowhere for patrons of the cemetery to replenish their water for their flowers. After numerous complaints the Board decided to do something about this.

In June 1880 they asked a Mr Villiers, a surveyor, to construct a bore hole in the cemetery. A price was fixed of around £12 for this task and on the 1st July 1880 Mr Villiers set to.

The bore hole passed through many layers, as the Minute Books tell us, and finally reached a fresh water spring.

So the borehole was 93 feet deep. The strata that this bore passed through is very interesting. It probably shows the way most of the geology of the Hull Valley is comprised. Clay, chalk, marl and flint. At some point it was a sea bed. A sea bed from million of years ago. I still have the proof.

When I worked in the Cemetery, when it was much less overgrown, it was possible to pick up Gryphaea arcuata by the handful. Known commonly as Devil’s Toenails, they are a fossilised mollusc or type of ancient oyster.

They lived mainly during the Triassic and Jurassic period. Approximately they lived 200 million years ago. I was always surprised that these fossils were so abundant. And also, only in Hull General. I never found any in Western Cemetery next door. What was going on?

Jurassic Park

I now believe that I have solved that mystery. I think that they were abundant because they had been returned to the surface from the depths they had been buried in over those millions of years. By the drilling of this bore hole the debris from it would have been returned to the surface. In the debris the Gryphaea must have laid.

The Gryphaea were seeing the light of day for the first time in a very long time. This debris, from the borings, would have been scattered around the Cemetery. It’s hardly likely that it would have been carted away and there is no mention of it being moved away. As a result of the spreading of the debris these small fossils were strewn over a large area.

Well, that’s the best answer I can come up with anyway to explain their abundance..

Their presence in such quantities should perhaps cause us all to pause for thought. At one time they owned the site of the Cemetery. It truly was a Jurassic Park. An underwater one, true, but nevertheless it was their home.

Moving forward

Much, much later wild birds and aquatic mammals would have lived in this swamp land of the River Hull valley after the last ice age. Still later, hunters would have arrived and caught and killed these creatures. Setting up make-shift camps before moving on when the game dried up.

Still later, hardy sheep, goats and possibly cattle would have been driven on to the land in the summer when it dried sufficiently for grazing. When the winter rains came they would be driven back to stockades and huts on the high ground around Cottingham to live on hay until butchered and salted.

By the medieval period the site became permanent pasture land after drainage work. This pasturage and garden land was then transformed by the Cemetery Company into a manicured semi-forested area.

At present it has become a much more forested area than it has ever been. It’s probably at its peak now as a forest.

Change is the only constant of the universe

All of these changes have happened to this small stretch of land. Just 13 acres or about 8 hectares.

All of the above, from ancient oysters to forest trees have called it their home. And all have passed away as the present residents will at some point. There’s a small part of me that’s sad about that. There is, of course, a much greater part of me that is pleased about it too. These changes that have happened in the past and will happen in the future show that evolution continues. And without evolution life itself dies.

So, when people start getting exercised about such things, it’s as well to remember that. We’re not custodians. We’re just passing through like all the rest. And that includes the trees, the wildlife, the humans. We’re just a blink of an eye in the scale of things. Don’t get me wrong here. I would like all of the environment that I am familiar with to survive ad infinitum. It won’t but I’d like it to survive.

People talk blithely about ‘saving the planet’. I happen to know that the planet has, unless it is very unlucky and has some gigantic collision with another space object, at least another four billion years left. The phrase ‘saving the planet’ is totally meaningless. Trust me on this. The planet will be here long after we, the trees, the oysters have gone.

Taxi for Homo Sapiens?

When people use that term they are really saying ‘save the present environment so humanity, especially me and mine, can continue to exist’. Which is something similar to my comment earlier.

But, when you think of it, that is a pretty pointless exercise. We know the world will change, either by our doing (which seems likely) or some other factor (which also is likely). The only thing we should be confident about is that it will change. Just ask the Gryphaea. They lived in the sea and here they are now, buried metres underground.

We have our time now, just like the Gryphaea had theirs then. And when our time is over… well, evolution will carry on.

And after a million years or so we’ll leave behind less trace than the Gryphaea.

I find that strangely comforting after a few years of picking up the detritus that other people leave in the cemetery.

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

An Anniversary: June 1856

June 1, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin Events, History, Volunteers3 Comments

June 1856 is an anniversary of note in the life of Hull General Cemetery. It was then that the Cemetery Company first received from the Hull Corporation an enquiry. This enquiry was about the possible purchase of the Cemetery by the Corporation. In essence the Corporation had been forced into this. Let me explain.

1848: The Year of Revolutions

The year 1848 had been important. The first attempt by the government to look at aspects of the nation’s public health was the Public Health Act passed that year. No longer would the concept of laissez-faire rule. Where the health of the public was involved the state would now take a hand. The Public Health Act was a culmination of the state’s intervention into what had been previously private matters. Edwin Chadwick’s report of 1842, ‘Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain’ could be seen as the starting point.

By the time of the 1848 Act, Parliament had passed Acts to enable local authorities to provide public washhouses and public baths. The Towns Improvement Clauses Act allowed local authorities to organise water supplies and sewage. It also allowed them to control ‘nuisances’ such as midden heaps that proliferated widely in the days of horses, cattle and pigs living in close confinement with humans.

What the Public Health Act did was to try to pull all of these changes together under one Act. It then set up a General Board of Health to oversee these changes. At the local level it allowed local authorities to set up a Local Board of Health. This set up continued well into the 20th century until the National Health Act of 1947 and in some cases even beyond that.

The Metropolis Act and its effects

The Cemetery Company were aware of these changes. They themselves had begun working in 1847. So the advent of the Public Health Act with its clauses related to the disposal of the dead was good news for the Company. By the time of the Metropolis Act of 1850, which forbade burials in a range of churchyards and chapels in London, the Company knew its future was secure. The Metropolis Act was rolled out over the country and by 1855 many of the burial grounds of Hull that were public nuisances were shut. As I’ve said elsewhere the Hull General Cemetery at this point in time was ‘the only game in town.’

This had long been recognised by the Hull Corporation. They knew that under the terms of the Metropolis Act they could compulsorily purchase the cemetery if they pursued that course via an Act of Parliament. This they attempted to do. It was known as the Kingston upon Hull Improvement Act. This Bill did not just focus on the cemetery. It was an all round bill, ranging from sewage to street lighting. But the cemetery, a going concern for the disposal of the dead, was firmly in its sights. This Act would allow the Corporation to take it over without the necessary bother of setting their own cemetery up. And they had the law on their side.

A tale in two Acts

The Company recognised this. The Board discussed this issue many times. Finally they acted. In October 1853 an advert in the Hull Daily News outlined what they were looking to do with their proposed Act.

The Company drafted their own Act of Parliament. The main purpose was to move from a simple joint stock company to an incorporated one. It had learned from its neighbours in London. The local authorities, even under the Public Health Act and the Metropolis Act, could not take over cemeteries that had been created by their own Acts of Parliament. So Highgate, Kensal Green, Nunhead etc were saved from the reach of the municipal boroughs’ ownership.

Below is the Company’s Bill.

Both of these Bills, the Company’s one and the Hull Corporation one, travelled through Parliament at the same time in 1853. Many were the conversations about the lobbying of M.P.s that took place in the Company’s conversations in the board room. I’m equally sure that the same happened between the Councillors in the Town Hall.

As the notice from the Hull Daily News of march 155 suggests, the Cemetery Bill was passed first. It was simpler and the readings would have been easier to negotiate than the more clause-laden one of the Corporations. With its passing the Company could breathe easier. Also as part of the Cemetery Bill it allowed the Cemetery Company to compulsorily purchase land to enlarge the cemetery. In essence the Company was looking forward to the future but also making the resale value of the cemetery a much more attractive proposition for the Company.

So, do you want a deal?

It’s here where our anniversary fits in. The Corporation, foiled in their attempt to capture the cemetery, now tried to negotiate with the Company. The Corporation had written to ask what price the Company would want if it wanted to sell or lease the cemetery to them. Their reaction is set out below. J.S. Thompson, the chair of the Company,

Thompson sets out in his first paragraph how attractive the cemetery is now as a going concern. An outright sale is not mentioned but a lease was something that the Company would consider. What is mentioned later is that for a sum of £17,000 the Corporation could take over the cemetery.

Overreach or just plain greed?

However the Cemetery Company still wanted to keep the workshops and ground where they conducted their stone masonry business from. They also insisted upon the Corporation giving them ‘preference’ when it came to erecting and supplying headstones and monuments to the public.

The Company had begun the cemetery with just £10,000 capital less than a decade earlier. Now after reaping the profits from burying the town’s dead for that same period, they now believed that the value of the cemetery had increased by 70%. And it wanted to maintain a lucrative side-line with the stone masonry part of its business.

This was the first and last time that the Cemetery Company held the whip hand over the Corporation. The Corporation would never forget this. The Company would rue this day many times in the future.

The Company must have known that it was pushing too hard. Points 9 and 10 of Mr Thompson’s letter offered a simpler solution to the Local Board of Health’s dilemma. It offered to lease its westernmost five acres to the Corporation. And with this action it sealed its own fate. But that’s another story.

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

Next Month

June 1, 2021June 1, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin Events, Facebook Archive, General, History, News, Volunteers, Wildlife1 Comment

Hi,

Next month on the site there will be the conclusion of the story of the creation of Hull General Cemetery. This story leads from witnessing the terrible scenes that burials in the churchyards of Hull in the early 1840s often displayed. It ends after the first burial in the first cemetery that the town ever possessed and the official opening of the site. I hope you enjoy it. The Creation of Hull General Cemetery: Part One

There will be further articles from Bill Longbone’s posts on our sister sire; Friends of Hull General Cemetery As you know these initially featured on the Facebook. By placing them on this site the Facebook Archive will become a repository of research and knowledge for future students of the subject and site.

Helen Bovill will be providing more detailed and beautiful images and information on the wildlife that lives in Hull General Cemetery during the summer months. Wonderful Wildlife

Stone masons

There will also be the long trailed story of the master masons of the Cemetery’s monumental business. This business was often the sole profitable part of the Company’s business. I was hopeful that I could have used it this month. However I believe that as I am now able to use Bill’s extensively researched Facebook’s articles I should do that. I also believed that these items of Bill’s needed preserving by placing them on this site.

So the story of the master masons has been held over for June’s newsletter.

And of course there will be the usual Anniversary and News items. The anniversary item will move this time from Victorian times into the recent past. It will examine the final board meeting of the the Cemetery Company.

The news item is really dependent upon what happens over the period. One of the things that I hope to touch upon is the issue around the Council’s request to stop working. It’s hoped that we may be able to report back on a positive decision of the Hull City Council for the FOHGC.

However we are committed to work with any decision that the Council arrives at. Hull City Council request to the FOHGC

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

Next month

May 1, 2021May 1, 2021 by Pete Lowdenin Events, Facebook Archive, General, History, News, Volunteers, Wildlife1 Comment

Next month in the June newsletter, the second part of the Creation of Hull General Cemetery will be posted. I’m also hopeful of posting the first part of a work on one of the master stonemasons of the Company. I’d love to title it Stoned but Search Engine Optimisation would throw a fit. I’ll come up with something.

Helen will grace this newsletter with more of her stunningly beautiful photographs of the natural world that lives and thrives in the cemetery.

Also, we’re hoping to add more stuff to the website. One will be called Facebook Archive and it will feature the research of Bill Longbone and Karen Towner. Both post on Facebook such interesting stories around the people buried in the cemetery. Unfortunately, Facebook ‘loses’ them by, in effect, moving on. Well now, the stories will be found here too so no more searching.

Also next month in the June newsletter there will be another anniversary, and, of course, whatever news there is.

See you then.

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