Anniversary September 1868

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.

 

3.9.1868 Withington HGC minute book

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.

 

Withington baptism record

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.

Withington marriage 1835

 

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

 

Withington 1851 census

 

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

 

Withington 1861 census a

Withington 1861 census b

 

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

 

Withington 1871 census

 

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,

 

3.9.1868 Withington 2

 

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

John Withington's death cert

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

 

News

Here is an update to the news from last month.

Firstly an apology. I wonder how many times I’ve started this item with that phrase. Answers on a postcard please.

Anyway, due to a mix-up, I will not be giving talks on Hull General Cemetery for this year’s Heritage Open Days. I would also like to state that the mix-up was not my fault.

Suffice to say that I noticed that the talks were not in the brochure. I pointed this out and after much apologising by the organisers I was asked if I still wanted to give the talks although they were not in the brochure

I decided not to as it would be confusing to people. The talks will take place next year. To be quite frank I have too much on and not giving these talks was a boon. News

Wrecking Ball, Whitefriargate

I will be giving a talk on the Spanish Flu in Hull 1918-19 on Wednesday, September 15th.

The venue is now The Wrecking Ball. I’m informed that it has no disabled access sadly. I’m also unaware of any booking facility nor how many the people the venue can hold. Many of the regular venues that are usually used for HODS have been found wanting in some way or another. Hopefully by next year those issues should be resolved.

To be able to hold a HODS this year has been an arduous process undertaken, at least in Hull, by just two people. John Netherwood and his wife Christine.

After last year’s events had to be cancelled, and with the uncertainty this year, I think we are lucky that it is going ahead.

Taken from Punch - A recent picture of a family enjoying hgc

Guided Walks

I will also be taking guided walks around Hull General Cemetery. These will take place on Saturday the 11th and the 18th. Both walks will meet at Princes Avenue corner.

The first walk begins at 11.00 a.m. whilst the second walk will begin at 1.30.

Stout footwear is recommended and each walk takes roughly two hours.

I’m hopefully to be accompanied by another of the FOHGC volunteers, Helen Bovill, who will point out the environmental aspects of the site.

I know there’ll be more news later, especially about the work in the Quaker’s site. However that will be written up later.

Thanks

http://www. hullandbeverleyheritagestore.co.uk

John Lumsden

Another Mayor of Hull buried in Hull General Cemetery is John Lumsden.

Scottish roots

Originally from Edinburgh, he married his wife, Jane Sinclair Campbell Coghill there in 1836, moving to Hull soon after their marriage. They had 7 children. The family originally lived in Dock Street, where, in 1851, John was recorded at being a carrier and shipping agent.

With the rapid growth in the trade of Hull, John became a member of The Exchange. He was also an advocate of the railways, particularly the Hull & Selby Railway and was a patron of the Sailor’s Orphanage on Spring Bank.

Death of wife

In 1859 his wife Jane died whilst giving birth to their 4th son Sinclair Campbell.

John was obviously successful, and in 1860 he joined partnership with Brownlow, Pearson & Co shipbuilders, formed by William Brownlow and William Hunt Pearson. The company was now known as Brownlow, Lumsden & Co. and they built many ships both in Hull & Hartlepool.

By 1861 John had moved away from Dock Street to 27 Lister Street, where he is noted a ship owner and agent in the census of that year.

Second marriage

In 1862 he married again. This was to a member of his wife’s family, Agnes Auld Coghill.

He became mayor of Hull in 1863. In 1864 William Brownlow died, and Lumsden took on engineer, CD Holmes, who eventually became a partner in the business.

Southfield House

John had Woodfield’s House built in Southfield, Hessle in 1867, which still remains to this day as the Emmanuel Care Home.  His son John died of heart disease there the following year aged just 28.

Brownlow, Lumsden and Co were eventually taken over by the Ellerman Wilson Line.

Death

John died in 1876 aged 71. His 2nd wife, Agnes Auld died in 1899. He is buried with both of his wives and son John, in Hull General Cemetery, where there is a marble obelisk to their memories.

John Lumsden memorail

Anniversary August 1907

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.

August 1907, minute book

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.

The Irving Family

The Irving Family

The Irving family was prominent in Hull throughout much of the 19th century. The family is closely linked to the creation of the Hull General Cemetery Company in 1847. For the next thirty years it was also heavily involved with the management of the cemetery.

William and Maria Irving were my 3x great grandparents.

William Irving senior was born in Kirby Wiske near Thirsk in 1769. He moved to Hull in the 1790s where he became a flax dresser and later a flax merchant.

In 1796, William married Mary Morrell at All Saints, Sculcoates and they went on to have 14 children. Sadly, six of these children died young.

Both William and Mary are buried in Hull General Cemetery in a fine family vault, close to the original entrance of the cemetery on the Spring Bank West/Princes Avenue junction.

 

William Irving junior

William and Mary’s eldest surviving son was William Irving junior, born in 1807.  He worked with his father and later took over the family business.

William Irving junior

William Irving 1807-1883  

The younger William Irving married Maria Wilkinson at Holy Trinity church in 1835.

Maria Irving

Maria Irving (nee Wilkinson) 1808-1874

However, like many Hull families of the time, the Irving’s became non-conformists. They joined the Fish Street Congregational Chapel.

Fish Street Chapel

The Cemetery and the Irving family

In the early 1840s, the burial of the dead in towns and cities was becoming an issue around the country. Hull was no exception.

It was William Irving junior who in 1845 chaired the first meeting of those interested in creating a new cemetery in Hull. One of the others on that early committee was his brother-in-law, George Cammell.

When the Hull General Cemetery Company was formed, William Irving was one of the founder directors. He became chairman in 1859.This was a post that he was to hold for over 15 years until ill health forced him to retire from public life.

William’s son-in-law, Edwin Foster was also a director of the company towards the end of his time as chairman. William Irving died in May 1883 and was buried in the Irving vault.

The first interment

William and Maria Irving’s only son, another William, had died in 1845. He was aged 2 years and 8 months and was buried in the Fish Street chapel.

As the Hull General Cemetery was about to open in April 1847, the younger William Irving arranged for his son’s body to be exhumed and reburied in the new Irving vault in the cemetery.

Burial entry for William Irving's son

Although the re-burial took place the day before the first entry in the cemetery’s burial register, entry no 2 for William Irving’s son states that his was “The first interment in this cemetery.” The Creation of Hull General Cemetery: Part Three

The last of the family in Hull

Two of William Irving’s siblings are also buried in the Irving vault.

His younger brother John worked in the family business for a time. However, he ended his days in the Sussex House Lunatic Asylum in Fulham in 1865.

William’s youngest surviving sister Rebecca lived on Anlaby Road until her death in 1907 aged 91. Rebecca was the last Irving to live in Hull. With her death the family connection with Hull, lasting of over a century, ended.

The Creation of Hull General Cemetery: Part Three

The context of the story

This is the third and final part of ‘the Creation of Hull General Cemetery. As I said at the beginning of the first part it was originally written in 2015. It was published in the Hull Civic News in 2016/17. I’ve tweaked it and enlarged parts of it here. I can do that here without worrying about ‘how can I fit that on the page?’ or ‘that image is in the wrong place’. However, in the main, it’s the same story that I originally wrote. That’s why, at the end, there is the reference to Hull City of Culture. For when I wrote this, that was still in the future.

As we know Hull General Cemetery played a small part in that pageant. It was used as a backdrop to some acrobatics. The cemetery itself was used as a low-rent Hammer House of Horrors setting. No effort was made to highlight the architecture or culture artefacts in there. No attempt was made to hold up to a wider audience the history of the site.

Post 2017

Here we are now, four years after that whole cultural festival year, and one year after it officially ended. The heritage aspects of the cemetery are still under threat. From indifference on the part of the Council with regard to the irreplaceable heritage aspects of the site to a  group of people who ‘know’ that they are right and who feel that a Sycamore is more important than the headstone of the first woman photographer in Hull. History was seen as important by all groups when the City of Culture was in full swing.

Now, in a place where it is most vulnerable, it is under attack. A short sighted view. The site is big enough for both heritage and nature but right now the pendulum is far and away on the ‘nature’ side. A little appreciation of the valuable assets that can be lost forever if we don’t take some care now is imperative. 

Culture Wars

There’s a great deal of discussion lately about ‘culture wars’. There’s one taking place right now in the Hull General Cemetery. I know which side I’m on. 

Anyway I hope you enjoy this final part of the site’s beginnings. 

The first shareholder’s meeting

On the 21st November  1845 a full general meeting of shareholders was undertaken. Amongst other things, this meeting voted to allow the directors of the new company to raise a loan for £5,000, as the land from Mr Broadley was for sale at £6,000. This loan would have allowed the Company to act on this purchase without straining their shareholders.

It was fine establishing a Cemetery Company but a cemetery needed land to pursue its business. That was the next task at hand.

In early December the Directors of the Company reported in the local press that,

‘upwards of 150 of their townsmen are already subscribers to this intended beautiful and well-ordered place of undisturbed repose for the Dead of all classes of this large community.’

The land for the proposed Cemetery were two pasturages. These were situated at the crux of Newland Tofts Lane or Princess Bank, as it was sometimes known as, and Spring Bank leading westwards. This part is now known as Spring Bank West.

The site was owned by Robert Wood in the last decades of the eighteenth century. It had been farmland since the medieval period when it had been drained by the creation of the Julian Dyke in 1404. The land passed to Robert Carlisle Broadley in 1804. By the time the Company were trying to buy it Henry Broadley appeared to own it.

Copyhold

A meeting took place between Mr Thompson and Mr Irving for the Company and Mr Broadley at Beverley in mid-January 1846. The sale of the land had already been agreed but this meeting was about the enfranchisement of the land. It appeared that Mr Broadley owned the land yet it was ‘copyhold’ land. Mr C.S.Todd had been informed of this development late in December 1845 and had informed the Directors. Yet another unforeseen cost to the Company.

Copyhold was probably one of the last vestiges of feudalism.

Wikipedia explains

It is best explained by this Wikipedia entry;

‘The specific rights and duties of copyholders varied greatly from one manor to another and many were established by custom. Initially, some works and services to the lord were required of copyholders (four days’ work per year for example), but these were commuted later to a rent equivalent. Each manor custom laid out rights to use various resources of the land such as wood and pasture, and numbers of animals allowed on the common. Copyholds very commonly required the payment of a type of death duty called an heriot to the lord of the manor upon the decease of the copyholder.’

The cost to the Cemetery Company

These legal duties were eventually phased out over the nineteenth century. However at this time the landowners were still gripping such vestigial rights tightly.

In this instance the manor was Cottingham and the Company would need to pay a significant sum to the Lady of the Manor. Mr Broadley, in recognition of his ‘error’, offered £100 towards this enfranchisement cost. Later still this sum was increased to £250. Perhaps this shows how much the sum involved was. The final cost was £529 7s 6d to the Company.

On the 4th February 1846 a conveyance was agreed. The parties being Henry Broadley and the Board of Directors of the Company. These were John Solomon Thompson, William Irving junior, Thomas Abbey, Charles Stewart, Benjamin Ansley Tapp, John Malam, and George Robinson. The cost of this conveyance was £5,566 5/-. This was to be paid back in annual instalments over five years at an annual rate of interest of 4%.

Making enemies

By December 1847 this debt had been reduced to £4,489 10s 4d and that is where it stood for the next six years. The Company failed to pay this debt off during Henry Broadley’s life time. His sister Sophia, who had inherited Henry’s property, agitated for this debt to paid off. It was finally paid in 1853. Once again, through stupid self-interest or possibly lethargy, the Board had made an enemy. Sophia would be instrumental in providing the land for the the Division Road Cemetery in the 1860s. Once again the Company had provided the impetus behind a serious competitor for custom.

Changes afoot

Meanwhile back in 1846. The Board was influenced by a visit Mr Thompson had made to Kensal Green Cemetery in London. From this visit he was intent upon making the Cemetery as splendid as it could be. The Board agreed.

Hull Advertiser February 1846

In February an advert for designs from architects was placed in the local press. This finally showed that the cemetery would become a fact of life rather than just an aspiration. The Hull Advertiser noted this in an editorial of the same edition that began with the words,

‘It affords us no little satisfaction to notice the actual commencement of operations for carrying out this long-needed improvement.’

Promenade…again

The same article went on to say that,

‘The site, running parallel with the Spring Bank, is well chosen; and a delightful promenade, by improving the present bank and the road in front of the Old Waterworks, might, with a moderate outlay, be provided for our busy population; in fact the whole of the road from the Zoological Gardens to its termination at the entrance gates of the intended cemetery, is capable of being made an attractive adornment to the town.’

The idea of the promenade would linger on until Mr Garbutt took it in hand some 30 years later with his Avenues project and General Cemetery would play little part in that plan.

The Cemetery moves from being a hope to a reality

The Hull General Cemetery was fast becoming an established fact. It was soon to exist to cater for the town of Hull.

The winner of the competition to design the Lodge and Chapel for the Cemetery was a young architect called Cuthbert Broderick. The story of the Lodge and its history will feature as another article later this year.

In the April the Directors had invited the shareholders to look at the designs for the laying out of the cemetery grounds. By the 8th May the designs for the cemetery buildings were approved unanimously by the Directors with Cuthbert Broderick being hailed by the press as, ‘our talented young townsman.

In this month too a war of words with the Holy Trinity Churchwardens had apparently been amicably settled. This spat had erupted due to the fact that the church would only receive the minister’s fees for officiating at a service in the Cemetery. When they opened a grave in Holy Trinity churchyard or the Castle Street burial ground the costs of the burial were collected by the church. A meeting between the Directors and the Churchwardens appeared to resolve this issue.

John Shields

On the 13th August 1846 it was noted in the minute books that John Shields had approached the Board as to his employment by them.

p 81, Hull General Cemetery minute books

This was coup of the first water. Here was an experienced cemetery superintendent asking for work. Not only that but York General Cemetery was held up as a model of planning and efficiency. Here was a great chance for the Company to progress further with an an astute guiding hand helping the Board.

You may be surprised to know that, for once, the Company did the right thing. The Board unanimously approved the appointment of John Shields as the first superintendent of Hull General Cemetery at the board meeting of 26th September 1846. His salary was £90 per annum and the Board would pay for his accommodation until the Lodge was available. After that he would live rent free on Company land. He would remain as the Cemetery Superintendent until his death in the 1860s.

His first job

At that very meeting when Shields was informed of his appointment he was also given a number of tasks.

p85, Hull General Cemetery minute books

As you can see, he was instructed to mark out the ‘first field’. The site, as you know, was divide up into two fields for the purposes of pasturage. The first field ran from, what is now Princes Avenue up to just past where the Cholera Monument stands.

The second field would eventually contain the Quaker burial ground, the Workhouse mound and the 5 acres that were eventually taken by the Hull Corporation for Western Cemetery. The approximate dividing line between the two fields is marked by the drainage pit in the Quaker plot.

He was also asked to cost the hard core he would need to use for the laying out of the paths in the Cemetery as well as attend to the Newland Tofts drain. The Board wneeded his expertise and knowledge. The local press were not slow in recognising what a find John Shields was for the Cemetery.

Notice of appt of John Shields Oct 1846 Hull Advertiser

The Deed of Settlement

It would have been easy for the Company to have taken its eye off the ball though and miss out on John Shields. Other matters were pressing.

The Board were concerned at the delay in receiving their Deed of Settlement from the Registry of Companies in London. Without this deed much of what they proposed to do was technically illegal. The solicitor C.S Todd was often moving back and forward between London and Hull during this summer.

Deed of Settlement

Eventually the precious document was received. This news was quickly advertised in the local press. The Hull General Company now existed in reality. It now owned the land for the Cemetery. It was progressing with the drainage and laying out of its grounds. Finally, the Company was registered as a corporate entity. In essence it could now begin to exercise its reason to exist; the burial of the dead.

Draft deed of settlement advert, September 1846 Hull Advertiser

Cottingham Drain

Running concurrently with all of this was a step undertaken by the Company to tender a contract to widen and deepen the drains and to join them to the Cottingham Drain. This was an ambitious undertaking.

Not just by the length of the scheme, but that the tender specified that the drains would be, ‘brick-barrelled’. This would obviously cost more than simple soak away drains or cuttings. The remains of the Cottingham Drain may be seen still as the grass verge running parallel with Queen’s Road.

Culverted and covered in the mid 1960s it still empties into the River Hull close to the High Flags point on Wincolmlee. You used to be able to see it from Scott Street Bridge but with the removal of that bridge that sight has gone forever..

Advert for tenders to construct the drains, 2nd October,1846 Hull Advertiser

The lodge, chapel, trees and shrubs

The same day tenders were appearing in the local press for the construction of the lodges and the chapel. The following week tenders for supplying ‘ornamental forest trees’ and,

‘evergreen and deciduous shrubs, sufficient for planting and laying out of the grounds of the company’.

Later that same week the contract for the draining work was awarded to Mr. Benjamin Musgrave. The tender for the erection of a temporary cottage was given to Mr John Darley. The cottage was for the purposes of a night watchman. Theft was just as prevalent then as now, whatever people say about the ‘good old days.’ In September a spade was stolen from the grounds.

All of this industry was recognised and applauded in the local press. On the 23rd October the tender for the provision of the fencing of the site was advertised for. The press reported that,

‘the directors do not pledge themselves to accept the lowest tender’.

This implied to the eager public that the Company desired quality as it had in all other aspects of the development of the Cemetery.

Tender for fencing, 30 Oct 1846, Hull Advertiser

 

This ‘desire for quality’ did not last. When the estimate for building a wall around the cemetery hit the Board’s table it was found expedient to go for fencing instead.

The same day that the fencing tender was advertised it was reported that a trial grave had been dug on the site.  Some 8-foot-deep, it had been excavated to test the drainage and that it was “thoroughly dry”.

It was also reported that only 63 shares were left to purchase by future subscribers. It was stated that any subscriber could either have their share as an investment or relinquish it for a vault in the cemetery in lieu of their subscription. Over the lifetime of the Cemetery may shareholders cared to do this.

Progress

An extraordinary meeting of all shareholders took place on the 26th November 1846. This was to ratify a number of issues that the Directors of the Company had undertaken. One of these issues was the agreement with Holy Trinity Parish to sell some of the Company’s land to the joint parishes of Holy Trinity and St Mary’s. The land identified would be consecrated and encompass about 10 acres at the western end of the Cemetery. This agreement met with approval by the shareholders.

The Company had no idea what trouble this issue would lead to.

The meeting was also a time for the Directors to acquaint the shareholders with the progress they had made on their behalf. The temporary cottage was to be erected at a cost of £70. The contract for draining the cemetery grounds was settled on the sum of £159  6/- whilst the outer draining was contracted to be £400. A well was sunk in the work yard.

The erection of a pump house and installation of a steam engine for the maintenance of the draining of the cemetery was contracted for £195.  The chairman, Mr J.S. Thompson, thought this, ‘is one of the cheapest things I ever met with.

Holy Trinity burial space

Backtracking slightly, a week before this extraordinary meeting, a public notice had appeared in the press. It was placed there by Charles Frost. Charles Frost was a noted Hull historian, second only to Sheahan in my eyes. He is also buried in Hull General Cemetery and his headstone was destroyed in the ‘clear-up’ of the 1970s.

Charles Frost

He was acting as solicitor for the Church Wardens of Holy Trinity Church. The notice was informing the public that the church was seeking an Act of Parliament. By this Act they were hopeful of selling Castle Street burial ground and purchasing the westernmost 10 acres of the Hull General Cemetery.

Castle Street burial ground to be sold

One has to wonder who on earth would want to buy Castle Street which at that time was simply a large cess-pit of the dead. One also has to wonder at the temerity of the Church to even consider doing this. With little or no thought for the parishioners or their loved ones who they had buried in there.

This very idea shows how the Church at that time viewed the disposal of the dead and why the Hull General Cemetery was so needed. The Church put forward the idea that the bodies would be exhumed and re-interred but the families would not be consulted on this.

20th November 1846 Public notice re Act of parliament for Holy Trinity to seek part of the HGC

When the press reported the Extraordinary meeting of the shareholders of the cemetery it was this point that was deemed to be the  most important.

11th December 1846, account of egm for Holy Trinity to have share of HGC

Not the Promenade again!

On the 18th of December the old chestnut of the Promenade surfaced briefly in a letter to the Hull Packet from “A Pedestrian” in which he stated that improving the south side of Spring Bank by the Council would provide,

‘a pleasant walk of about half a mile, with two interesting objects in it, viz the Zoological Gardens and the new Cemetery.’

The correspondent then went on to say that his scheme would be to,

‘buy land from the Cemetery northwards, including all Tofts Lane to the Cottingham Drain, and make that into a handsome promenade.’

That this actually occurred some 30 years later shows that this idea did not simply originate with Mr Garbutt when he laid out the Avenues.

The church starts to get cold feet

All was not plain sailing for the Cemetery Company though. In February 1847 the plan that had been agreed upon with the Churchwardens of Holy Trinity for the church to have the western end of the Cemetery came to an abrupt end.

The vicar and his wardens disagreed between themselves who was to fund the £100 needed to present their Act of Parliament to the appropriate parliamentary committee.

Eventually one of the Churchwardens, a Mr Mitchell, felt duty bound to put sureties, with provisos, for the £100 up himself. He stated that he still felt that the vicar had acted in bad faith.

This, however, would not be the end of this matter.

Holy Trinity Bill front

Enter the Government Surveyor

On the 29th January 1847 the Surveying Officer for the parliamentary committee, George Hammond Whalley, gave notice in the local press that he would be surveying the site of the cemetery on the 10th February. He would also be inspecting the other burial places in the town.

As part of his role he would be conducting a hearing with interested parties on this issue.

Jan 1847 Commissioner to visit

The Hull Advertiser Editorial

On the 4th of February the Hull Advertiser ran an editorial. It occupied almost one full page.

In this piece, it was obviously troubled by what it thought was a degree of duplicitous on the part of the church. It would be proved to be correct.

Hull Advertiser editorial Feb 6 1847

The editorial warmed to its task. It cited horrific sights in supposedly holy places.

Hull Advertiser editorial Feb 6 1847

The editorial also flagged up the prospective Act of Parliament devised by the church authorities although it appeared to not hold much faith in it.

It also informed the public of the intended visit of the surveying officer and the reason for his visit.

Hull Advertiser editorial Feb 6 1847

And finally, it pointed the way forward using the example of the Hull General Cemetery as a solution.

Hull Advertiser editorial Feb 6 1847

The surveyor did not attend on the 5th but attended on the 12th of February. He inspected not only Holy Trinity burying ground, the vaults of the church but also the cellars of the house in King Street that abutted the burial ground. He also visited the site of the new cemetery. Not that it did him much good.

The night before his visit and his hearing for the proposed Act of Parliament. a disaster waylaid all the plans. A man-made disaster and based solely upon money.

Disaster

The next day, in quite measured tones, The Hull Advertiser advised its readers that the necessary Bill in parliament to grant the necessary Act of Parliament to set up the part of the cemetery that was to be religiously endowed was dead.

At an impassioned and rowdy parishioners’ meeting the day before, the resolution to apply for the new Act to set up this cemetery was voted down by angry parish members who did not want to increase their church rates.

At 3.00 p.m. on the day of his inspection the Surveying Officer was informed of this decision and refused to hear any further evidence on the subject. In fairness to him there was no point in continuing the hearing. The hearing had been expressly called for by the proposed Act. With the idea of the Act dead in the water his role was effectively complete.

John Solomon Thompson doesn’t miss his chance

It didn’t stop the Company representative, John Solomon Thompson, from extolling the virtues of the Cemetery. The Surveying Officer was impressed with the site and said so in his report but this had no bearing upon the proposed Act brought by the Church authorities.. Charles Frost, placed in an invidious position, could only say to Mr Whalley that he could not present any evidence in support of the Act. Mr Whalley therefore concluded the meeting and left the town.

Feb 12 1847, Hull Advertiser. HolyTrinity would NOT be taking part of HGC

Holy Trinity Bill introduction

Never trust the church

The Cemetery Company now showed that they had had enough of dealing with the religious interests. They would not enter into any further agreements with the churches as to leasing or selling them any land.

This meant that when the burial grounds were closed in Hull by Order in Council in 1855 Castle Street was granted an extension. By 1860 it was ordered to close by the Inspector of burial grounds.

Once again it was given an year long extension because it was close to providing a new burial ground. It closed in December 1860. The new burial ground was Division Road.

On the 18th February the Company gave notice to the occupier of the second field of the site. They were now showing that they would use the whole of the site for their own purposes.

p153, HGC minute books

Another shareholder meeting

There was general shareholder meeting on the 5th March 1847. The progress that the Cemetery Company had made was laid out to the shareholders.

The drainage works was now complete on the site. Both the Spring and Derringham Ditches had been widened and deepened and this work was almost finished. The fencing off of the site was almost complete. The laying out and planting of the ground were proceeding.

Finally, the chairman brought the shareholders up to date by mentioning the recent visit of the Parliamentary Surveyor,

Hull Packet, March 1847

In late March the Hull Advertiser paid a visit to the site and commented favourably on it, stating that there were,

‘Already upwards of 3,000 ornamental trees, deciduous and evergreen and shrubs, have been planted, together with 100 of the newest and best sorts of standard roses.’

It also said that a temporary chapel had been constructed until the more permanent one could be built. In April the tender for contracts to erect the lodge and entrance gates were advertised in the press.

The first interment?

On the 16th of April the first interment, that of the child of a Mr Smith, a draper of the firm Marris, Willow and Smith in Whitefriargate, took place.

Record of the first burial in HGC from the HGC Minute Books

 

Hull Packet, 24th April 1847

There is however, another story here. For those of you who have seen the first page of the Burial records of the Cemetery one thing stands out. The second burial recorded took place before the first one.

How could this happen?

Record of the first burials in Hull General Cemetery

 

William Irving's tomb

The second burial, that of William Irving, was a re-interment from Fish Street Chapel. This took place on the 14th April. William Irving was one of the founder members of the Cemetery Company. He was the first chair of the Provisional Committee, and he took over as the Chair of the Company later when John Solomon Thompson resigned.

This re-interment may have been planned well in advance. For instance, the brick lined vault would have needed to be excavated and built in preparation for the child’s remains. William Irving may have probably been hoping for the ‘glory’ of having the first burial taking place in the Cemetery.

Imagine his chagrin when Thompson arranged with John Shields to have Mr Smith’s daughter interred so quickly.

The local press made amends though.

Irving re-interment April 1847

A real promenade

The Cemetery was also becoming a place to visit. Hull, at that time, had no public parks where you could while away the time. The Botanic Gardens, established in the early nineteenth century, were available. At least to those who could afford to pay the entrance fee. As was the Zoological Gardens but the entrance fee was still a drawback to the poorer classes.

The Cemetery, however, was free to enter and enjoy – if that’s the right word here. The Company had spent a considerable amount of money on landscaping and it looked like the townspeople were appreciative of it.

On the 23rd April, the day before the article above,  a long-awaited advert appeared the local press.

It announced that the Hull General Cemetery Company were proud to say that the cemetery was, ‘now ready to receive interments.’ The advert went on to say that the rates for their services would be published soon. And they were. 10,000 copies of them too!

23 April, Hull Advertiser

 

The charges for burial, HGC 1847

 

A week later, on the 28th April, an impressive funeral took place.

Undertaken by nearly 200 stonemasons of one of their brethren, the procession began at Carr Lane and proceeding up Spring Bank to the graveside. In some ways it set the tone for many other funerals that the Hull General Cemetery hosted over the next 130 years. Stonemason of the Cemetery

The official opening

Although the Cemetery was open for business, its official opening ceremony took place in the June of that year. It was an occasion of great pomp and ceremony with all of the local dignitaries being present.

The local press recorded the occasion.

4th June 1847, Hull Packet. Official opening of the cemetery

Various objects were interred within the foundation stone. The press recorded what these were.

The bottle in the foundation stone

On top of the bottle was placed a brass inscribed plate.

The brass plate in the foundation stone

None of these items survived the demolition of the Lodge in 1927 except for one. This was a list of the original shareholders. It’s held now in Hull History Centre.

However, there may be one other item from this ceremony that survives.

As stated above, the Mayor, Mr Jalland, laid the foundation stone of the lodge ‘in the presence of a numerous concourse of spectators, principally of ladies,’ on the 2nd of June 1847.

Where is the trowel?

In laying the foundation stone he used an inscribed silver trowel as stated above. This trowel was specially made for this occasion.

In the minute books of the Company it is mentioned.

p 211, HGC minute books

The silver trowel, made by Mr Northern of Lowgate, was presented to the Mayor.

It is my belief that it still resides in some cupboard or cellar within the Guildhall. A tangible reminder of the day that Hull began to dispose of it’s dead with dignity.

The Foundation stone was laid. And now there were, as usual, a number of speeches. Following those was a brief prayer by Rev. James Sibree. He would later write so movingly about his time spent in the Cemetery during the Cholera outbreak in 1849.

Finally, as the Hull Packet, almost apologetically recorded, ‘and the doxology having been sung, the assembly dispersed.

The end of the cemetery

After a long and hard struggle, with one or two missteps along the way, Hull now had a cemetery. The cemetery it had needed for the past thirty years. It served the community well for the next century or so.

By the time I was kicking through the fallen leaves on my way to Hull Fair it had long given up its pre-eminent place for burials to the municipal cemeteries. It became secluded and a haven for wildlife. Its wilderness appealed to the poetic and the historian. Its decay appeared to enhance its beauty. It wore its shabbiness with a genteel pride. No amount of skilful artifice could have manufactured it.

In 1972 the Hull General Company was finally wound up.

The final burial, of an urn of ashes, took place in 1974. I worked with the man who interred it. I can show you where this happened.

Some five years later the clipboards and the bulldozers of the Council moved in. An historic part of our shared heritage was destroyed. In about an 18 month period, what had taken over 130 years to produce, was gone. And to create…what? A Monumental Loss

Welcome to Hull, City of Culture 2017.

Isn’t it one of the paradoxes of life that what was once thought to be unimportant becomes very important but only when you’ve lost it?

Dr. William Gordon

Dr. William Gordon was known as the ‘The People’s Friend’.

Dr. Wm Gordon

William Gordon was born at Fountains Hall near Ripon on 2nd August 1801. He was educated at the Ripon Grammar School.  He studied medicine at London and Edinburgh. After qualifying he set up a medical practice at Welton, near Brough around 1825. He married Mary Ann Lowthrop of Welton Hall in 1826, pictured below. They had one daughter, Charlotte, who was born 1828.

Welton hall

His father-in-law was Sir William Lowthrop. He had been the Mayor of Hull when Victoria came to the throne. Sir William was one of the original Committee that instigated the creation of Hull General Cemetery. He and his son-in-law, Dr. Gordon, were early shareholders in this venture.The Creation of Hull General Cemetery: Part One

The family moved to 29 Albion Street in Hull where he set up his medical practice. Albion Street at that time was the ‘Harley Street’ of Hull. Many medical men lived there including Dr. Alderson.

Dr. Gordon was very involved with Christian movements and an active supporter of the working classes. He was also President of The Christian Temperance Society and became known as ‘The People’s Friend’. Chris Ketchell once said that he could not understand why Dr Gordon earned this title as, at that time, alcoholic drink was a better friend to the working man but Chris always had a personal view upon alcohol and its benefits.

All through Dr. Gordon’s short life he had an affinity with the working class and poor people of Hull, and would help them in whatever way he could.

Dr. Gordon’s daughter Charlotte, married the Albion Street Chapel pastor, the Rev Christopher Newman Hall.

His death

Dr. Gordon contracted a wasting disease during 1848 and eventually died at his home in Albion Street in February 1849 aged 47.

His son-in-law wrote a rather morbid detailed account of his death in a booklet which he published the same year.

Dr. Wm Gordon narrative

His funeral was a well attended event. It commenced at the Albion Street Chapel with a procession of five Mourning coaches. Hundreds of people followed on foot. Police officers, six abreast, accompanied the cortege to Hull General Cemetery.

It was well reported in the local press at the time.

doctor gordon eulogy

He was buried in the centre of the newly opened cemetery. His grave was just east of the central willow tree as he had requested. At that time the plot’s shrubbery had been planted in the shape of a Maltese Cross.

Dr. Wm Gordon funeral

The monument

The newspapers of the day prompted the idea of a public subscription for a monument to him. The working class of Hull contributed greatly to this public subscription to erect a large monument to Dr Gordon. They collected the full £80 for the monument. Only Dr. Gordon’s monument, Captain Gravill’s and the Cholera Monument were erected after calls for a public subscription.

Many local sculptors put forward designs for the monument, including William Keyworth. The commission, however, was given to Aaron Shaw. The total cost was £80.

The monument was erected in November 1849 and took the form of an obelisk of white marble modelled on the one that Napoleon had brought from Luxor.

It stood twenty-five feet high and was inscribed: ‘Erected by public subscription, to William Gordon, M.D., F.L.S. – the People’s Friend. Ob. Feb. 7 1849 aet 47’.

The monument still exists in Hull General cemetery. It is still in good condition if a little moss covered.

However, it needed reducing in size at the turn of the 20th century. The monument was becoming unstable. The Cemetery Company contacted Dr. Gordon’s daughter, Charlotte Hall, regarding this.

Dr. Wm Gordon memorial

She and the Cemetery Company came to an arrangement and the Monument was lowered by about a third. Early maps of the cemetery show it and the Cholera Monument marked. 

Shortly after Dr Gordon’s death his wife, Mary Ann, moved from Albion St to Carlton Terrace. This was near Park Street on Spring Bank. She died in 1886. She is  buried in the same grave with her husband.

Their daughter remarried Mr Frank Richardson after the death of the Rev Newman Hall. She died in 1903 and is also commemorated on the monument.

Henry Hodge

Henry Hodge was born at Kilnsea, East Yorkshire in 1812. He was the son of a small farmer and one of 12 children. Henry Hodge can truly be described as a self-made man.
Henry Hodge
In 1826 the Hodge family moved to Hull and took on a dairy farm at Newland Tofts. As a young man Henry worked at Bell’s flour Mill on Holderness Rd. This was  situated near what is now Morrill Street. The access to the mill was along a track which eventually became the entrance to the Morrill Street clinic.

Seed crushing industry

At this time seed crushing was becoming an important industry in Hull. As a result, the mill changed from a flour mill to a seed crushing mill. Around 1831 the hydraulic press was invented for crushing seed. This soon replaced the old stamper mill. The firm of Rose, Down & Thompson were one of the early fore-runners in this development.
Henry accumulated a little capital whilst working at a mill in Louth. Along with his brother, William who was now a foreman at Bell’s Mill, they purchased a former mustard and flour mill. This stood on what was then William St in Drypool. It later was renamed Hodge Street. They then installed 2 hydraulic presses to crush seed.
In 1852 the nearby Tower Mill at the junction of Holderness Rd and Clarence St was purchased. However, although the business was successful, the two brothers dissolved the partnership. William took the Tower Mill whilst Henry kept the mill in William St.

Family life


He married Jane Simpson in 1842 and they had 6 children. One of them was Emma Hodge, who married Joseph Robson. Emma became a very active member of the Primitive Methodist church. Henry’s family originally lived in East Parade on Holderness Rd between Williamson St and Field St. They also lived and worked at Blaydes House at 6 High St for a time.
Henry Hodge mill advert
In 1869 his daughter Emma died at the young age of 32. This devastated Henry. His wife, Jane had already died in 1867 aged 54 years. In 1871 Henry married his housekeeper, Emma Graves.

Henry’s business continued to expand. He erected the huge Alexandria Mill in High St, in 1884. He also purchased the adjoining Phoenix Mill. This was followed three years later by the Globe Mill on Church St, which was part of what is now Wincolmlee.

Pioneer


Henry was a pioneer in the seed crushing industry. Prior to 1861, the only seeds imported into Hull for oil and cake were linseed, rapeseed and nigerseed.  Henry began to experiment with Egyptian cottonseed. He found that it made an ideal oil for use in the manufacture of soap, paint, culinary purposes and also for cattle feed. It soon became one of the major seed imports into the city.
henry hodge advert for cattle feed

He subsequently purchased Bell’s Mill near Morrill St, where he had previously worked.
The family lived at Ivy House adjacent to the mill until his death in 1889.
Henry Hodge
In addition to being a mill owner he was also a very active member of the Primitive Methodist Church in Hull. He was also a benefactor of many good causes, and subscribed to the erection of several churches. This included the Holderness Rd chapel near Bright Street, and the Henry Hodge Memorial Chapel in Williamson Street.
He was also a member of the East Hull Conservative Club and an alderman. His brother William was twice mayor of Hull.

Henry, his wives Jane & Emma, daughter Emma, son Edwin and son in law Joseph Robson are all buried in the ‘Prim Corner’ of The Hull General Cemetery. His brother William Hodge, and his family, also have a large monument in the cemetery.
Henry Hodge tomb

Hull General Cemetery books

The last of the few

This is a short news item about the availability of the Hull General Cemetery books. These were written by Bill Longbone and myself regarding certain aspects of Hull General Cemetery history.

There is a side bar on this site. If you click ‘More’ a drop down menu shows a number of items. One of those items is ‘books’. It advises you that you can buy the books from Amazon.co.uk or The Head Gardener on Spring Bank.

Unfortunately this information is no longer accurate. The books are now out of print and there are no plans to reprint them. The Head Gardener does not have any copies and Amazon doesn’t either. Hull Central Library may have some copies as they bought some from us at cost to sell on. I wouldn’t know how many copies they have left if any.

There are copies of the first two books in some Hull City Council libraries. The Hull History Centre has the full set, so if you’re a bit short of the ‘readies’, and you’re desperate to read our ‘deathless prose’, you could try that option.

The good news is that I do still have a few copies left. And when I say a few I mean just that. There are two of the War Dead of HGC, one of the Public Graves etc and one of the Short Introduction to Hull General Cemetery and that is it. If you want to buy a copy of the War Dead, they are £8 each and the Public Graves and the Short Introduction are £5 each. As you know all monies go to the FOHGC.

remaining books for sale

Not clever marketing

This is not a clever marketing ploy. No one can ever accuse us of being clever! If we were clever we would never have had anything to do with the cemetery in the first place.

These Hull General Cemetery books are rare and will not come back, and if they do (very unlikely!!), definitely not in their present format. Factors such as time, inclination and general weariness are against their resurrection.

Brexit is, not surprisingly, another factor which may make the printing / publishing of them (previously done in Poland) either uneconomic or inflate the price. And we always wanted the books to be ‘pocket money’ priced. So grab them while you can.

Here’s how. Send an email to the website and we’ll arrange something from there. First come, first served.

Who knows, in a few years one of these books could be your pension nest egg! Well, maybe not. But, on balance, probably safer than Bitcoin. At least we guarantee, that whatever happens in the future, you will still have a book to read.

The Eleanor Crosses

The catacombs of Hull General Cemetery are now long gone. Nothing remains of them. (see the link below)

Unlike the Eleanor Crosses. Let us examine their history here.

Thompson and Stather

We’re fortunate in having a reasonable idea of who built the crosses. The firm of Thompson and Stather were an engineering firm in Victorian Hull. This firm had a long relationship with the Cemetery in its early days. The Stather in this firm was Thomas Stather. His brother John was equally as successful in his business enterprise. Their stories will be published on the website at a later date. Suffice to say here that, in terms of Hull General Cemetery, both brothers and their families are buried there.

As an example of Thompson and Stather’s relationship with the Cemetery Company, in August 1852 the firm were approached by the Company. They were asked to make some new gates for the Cemetery. These listed gates still survive and may be seen on Spring Bank West. They also completed a number of other contracts for the Company. Thompson and Stather were one of the foremost engineering firms of the Victorian Hull. So it stands to reason that the Cemetery Company would have dealings with them.

Family tragedy

In 1863, Thomas Stather’s wife, Elizabeth, died. She is buried in the Cemetery. The grave is a brick lined vault. Luckily it still has the headstone. Or should I say it has a large Eleanor cross on a plinth erected upon a sandstone kerb set. The cross is made of cast iron. It was the first one erected in the Cemetery and was made by her husband’s firm of Thompson and Stather.[1]

How do we know this? Local resources are scarce on these matters. We do have a newspaper report that quite clearly speaks of the erection of the cross in the cemetery. This newspaper report is shown below.[2] Thomas Stather’s wife of over 25 years, Elizabeth, died on the 1st April 1863. On the 11th September that year the cross had been erected on the grave where Elizabeth lay. I would suggest this is as concrete a proof as one may wish for.

Newspaper item re the erection of the Eleanor Cross on Elizabeth Stather's grave

Fig 1: 11th September 1863, Hull Packet.

 

Eleanor Cross on Thomas Stather's grave

Fig 2: Thomas Stather’s grave. The site of the first Eleanor Cross erected in Hull General Cemetery

The second Eleanor Cross

The second Eleanor Cross is situated about 50 yards west of the main gates of the Cemetery. It celebrates the grave of the Mason family. The plot was initially bought by Benjamin Burnett Mason. He was born on 16 Feb 1822 in Hull. The son of master mariner Samuel and Martha Mason (nee Green), he was baptised at Holy Trinity on the 9th April 1822.

Benjamin married Anne Green on 19th June 1844 and they had 2 sons, Benjamin William, born in 1846, and Samuel Burnett born in 1850. In the 1851 census Benjamin and his family were living at Northgate in Cottingham and he is listed as a wine merchant and ship owner. He was successful in his business enterprises and established a large wine and spirit business in Lowgate. Its premises eventually extended close to the quays of the Queen’s Dock, now the site of Queen’s Gardens. He also was successful in the community. He became a JP and a Guardian of the Poor. Not content with that he turned his hand to history and was the author of a book entitled The Brief History of The Dock Company. Throughout his life was also an active member at the Minerva Lodge of Freemasons.

The move to Hull

The family moved from Cottingham to a new home at 3, Grosvenor Terrace on the Beverley Road, which is now numbered 113 Beverley Rd.  A grand address in its day. It was then on the outskirts of Hull and was situated just outside the village of Stepney.

However, like all Victorian families whatever their circumstances, tragedy was never far away. On the 2nd December 1863, the eldest son, Benjamin William died at the family home from scarlet fever. He was only 18 years old. It is believed that this is when the second elaborate cast iron ‘Eleanor Cross’ was erected in Hull General Cemetery. This would have been some three months after the first cross was mentioned in the press.

There is no record in the newspapers of this new cross being erected. Nor any record in the Company’s minute books or any other documentation to confirm this. However, it appears to fit the bare facts as outlined above.

When was it erected?

We know the original cross was erected in or before the September of that year. The death of Benjamin William Mason took place in December. During the consequent sorrow that almost certainly gripped the family, it is conceivable that the family seized upon making a significant gesture to mark the passing of their son. I would suggest that they commissioned the cross on their family tomb at this time. The erection of this cross was probably appropriate and timely. Grief was something that the Victorians often felt needed to be reflected in ostentatious display and the erection of this cross certainly does do that.

Mason's home

Fig 3: The site of the family home on Beverley Road, 2018. Just out of the picture to the left is ‘Welly Club’.

Benjamin’s wife, Anne, was buried in the family grave, dying from bronchitis on the 7th February in 1874 aged 57. Benjamin’s younger son, Samuel, eventually joined the family company, and continued to work in the business.

Benjamin died of bronchitis on the 12th January 1888 aged 65. Samuel died in Cairo, Egypt on 19th Jan 1894 and was buried there. Samuel’s widow, Mary Ellen, was buried as cremated remains in the family tomb, the final interment under this Eleanor Cross.

Mason's Eleanor Cross

Fig 4: Mason’s Eleanor Cross.

The saddest story of all?

The final Eleanor Cross is perhaps the most poignant story of all. It is the smallest of the three crosses and it stands on top of a grave dug for just one person. Yet it is a public grave. A strange occurrence and the only instance known in Hull General Cemetery. As the reader knows, public graves rarely have any kind of memorial upon them. To have a cast iron monument on it is unheard of. Let’s examine the facts of the story.

We need to go back in time a little to fully explain the Crosses’ story. In the East Riding a farmer by the name of George Peacock Harrison, 1808-1885, and his wife Ann, 1807-1872, lived in the village of Gembling, near Driffield. He farmed approximately 400 acres and employed over a dozen farm workers, so he was an influential man in that neighbourhood. Throughout their married lives, he and his wife had eight children. The two we need to focus on are his third child and second son, George Peacock, 1839-1916, and his seventh child and sixth son, Jonathan, 1846-1887.

The 1851 census

As can be seen in Fig 21, G.P. Harrison’s family is gathered around him. Jonathan being four years old, but there is no sign of George Peacock junior. This was because he was absent at school in Hampshire. There is no record of any other of the children being so favoured.

By the 1861 census, George Peacock senior and his wife have moved to another farm at Wharram of 1000 acres. Their two daughters and William Christopher, the third son, went with them. His previous holding was now being run by his son George Peacock junior. No other family member resides at this time at the Gembling farm.

A George Peacock Harrison had appeared at the Assizes on a charge of rape but, according to the Barnsley Chronicle of 15th December 1858, the Grand Jury, ‘ignored the Bill’ and he was allowed to go free. We have no way of knowing which George Peacock this was but the offence was against a woman in Wharram, so it may well have been George Peacock senior who was in the dock.

Census return for the Harrison family

Fig 5: 1851 Census record for George Peacock Harrison and family.

The death of George Peacock senior

The younger George Peacock was unmarried. This personal situation continues through the 1871 and 1881 censuses and his father continues to work the Wharram farm. In October 1885 George Peacock senior died.

Probate record for George senior

Fig 6: Probate of G.P Harrison senior.

As the sole executor George Peacock Harrison junior could administer his father’s estate as he chose and this is what he proceeded to do.

Let’s just take a look back at Jonathan. He was born in 1846 and baptized that same year in the local church.

Birth Record of Jonathon Harrison

Fig 7: Jonathan Harrison’s baptismal record, May 1846.

Other than the entry on the 1851 census we lose track of Jonathan. He doesn’t surface in any of the censuses of 1861,71 or 81. Yes, there are characters who could conceivable be him but they are far removed from the family settings.

In the dock

The next we hear of Jonathan is in a court case. Reported in the Driffield Times in the July 1887. As can be seen in below, Jonathan appears to have had an altercation with his brother George Peacock Harrison junior. During this altercation he committed criminal damage to his brother’s house. The problem appeared to revolve around the will of their father, and money that Jonathan thought was his due. Being legally summoned by his brother must have been difficult for both sides. It was further exacerbated by Jonathan refusing, or being unable, to pay the fine. This resulted in a custodial sentence of one month for him.

The final straw

This appears to have been the final straw for Jonathan.  He obviously removed himself to Hull for the next and final part of this sad story. We find Jonathan next having died aged just 40. Only four months after his release from prison.

Driffield Times

Fig 8: 2nd July 1887, Driffield Times report of Jonathan’s offending.

Jonathan’s death

 

Death certificate of Jonathon Harrison

Fig 9: Jonathan Harrison’s Death Certificate.

Jonathan died four days before Christmas Day 1887 and of Cystitis which was a disease that he could easily have contracted whilst in prison.  As can be seen, he was earning his living as a cotton spinner at the time of his death and his place of work was the Royal Infirmary in Prospect Street. This was work that he would have been detailed to do as his place of residence was the Hull Workhouse. He would have been an out-worker for that institution, paying for his placement and meals by this form of work. He would, therefore, have been accorded a pauper grave.

The final gesture

Jonathan, surprisingly, lies in a grave that was purchased for one burial. Exceptional and unique for a public grave. The purchaser was a certain George Peacock Harrison. Jonathan was buried on the 23rd December 1887. The rest is conjecture. Was this purchase by George a belated gesture to his dead brother? Had he done his brother wrong? We don’t know. What we do know is that after the burial and the purchase of the private grave for one person only, the grave was surmounted by an iron Eleanor cross.

 

Grave space in Hull General Cemetery burial records

Fig 10: Grave space of Jonathan Harrison, purchased by G.P. Harrison. It is the third row from the left, fourth space down. No. 6610, Compartment 48.

Not by Thompson and Stather

A smaller version and less detailed than the Thompson and Stather ones true, but a good monument. Thompson and Stather were both dead by this time and the firm dissolved. George would have probably ordered a similar cross for his brother from someone who said they could do the job.

Entry in HGC burial book

Fig 11: Grave number and the purchaser’s name, how many burials and for how many. In this case there is one burial and the grave is stated to be full.

The purchase of the iron monument appears to go beyond grief, and perhaps touches upon a deeper remorse, maybe even fuelled by guilt. We shall never know. George Peacock Harrison continued working the farm at Gembling but in the early part of the 20th century he emigrated and spent his remaining years in New Zealand. He died at Cartertown on the 9th March 1916. We don’t know what was going on in George’s mind. We can only guess. My guess is that this purchase of Eleanor Cross is due to remorse. The only indication of this may be found in the burial register of the Cemetery where he was listed as the informant,

Entry in the burial register

Fig 12: Hull General Cemetery burial register, December 1887.

Melancholia or remorse?

As you can see, George Peacock Harrison cites his brother as being a ‘gentleman’ and his cause of death as ‘melancholia’. Hardly a cause of death then as now.  Much more probably a symptom of how George was feeling at registering his brother’s death with the Cemetery, and at the same time purchasing the burial plot for his younger brother. The brother whom he had taken to court. who had gone to prison as a result of these court proceedings. The brother who eventually ended up in the workhouse where he died.

Yes, I would think there was a lot of melancholia, but I think it was George who was suffering from that, rather than Jonathan.

And that is the end of this short journey examining the Eleanor crosses of Hull General Cemetery.

The final Eleanor Cross

Fig 13: Jonathan Harrison’s grave with its monument.

Acknowledgements:

Fig  1: Hull Packet.

Figs 2, 3, 4, 13: Authors’ collection.

Figs 5, 6, 7: The National Archives.

Fig 8: Driffield Times.

Fig 9: General Record Office.

Figs 10, 11, 12: Hull History Centre.

The Catacombs of Hull General Cemetery

[1] Not Young and Pool as Historic England maintain on their website for Hull General Cemetery.

[2] See Fig 1.