Tag: Hull General Cemetery

Anniversary August 1846

by Pete Lowdenin History, News

The month of August is an interesting anniversary.

On the 8th August 1846 the Board of the Cemetery Company had a pleasant surprise. They received a visit from a surprise visitor. That visitor was John Shields, the superintendent of York Cemetery. And this was not simply a courtesy visit. The Company minute book records that,

‘Mr John Shields, the superintendent of York Cemetery, called and laid before the chairman the following testimonials of character and stated that he would be at liberty on the first week of Sept.’

This news was a great, and probably quite a pleasant surprise. Here was an experienced superintendent of an existing cemetery who was offering his services to them. Although there appeared to be no other candidate for the post this may well have been because the Board had not gotten round to advertising for the post. They may well have not even given a thought to it. So this sudden arrival of John Shields must have almost been like manna from heaven.

The Minute book also actually records John Shields testimonial from York Cemetery,

‘York, August 7th 1846. The Board of the York Public Cemetery hereby certify that John Shields, our late manager and gardener has been 9 years in our service and during that time has conducted himself in an honest, sober, industrious and attentive manner and has filled his situation with ability.

Signed Thomas Price, Chairman, York Cemetery.’

On the 26th September the Board did take the proper and correct decision. They offered John the position of general superintendent, registrar and manager at the princely sum of £90 per annum. The Company also offered to pay his rent for his residence until the Lodge was inhabitable.

He remained in this post until his death in December 1866.

Anniversary June 1972

The Chairmen

by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Volunteers1 Comment on The Chairmen

Like most businesses the management of the day to day running of a company can usually be left to middle management. That’s why such people are employed. However, in the case of policy and investment, the board of directors usually takes on those decisions. The decisions regarding the strategic running of the Cemetery were and are taken in the board room. And the ruler of the board room is usually the chairman of the company. This is a short history of two of the chairmen of the Hull General Cemetery Company.

William Irving, John Pearson Bell and John Solomon Thompson were the first three chairs of the company. John S. Thompson was discussed last month in the Anniversary item. Anniversary 1859

This month let’s concentrate upon the other two men mentioned above. All of these men were of the original shareholders of the Company when it was established. No other chair could make that claim. These three were part of that group who had the original vision. For that we should salute them.

William Irving

William Irving junior

The first Chairman was William Irving junior. Dave Morecambe, who is a descendant of William, wrote about this man in a post last year. The Irving Family

Suffice to say that he was the chair at the provisional meeting in March 1845, held in Bowlalley Lane. When the Company became a viable entity he was replaced by John Solomon Thompson.  Whether this was because of pressure of work with his own business one does not know. He still remained on the Board of Directors. When Thompson resigned he took up the chairman’s role once again. This was on the 7th June 1859. His period of chairmanship was to become an eventful period in the life of the Cemetery.  Anniversary 1859  

The first chapel in Western Cemetery

William was instrumental in having the first chapel built in what was to become Western Cemetery. The foundation stone of this chapel was laid in October 1859. In a long, and no doubt to the Local Board of Health (LBOH) members in the crowd, insensitive speech he commented,

‘They were met to lay the foundation stone of a building to be used as a chapel on ground to be appropriated to the use of the entire borough for the interment of the dead and he might be permitted to say that, in making that offer the cemetery company was not asking the inhabitants of the town to accept from their hands a property which would not reflect any credit on those who had long been engaged in carrying out the project.

Then he remembered what that place was 12 or 13 years ago. A marshy flat without shrub or tree and then when they looked at the beautiful grounds which they all experienced such pleasure in passing through he thought the reverse of credit was due to those who made such a change.

William went on to say

He did trust the town would consider that the company in handing over to them a property like that for the interment of the dead and undertaken to keep it in proper repair and condition were conferring a favour. It had already become a city of the dead and there were not less than 6000 interments there up to the present time.

The company from first to the last of their design, had only at heart the thought of presenting to their town’s people a place where they could be laid with pleasurable feelings and which would prove an ornament to the borough.’

He presented a silver trowel to the mayor, Martin Samuelson, the owner of an iron foundry. This factory was situated on what eventually became known as Sammy’s Pint and where now sits The Deep. On the blade of the trowel it was inscribed, just in case, the Corporation didn’t quite get the message,

‘Hull General Cemetery Company. The foundation stone of the chapel on ground appropriated to the LBOH as the burial board for the borough was laid by the worshipful the mayor, Martin Samuelson esq; 3rd of October, 1859.’

Pearson

Of interest was that in the company commemorating this event stood Zachariah Pearson. He was there in his role as Sheriff. I wonder if he didn’t look around him that day and see what a pleasant place it was and perhaps the idea of a public park was germinated. One can hope so. Finally, Martin Samuelson was given the chance to reply and then the assorted notables in the audience did a very sensible thing. They sat down to a luncheon that was,

‘provided near the gates of the grounds and after the ceremony of the day the company adjourned thither.’

All that talking can raise a thirst.

The fatal mistake

In 1861 William did a foolish thing. However much one looks at it one can’t see any other explanation for it than he threw a ‘hissy fit’. In doing so he condemned the cemetery and the Company to a long, slow, lingering death.

It all started with, to my mind, an innocuous item in a local newspaper. Here it is.

parochial burial ground April 13 1861

As you can see a fairly typical meeting. Resolutions passed and long winded phrases by politicians signifying nothing. The gist was quite clear enough though. The Hull General Cemetery burial charges were too steep. The new Borough Burial Ground was just another part of the Hull General Cemetery. That the parishioners of Holy Trinity desired and deserved their own burial ground away from the tendrils of the Company. That the churchwardens of that parish should continue to lobby Sophia Broadley for the patch of land on Hessle Road that would become Division Road Cemetery. In essence the usual stuff. So why did William get so wound up about this?

Church  versus the Company

For William to take exception to this was foolish. The church authorities had long hated the Cemetery. It had taken much of their earnings from them by providing burial spaces. The Churches had resented this even though their own burial grounds were disgusting and immoral. The plan to seek another burial ground for Holy Trinity had been around before the idea of the Hull General Cemetery was mooted. Once, in 1847, it had almost seemed likely it would happen. However, at a parishioner’s meeting, the idea was voted down as the costs were seen as too prohibitive.

Now with the emergence of the Borough Burial Ground, later to become the nucleus of Western Cemetery, the church authorities thought they would try again. They also knew that Sophia Broadley had a poor opinion of the Company as it had been tardy in paying its debts to her brother, and after his death, to her.

William must have known that even if the new site was acquired in the near future it would be some time before it could function. To get annoyed about this was folly. If it had just been this perhaps it would have all passed off quietly. Sadly, the matter didn’t end there.

The Corporation drops its opposition

A further news item later that month increased William’s ire.

29th April, 1861

 

Again, one has to ask, what could have caused William to lose his temper here. To answer that let’s look at the recent past. Back in October William had made a speech already referred to. In that speech he had stated that the grounds of the Borough Burial Ground were ‘handed over’ to the Corporation and were ‘conferring a favour’ on the population of Hull.

As recorded earlier he had gone on to say,

‘The company from first to the last of their design, had only at heart the thought of presenting to their town’s people a place where they could be laid with pleasurable feelings and which would prove an ornament to the borough.’

Betrayal?

This latest news item must have seemed to him to throw those words back in his face. To his mind I would suggest that he could not understand why the Corporation would act in this way. For it would have been the final paragraph of the news item that would have exercised him the most. For now the Corporation were appearing to want to set up a rival to not only the Company’s grounds but also their own. Under the Public Health Act of 1848 the Local Board of Health regulated burials in its district or parishes. As such it could stop any such burial ground being opened. Such as the one Holy Trinity desired to implement. Yet here, it appeared, they would ‘withdraw their opposition’ to this new burial ground. To William this must have seemed like a betrayal.

Why?

Why would the Corporation act against its own vested interests? To William there was only one answer; the Corporation, especially the LBOH, and the Cemetery Company had a long history of distrust. Here was just another attack from them. He obviously felt that whatever trust between the two sides engendered by the opening of the Borough Burial Ground was now gone.

And here he did a foolish thing. He wrote to the Corporation offering to sell them the Borough Burial Ground. He did this without consulting his fellow directors. The letter was faithfully recorded in the minute books of the Company. What isn’t recorded is the reaction of his fellow directors to this other than their acquiescence to his fait accompli.

The letter

Here is the letter.

‘To the Burial Committee, LBOH 8/5/1861

Gentlemen, I have read with surprise the report of your board meeting on the 29th ult and the resolution passed on the occasion. It appears to me that your board is dealing with the burial question have not fairly considered the rights of the Cemetery Company.

At the request of your board the company entered into an arrangement to provide 5 acres of land, then let off as gardens, as and for the place of burial for the inhabitants of the borough; to lay  out the same as an ornamental cemetery and also to erect a suitable chapel thereon; and when the ground should be found insufficient the cemetery engaged to provide another suitable and adjoining piece of land and set it apart in the same way for your board.

The cost

These works have been carried out by the company at a cost of £1328 exclusive of land.

The company have justified their part in this agreement to the letter, and also to the satisfaction of your board as the following resolution of the 5/5 1860 will prove Copy of letter from burial board written above, motion moved by Mayfield, seconded by Richardson.

The company, in expending their money to meet the requirements of the board naturally looked to a fair return in the shape of interest on the outlay but your board’s resolution of the 29th ult renders it hopeless. The company think that in arriving at such a decision your board were wholly regardless of the position of the company with your board under the arrangement referred to the effect of your resolution being to deprive this company of the whole or a large part of their anticipation.

The offer to purchase the cemetery

Under these circumstances. I have to suggest whether the proper course for the Local Board of Health to adopt would be to purchase the ground included in the arrangement and thus, by taking the whole affair into their hands, release the cemetery company from their present unsatisfactory position, brought about as it has been by the action of your board.

Should the above suggestion to purchase meet with your views and should your board decide on adopting it, you would then be in a position to provide a family burial place in the board’s cemetery for the fees alone, which you can regulate at your pleasure and thus preserve the management of burials under your own control.

To carry out the suggestion the cemetery company would be willing to sell your board the land included in the arrangement on the following terms, subject to such regulations for preserving unity of design and uniformity of appearance as might be mutually agreed upon.

The purchase price for the site

Say 5 acres of land at £315 per acre (the cost to the company £1575. Amount expended by the company in laying out, draining, planting and erecting a new chapel to meet the requirements of the burial board £1328. Total £2903.

The company would grant a perpetual right of road through the present cemetery, the board contributing their proportion of maintaining it in good order.

The company think that they are fully justified in laying their suggestion before your committee, satisfied that they are entitled to their due consideration at the hands of your board for the large (and as far as they, the company are concerned, unnecessary) outlay they have incurred for the convenience of your board, and they would urge upon the board, through your committee, the necessity under existing circumstances. If your board’s arranging either to purchase the ground as suggested, or to give such compensation as may be mutually agreed upon.

William’s conclusion

In conclusion I may state that the object of the promoters of the cemetery company was to provide for the inhabitants of Hull what so much needed by them, a place of burial for all sects and denominations; to secure to all classes of the community the means of decent and undisturbed sepulture according to the rights of their own religious faith, and to put an end to intramural interments. This has been the aim of the company from its foundation to the present time and it was with this view, and not with the expectation of pecuniary gain that the arrangement with your board was entered into.

Yours

Wm Irving’

Westward No

With this letter William effectively sealed off any hopes of the expansion of the Cemetery to the west.

Naturally enough this letter caused some surprise with the Corporation and they did not respond immediately. It’s possible that further discussions were taking place that are not recorded.

On the 3rd July the minute books record that a vestry meeting had taken place for Holy Trinity and that the decision to buy the Division Road site was passed. As such the Board decided to wait on developments.

By the 28th August things had moved. William had had two meetings with the Local Board of Health with regard to selling them the land. From these meetings the cost of purchasing the land and chapel was priced at £2903. A poor agreement by the Company but they were hamstrung by William’s letter. Later it was costed out that the Company had lost money on the deal. The sale was finalised on the 28th March 1862.

The sale takes place

On the 5th March 1863 at the AGM it was stated that,

‘The sale of the west end was reported. It was also stated that the purchase price had cleared the company of its debts. However, it was also reported that the land that was sold did not make a profit but only broke even in terms of both its cost and the renovating the company had made.’

And this was without taking into account the closing off of any expansion of the Cemetery in that direction.

William Irving jnr

William’s death

William continued to be the chairman of the Company until his death on the 27th May 1883. A resolution was passed at the first Board meeting after his death, It read,

‘That the board of directors hereby record their sense of the very valuable services rendered by the late Mr William Irving, in the promotion of this company, (of which he was one of its first directors and its first chairman) and of his zeal and ability in advocating its interests as a director from its formation and his attention and uniform courtesy as its chairman for the last 24 years. The board of directors beg to tender to the family of their late esteemed chairman their deep sympathy in their present bereavement.’

On the 2nd August 1883 the Board received a letter from Thomas Stratten thanking them for their sympathy for the family at that time. Thomas Stratten was the co-executor of William’s will.

John Pearson Bell

William was replaced by John Pearson Bell. Born in Hull in 1809, he had studied at Glasgow University and the London Medical School to become a doctor. Once qualified he had returned to his native town. In April 1836 he married Louisa Lucy Bowdler. He lived in the South Myton district of Hull. This had some good areas such as Lister Street, where he lived, and English Street. It also had some particularly bad areas. It was known in Hull as the Potteries and some houses were little more than workmen’s huts left over from the brick-making days.

john pearson bell

In 1847 he was one of a number of authors of a small pamphlet entitled, ‘The Health of Hull’. In this work, compiled with other doctors, the authors had shown how Hull was poorly equipped to deal with any outbreak of disease. This was to be shown to be tragically true two years later when an outbreak of cholera struck.

Chartism

The following year, in 1848, Dr Bell also raised the issue of Chartism. A life long Tory, he recounted to a local newspaper how shocked he had been when he entered someone’s shop to find a petition.

News item about a chartist petition

He never did manage to get to the bottom of this and in later years I’m sure he found the whole episode humourous.

John was elected to the Board of Directors of the Company in March 1849. He was influential in the negotiations that took place with the Local Board of Health when that body was trying to buy the Cemetery.

The election of 1852

Around the same time he gave evidence to a parliamentary commission. This had been set up to investigate the corrupt practices that were alleged to have taken place in the election of 1852. This scandal led to Hull not being represented in parliament for two years. (It will come as no surprise to many that I am writing a book about this scandal).

The allegation regarding Dr. Bell was that he gave money to people to vote Tory. One allegation was that he gave money to one voter to buy a litter of pigs. He denied this and other allegations. John said that at no point was he involved in handling any monies. He had acted simply as a Tory election worker. In one exchange where he was the witness he explained the closest he had come to bribing a person in Cottingham to vote,

1853 electoral commission

The sanatorium

In 1858 his daughter, Lucy Ann, married Henry Soulby. He also was a medical practitioner and by the 1881 census he and his wife were living at Waverley House, Waverley Street with her parents. In 1861 he and Sir Henry Cooper opened a sanatorium on Beverley Road. The advert for it was quite refined,

Park House advert

Throughout this period Dr Bell, John Solomon Thompson and other directors were trying to reach an agreement with the landowner to the north of the cemetery. This landowner William Watkinson Wilkinson had long been unfriendly to the Cemetery. If truth be told his animosity was justified. When the cemetery opened they had trespassed upon his land and cut some of his trees down. Since that time a temporary truce had existed but open warfare was rarely far from erupting.

The 1854 Act

This ‘peace’ had not been helped by the 1854 Act of Parliament the Company had gained. In that they had been given the right to extend northwards on to Mr Wilkinson’s land. He could not oppose this compulsory purchase of his land directly but he could negate it at his leisure. In June 1857 things reached a critical point as the minute books show,

‘The solicitor produced a valuation by Mr Wilkinson of the land adjoining the cemetery and reported that he had forwarded a copy thereof to Mr Earnshaw, solicitor for the owner of the land and had a reply from that gentleman declining to accept the Mr Wilkinson’s valuation as the price of such land and the matter having been discussed and Mr George Wilkinson having explained to the board  the grounds on which he arrived at his valuation it was moved by the chairman, seconded by Dr Bell that £200 per acre be offered as the price of the land to be clear of all encumbrances except tithe rents.’

Mr George Wilkinson, was the surveyor employed by the Company. He was not related to the landowner Mr. W. W. Wilkinson who had by now passed away. However his estate was managed by his wife who obviously felt it her duty to delay and stop the Company from getting the land.

Another mistake

At the AGM in March 1858 the Chairman’s report spoke of this situation, and once again a strategic mistake was made.

‘The purchase of the land too also remains in abeyance. As our directors have, however, given the owners the necessary notice of their intention and of their wish to have a price named; and not succeeding in this, they instructed Mr Wilkinson, the surveyor, to make a survey and valuation of the land sought to be bought, for the Board’s future guidance, and whose report (confirming your directors views as to its value) is as follows.

‘I have examined the land situate at Newland Tofts, in the parish of Cottingham, adjoining on the north side of HGC belonging to the devises of the late Mr W. Wilkinson esq. and I am of the opinion that the value of the same is £165 per acre or thereabouts, the purchaser paying  the tithe commutation rent charge of £3 2s 4d per annum, whether the said rent charge be a little more or less, according to the average price of corn. The price of the 14 acres, 2 roods and 9 perches at this valuation will be £2,401 15s 7d’ signed Mr G. Wilkinson

‘No further steps’

The vendors and their solicitors however having declined to negotiate on Mr Wilkinson’s valuation your directors have taken no further steps in this matter. – It now remains to be considered whether, under existing circumstances it will be prudent to take the next steps pointed out by the land clauses consolidation Act viz; to require the sheriff to give notice to summon a jury to assess the value and compensation for severance, and this step your board does not at present see it prudent, being desirous now, as they have always been desirous, of effecting an amicable arrangement if possible.’

Nowhere to expand

In not acting in trying to gain this land they effectively stopped expansion to the north. As we have seen within a few years they had lost the chance to expand westwards. The Cemetery was enclosed to the south and east by roads. Without new land to sell grave spaces it had to die. That the directors failed to see this, or chose to ignore this fact, is hard to understand.

By 1859 Dr Bell was elected as Deputy Chair. In 1875 he became a J. P. and magistrate. In 1883 he became the Chair of the Company on the death of William Irving.

He was lucky that in his three years as chair there were no serious issues to deal with. The major one was that the Corporation began to develop what is now Spring Bank West and required landowners on either side of the new road to contribute to the ‘making of this public road’. The Company took legal advice which found that they had no legal obligation to do this and therefore they didn’t.

bust of j.p.bell

Golden wedding celebrations

In 1886 Dr. Bell and his wife celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary. He was presented with a bust as a gift, commissioned by his Freemason Lodge, and executed by William Day Keyworth. He presented his wife with a diamond ring. Just a few short months after this he died.

Dr. John pearson bell monument

Dr Bell’s death

Dr, Bell’s death was noted in the minute books by his fellow Directors,

‘Mr Oldham, the deputy chair, having alluded to the loss the company had sustained by the death of their esteemed chairman Dr. Bell which took place on the 26th ultimo; and the directors being desirous of recording their sense of the valuable services rendered by Dr Bell to the company and of tendering their sympathy with his family in their bereavement

It was resolved that the board of directors of the HGCC herby record their sense of the very valuable services rendered by the late Dr Bell in the promotion of the company (of which he was one of the original trustees) and of his zeal and ability in advocating its interest as a director for over 37 years and as chairman during the last 3 years. The directors beg to tender to Mrs Bell and the family their deep sympathy in the bereavement sustained by them through his death.’ A copy of this resolution sent to family.’

Conclusion

With the death of John Pearson Bell the next chairman was not one of the originators of the cemetery. The baton had now been passed on to the ‘next generation’. Some of the originators of the cemetery were still there in the board room. However they would not and could not lead the project any longer. Their time had passed.

It could be argued however that whoever took over, the cemetery’s time had also passed. It had lost its way and could no longer expand. The role of all the future chairmen of the Company could now be best described as running a continual damage limitation exercise. A sad end to a glorious project.

Anniversary June 1972

by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Volunteers

The anniversary this month is poignant. It marks 50 years since the Hull General Cemetery Company dissolved itself. Since that time the site has undergone some changes; some good, some not so good. It has changed ownership for better or worse. The site has been ‘developed’ and then allowed to sink back into the ‘decay’ it had been in before that ‘development’. One could say that Hull General Cemetery has had mixed fortunes since the last meeting of the shareholders of the company took place.

But that was in the future. In June 1972 no one knew what would happen to the site, least of all the Company, and neither did its future owners, Hull City Council. At no time did it seem certain that Hull City Council would become the owners. Although, quietly and behind the scenes, some activity told a different story.

Let’s look at how the Council did take over and this story may take us all back a lot further than you’d think.

To sell or not to sell

On the 14th December 1853 the company received a letter from the clerk to the Local Board of Health. This body had recently been set up in response to the Public Health Act of 1848. Amongst its many duties was the control of burials within its district. It was with this duty in mind that Mr Wells, the clerk, wrote to the Company. Mr Wells said that he had been instructed by the Parliamentary Bill Committee to ask the Company to name their price with regard to selling their cemetery.

This letter on the face of it was straightforward. Basically it asked for the company how much they wanted for selling the site. Underlying that letter though was an implied threat. This threat was that the Parliamentary Bill Committee were, at that moment, steering a bill through Parliament that sought to ‘improve’ the town. Part of that improvement was the right of compulsory purchase of the cemetery. That the letter came from this committee rather than the Local Board of Health itself would not have been lost on the Directors.

It also cannot have slipped the Directors’ minds that the Local Board of Health’s solicitor had written to them in November. This November letter was much less friendlier. It stated that,

Dec 14th HGC minute book

The threat of the Local Board of Health (LBOH) to compulsorily purchase the cemetery coupled with the oblique threat of erecting gas works in front of the entrance of the cemetery would have been fresh in their minds.

A more emollient approach

The December letter stated that the LBOH,

‘would be glad to receive from the Company an offer to sell to the local Board of Health for the benefit of the Borough the Hull General Cemetery and all its property rights and interests.’

A reply was requested by the 22nd. The company replied saying that, ‘it was not their present intention of the Company to part with their cemetery.’ 

The following February 1854 another letter arrived. In this the Parliamentary Bill Committee suggested that three directors should meet three LBOH members with a view to settling this issue. The Company agreed to this and dispatched the Chair, John S. Thompson, William Irving and John Pearson Bell to this meeting.

20th Feb 1854 HGC minute book

Suffice to say that both parties attended the meeting with their own agenda. Although there were glimmers of agreement it was not wholly successful for either side. The Company did agree to sell the cemetery to the LBOH but they wanted the LBOH to come up with a price first. However the LBOH did not do this and the matter was not pursued. No doubt the LBOH felt that their Act of Parliament would gain the cemetery for them. They were in for a surprise.

The Acts of Parliament

For the Cemetery Company were also pursuing this approach. It became a race which Act would be enacted first.

As such both parties set to with a will to get their respective Acts of Parliament through the next session of Parliament. By 1854 the Corporation had their Hull Improvement Act in place that would have enabled them to purchase the cemetery. However the Company had managed to get their own Act in place.  This forestalled any municipal authority from compulsorily purchasing a cemetery established and incorporated by an Act of Parliament. Stalemate. A couple of years later anther approach almost made it over the finish line but was scuppered by greed. You can read about it here. An Anniversary: June 1856

And so this state of affairs continued for the next 120 years.

Having said that, the fortunes of both parties altered significantly over time. In 1854 the Company was definitely in the driving seat. In effect it could name the conditions upon which it would sell. This was its highwater point. After this the pendulum swung the other way. By the turn of the 20th century the company would have been glad to sell the cemetery but the Corporation now had its own burial grounds and was content to wait.

One hundred years later

By the middle of the 20th century the chair, Arthur J. Downs, a relative of Rose, Downs and Thompson, the engineering firm, was reporting to the Company AGM that negotiations to sell the site to the Corporation were stalling.

‘It was noted that the corporation were insistent that steps be taken to recall capital as a condition to their considering the matter further. As such the matter was not competent business for discussion at an Ordinary General Meeting, it was decided that the new board, when constituted, should take up negotiations and refer back to the proprietors as necessary.’

Recall of Capital

This issue of ‘recall the capital’ refers back to the foundation of the Company. Avid students of this subject will remember that the initial shares in the company were sold for £10. Out of that £10 only £1 of that was asked from the shareholders by the Company. The Company had, from its beginnings, worked on income it generated and initial lending via bonds. As such the original shareholders reaped the benefit of dividends for over a hundred years without actually paying the full price for their shares.

By the time the Company found itself in financial trouble many of the original shareholders had died or their families had moved away. Thus the Company felt it was unfair to trouble the descendants for the remaining £9 owing.

Sadly, the Corporation didn’t view that particular issue in such a misty-eyed way. They demanded that before any purchase of the cemetery this money should be paid into the cemetery coffers. In this way the Corporation felt that they would not have to pay the entire cost of attempting to bring the site back to a healthy state. Upon this rock all future negotiations foundered.

1955

By 1955 two changes had occurred. Firstly a new chair was installed. This was Clifford Hookins Ashburn. A solicitor, like many of his predecessors. As such he perhaps saw more clearly that the present situation could not continue.

The second change was that on the 27th January that year the nettle was grasped. At an Extraordinary Meeting of the proprietors a resolution was put forward. This stated that,

27th Jan 1955 HGC minute books

On the face of it this resolution would allow the Company to continue negotiations with the Corporation. However an upset at the meeting changed things.

27th Jan 1955 b

So the ‘burden’ of paying the £9 owing would not simply be taken up by the remaining proprietors but also by the relatives or descendants of all the shareholders. Some of these people may not have known they were shareholders in the Company. Those old  shares could be mouldering in a trunk in the attic or have been lost over the intervening period of a century. It’s doubtful whether any of them had received any dividends over time as addresses would have changed.

This put the Company in an invidious position. They would now need to source where these ‘missing’ proprietors were and that would take money. Something the Company were sadly lacking in.

The offer of a deal

Realising that this task was impossible. the Chair and the Company’s solicitors, Payne and Payne, had, by June 1956, opted for hopefully an easier way. They approached the Corporation to accept £3 10 shillings per share rather than the full £9. The Board thought that this approach at least passed the buck back to the Corporation. The Board felt that it showed their willingness to compromise on the issue and provide a solution.

By January 1957 the Board heard that,

25th Jan 1957 HGC minute books

Roscoe’s Report

At a board meeting on the 21st August that year the Directors were informed that the site visit had been undertaken. Mr Roscoe, the Corporation Parks and Burials Superintendent, had visited the site. In researching this article I have not had sight of the report. However what we do have is a resume of the report and the conclusions of the Town Clerk, J Haydon W. Glen. It’s not pretty reading for the Company.

It starts quite positively and then takes a turn for the worst.

 

Roscoe's report page 1

 

It went on to say,

 

Roscoes report part 2

The resume by the Town Clerk was simply saying that the Company had managed to get itself into this mess, was still in business, so should endeavour to get itself out of it. As it says, ‘it may be wondered why the Corporation should get involved in the matter at all.’ And an objective observer would probably agree with them. It needed the Company to fail completely before the site could be rescued.

With that report, the hope that the Company had of the Corporation taking the site over was gone.

1966 and all that

In November 1961 the Company formally recognised this and recorded that they would not approach the Corporation again. The issue resurfaces indirectly in November 1966 when the Company asked for another look at their own counsel’s advice from a decade ago. This advice had been to sell the site quickly as may be seen below,

Nov 1966 HGC minute book

At the next meeting of the Board on the 27th August 1968 Mr Wilkinson reported back. He said that although the Corporation were not unsympathetic to the Company, they said they themselves did not ‘have the resources to take the initiative in the matter.’ As such the Corporation said the Company ‘must do what it thought fit.‘

The plan

Upon this news the Directors decided to undertake another plan. This was to list the Company under the Companies Act 1948. Taking this approach meant that the Company could apply to the Courts to be liquidated under that Act. The Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the proprietors that would vote on this issue was to take place on the 11th August 1970. The Board were confident it would be approved.

At this meeting 10 proprietors attended, owning 153 shares between them. The chair outlined the situation facing all those present after which the outcome was a foregone conclusion. A resolution was put forward from the floor and it was unanimously accepted.

11th Aug 1970 HGC minute books

From now on the liquidation of the Company was simply a matter of when. Over the next 20 months the process of liquidation followed its legal course. By May 1972 everything was in place for the Company to be terminated. And then, at the eleventh hour, an outside intervention occurred.

Mr Dennis

On the 22nd May, at the Law Society Offices, Bowlalley Lane, another EGM took place. In an unconscious ironic twist of fate both this and the final shareholder’s meeting took place in the very building that the first meeting of the Company had taken place in back in 1845. Out of the 967 shareholders known to the Company only seven were present. However those present did own the majority of the Company’s shares between them.

At this meeting in May, Clifford H Ashburn, the chair, invited a Mr Dennis to speak. This young man, a Hull University graduate and now a businessman in a property company, outlined his proposal.

22nd May 1972 EGM HGC minute books

The chair had invited representatives of the local press and radio to this meeting. As such this late intervention was reported in the Hull Daily Mail the following day.

Under the headline ‘Hull Graduates Want To Buy Derelict Cemetery’, Mr Dennis’s scheme was explained. The article went into much more detail than the Company minute books. In essence it’s an intriguing ‘What If…’ aspect of the long history of the cemetery.

Counterfactual

As the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper once said,

‘History is not merely what happened; it is what happened in the context of what might have happened.’

And with the intervention of Mr Dennis we have a perfect opportunity of imagining such a thing in connection with Hull General Cemetery. Could such an intervention have succeeded? What would have been the likely outcome over time?

On the credit side the Cemetery Company was not in debt. It still owned two properties. Yes, these were up for sale but that sale could be withdrawn. On the debit side it had no staff and the site was totally overgrown and shabby. However this last point appeared to be a credit point to the prospective buyers. In effect the site could have been transferred and the new owners have put into place their own plans. As long as the new owners closed the burial side of the business which the Company had already begun to do there would have been no legal objection that could have been sustained by the Council.

What then could have occurred? Mr Dennis said that a fence would be erected around the site. This would have been quite an expense. He also said that certain headstones and memorials would be made safe and restored. Once again this would have been an expensive undertaking. Other than making the paths of the cemetery passable no other work was envisaged. I would suppose that routine maintenance of the trees would have taken place to make sure they would not damage the stones but beyond that the site would be left in situ.

Income generating?

Mr Dennis did not say whether the venture would be income generating. However he was a businessman, even if he had long hair and ‘outlandish’ ideas, so it’s possible there was a germ of an idea to make money from the site. We do not know. However we can hypothesise.

Mr Dennis may well have foreseen that such a site could potentially generate money as a ‘heritage’ resource. We are all familiar with visiting country houses etc but accessing other sites rich in heritage is also viable. Possibly Mr Dennis may have had such an idea that the site could become such an attraction. With the rise of genealogical studies in the 1990s such sites became much more popular. Guided tours of the historic monuments (for a price) could have taken place. Accessing both local and central government funding for environmental and bio-diversity work could have also generated significant income. Another form of income generation could have been leasing it out as a film or television set. One can imagine how this could have been successful.

By the millennium the site could have become a self-sustaining part of the rich fabric of attractive heritage and natural highlights of the city.

Meanwhile back at the meeting, and the press report that followed.

Plastic people

The article began by stating that,

Hull Daily Mail 23rd May 1972

Mr Dennis, the representative of the graduates, stated,

‘that he feared the Hull Corporation would take over the cemetery, and by flattening it out, make it “a ghastly and tasteless plastic graveyard for plastic people.”.

Mr Dennis channelling Frank Zappa there! And of course he wasn’t far wrong in that assessment as a previous article pointed out. A Monumental Loss

Warming to his theme he outlined the plans he and his fellows had for the site,

HDM 23rd May b

This was perhaps not what the present owners wanted to hear. They had lamented the state of the cemetery for the best part of 40 years without paying for its restoration. Now, sat in front of them, is this long haired ‘hippie’ saying that he and his fellows preferred this state of affairs and indeed wanted it to continue. One can imagine their consternation at this news.

HDM Michael Dennis

Under the paragraph heading, ‘Not Crazy’, Mr Dennis further outlined how he would take control of the cemetery,

HDM 23rd May c

In the Yorkshire Post Mr Dennis was quoted as saying,

‘I want to buy it because it is a nice place just as it is – as long as it will not cost me too much. You could say I just want it as a garden. Let the place rest in peace whereas if the council got hold of it we would have council officials marching all over it, levelling it out. Many people enjoy looking around it in its present wild state. Let them enjoy the pleasure.’

He also said in the Hull Times that he did not want the Corporation, ‘to take over the cemetery, to make it into a second Queens Gardens.’ 

Cold water

At the end of the Hull Daily Mail article the chair of the Cemetery Company poured cold water on this plan. He said he did not think it was possible for Blawhurst Limited, of which Mr Dennis was a founder, to buy the cemetery.

‘For one thing it may be too late to do anything now as we are well on the way to having the Company would up. It must be in doubt whether Mr Dennis’s company have enough cash. There are also various legal complication to be considered.’

With that cold assessment we now move on to the endgame of the Cemetery Company and to the final meeting of the Company. However, before we enter that meeting room for the last time, the intervention by Mr Dennis and his associates caused some ripples beyond the room.

The cat is out of the bag

On the 31st May, eight days after this meeting, the Joint Under-Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment (DOE), a Mr Keith Speed, revealed that Hull Corporation had already enquired for a direct grant from his department to ‘tidy up the dilapidated 127- year old cemetery.’ 

Sir Keith Speed

Sir Keith Speed, as he later became, was the minister for the Navy and was sacked by Margaret Thatcher in 1981. He had publicly disagreed with the cuts taking place on the Navy that she and the defence minister John Nott, were imposing. A year later, with the Falklands War, his assessment was proved correct. Naturally enough he was never forgiven by Thatcher and he was only knighted after she had left office. He died in 2018.

This embarrassing revelation for the Corporation came about, probably much to the Corporation’s chagrin, via the West Hull M.P. James Johnson at the time. He had received a letter from the DOE after he complained about the state of the site. So, contrary to past denials and negative pronouncements about the site the Hull Corporation were seeking to acquire it. But they did not want to buy it but ‘inherit’ it.

A clarification – of sorts

Responding to this news, Sir Leo Schultz, the leader of Hull City Council, said, ‘It was impossible  at present to say whether the Corporation would step in.’ This statement, made no doubt to cover for the Corporation’s earlier machinations in applying for a DOE grant, continued,

‘There were plots which people had bought in the area but had not taken up, and the public still needed access to graves in the cemetery. The company is still using it as a burial ground, I understand, so we have commitments regarding it. this means we could not take steps to clear it up until the company has totally completed its business.’

The phrase, ‘to clear it up’, perhaps already shows the Corporation’s plans for the site. Ominously Sir Leo Schultz went on to say,

‘That in any case the Spring Bank area was not the only cemetery in the city which was untidy and needed attention. There were old cemeteries such as those near Division Road and Sculcoates Lane which also must be looked at under the clean-up scheme’

And so they were cleared up, with the significant loss of heritage assets such as the headstone of David Garbutt, the man behind the Avenues project, in Division Road. In Sculcoates Lane the destruction of the chapel that Greenwood in 1835 said was a great artistic piece of work was another blow to Hull historical record. ‘Clean-up’, as a phrase used by the Council at this time, surely should have struck fear into any historian.

The final meeting

The final meeting of the Company shareholders took place once again at the Bowlalley Lane site. The date was the 1st of June 1972. At this meeting two resolutions, unanimously agreed by all present were put forward. The first was that, ‘The Hull General Cemetery Company be dissolved.’ and the  second stated, ‘That the Hull General Cemetery Company Limited be wound up in Court.‘

The shareholders then had to deal with the intervention by Mr Dennis and his associates. The shareholders had already agreed that they could not countenance this deal. As the minutes show,

HGC minute Book June 1st 1972

It was only after the press were informed of this decision that Mr Dennis was asked to join the meeting. There he was not told that his offer had been rejected. He was asked to explain his offer once again which he did.

HGC minute book, 1st June 1972

What a novel idea

This approach would not have endeared him and his associates to the shareholders. He was saying that the cemetery, as it stood, was fine. That he could continue to run the cemetery as a business but that would not be its main function. Its main function would be as a site of historical and environmental interest. In essence Mr Dennis was stating something that to us today is quite normal but to the ears of the shareholders it was not only novel but dangerous. Indeed Mr Dennis was articulating what the Spring Bank Cemetery Action Group and the Friends of Hull General Cemetery said later. That the combination of both nature and history complimented each other and should be preserved as much as possible. That in it’s present state (in 1972) it was attractive and informative. The shareholders must have thought the young man was mad.

Back at the meeting

Meanwhile back at the meeting,

hgc minute book 1st June 1972

So the last chance to preserve the beauty of the Cemetery as it was was lost. That the directors stated that Blawhurst Ltd was a ‘company of straw’ is ironic as it is still one of the leading rental property owners in Hull. Once again one wonders what if the directors had gone along with this scheme what would we now have today on the site? A fruitless exercise I know but sometimes one can’t help playing such mind games.

The final minutes of the final meeting of the Hull General Cemetery Company were never signed off as no further meeting took place. In 1872 the Marie Celeste was found floating in the Atlantic with no one aboard yet still appearing as if it was crewed. One hundred years later so must the Hull General Cemetery have looked. The site continued to exist, the stones still stood in serried ranks, the wild things still scurried around and the trees and bushes still encroached further on to the paths. The site did not care a fig for legal obligations or who owned what. It just did what it does today; it continued to exist.

Hull Corporation come clean

For 18 months the site was ownerless and then things changed. On December 14th 1973, under the headline, ‘City to buy derelict cemetery’, the open secret that the Hull Corporation would take over the site was revealed finally.

The article went on to say in an unflattering way, and it must be said that the Hull Daily Mail was one of the site’s severest critics. It never failed to use the word ‘eyesore for the site.

HDM Dec 14 1973

Perhaps more sinisterly, the plans for the site were expounded by Mr J.A. Milne, the Director of the Council Leisure Services Department.

HDM dec 14 1973

This is where this part of the story ends and the next stage of the story is already on this website. Please read it and realise what we have lost. A Monumental Loss

Postscript

I attempted to contact Mr Dennis back in 2016. I was intrigued by this whole episode as I hope you are. He had since retired from his role as a Director of Blawhurst Ltd and now lived in Devon. Sadly I never received a reply to my enquiries and perhaps he felt that, as L.P. Hartley said in The Go-Between, ‘The past is foreign country; they do things differently there.’ Like us all he perhaps feels that his youthful indiscretions should remain hidden and forgotten. Who am I to argue with that? It is a shame though.

Postscript Two

This is my last piece as editor of the website. It some ways it seems quite fitting to end with the end of the Company. It’s almost as if I had planned it that way which I assure you I hadn’t.  I hope you have enjoyed these glances at some pieces of forgotten and ignored history. I hope you continue to enjoy the website and the cemetery itself for as long as you want to. Bye.

Next Month

by Pete Lowdenin Events, History, Volunteers2 Comments on Next Month

The newsletter next month will be my last as editor.

To celebrate this there will be two lengthy articles. The first will look at some of the men who took on the role of the Chairman of the Company. Most of them are buried in the cemetery. Most of them were successful in other spheres such as industry and medicine. The first provisional committee of the Company met in March 1845. The final meeting of the Company met in the summer of 1972. We’ll look at these ‘movers and shakers’ of Victorian and Edwardian Hull.

The second will examine in detail what went on in the confines of the last Board meeting of the Cemetery Company. It will show the desire on the part of the directors to give up and the unlooked for opposition to this. It will show the Cemetery could have been rescued by some long haired hippie types who went on to form  a property company that still flourishes in the city. A fascinating ‘what if’ story.

Hope you’ll enjoy them. See you next month.

Chris Ketchell

by Pete Lowdenin Events, Meetings, News, Talks, Volunteers2 Comments on Chris Ketchell

Some of you may remember Chris Ketchell. A local historian of note he initiated the Local History Unit in the mid 1980s. The list of his local history publications stretches for 7 pages of A4. The amount of projects and campaigns he was involved in was almost as long.

His involvement with the Hull General Cemetery was also over a long period. He roamed the site well before it’s ‘redevelopment’ by Hull City Council. Chris was one of the major figures in the fight against this wilful destruction of habitat and heritage. He loved the site. His work, ‘Grown in Sadness and Beauty’ was the first attempt at a written history of the site. The FOHGC owes much to this man’s influence and spirit in its custodianship of the site.

Sadly Chris died in 2011 with perhaps many more works to come from his fertile mind and pen.

Lecture and plaque

There is an annual local history lecture given to commemorate this man’s life usually during the month of his birthday, April. Due to the pandemic the lecture did not take place during 2020 and 2021. The decision was made to hold it again this year. It will take place in the lecture theatre at the Hull History Centre on the 7th July at 2.00 pm.

I’m proud to say that I will give the lecture this year. The talk will be loosely based upon my The Rise and Fall of Hull General Cemetery but the latter part will focus upon the fight against the ‘redevelopment’ of the site in the 70s and Chris’ part in that fight.

I’m also pleased to say that, after consultation with the Avenues and Pearson Park Residents Association (APPRA), they felt that it was now appropriate that an APPRA green plaque be attached to the house he lived in Westbourne Avenue. This will be unveiled some time this summer. A fitting tribute to Chris Ketchell.

 

Anniversary 1859

by Pete Lowdenin History, Volunteers2 Comments on Anniversary 1859

The anniversary this month is from May 1859. It is, at least in my opinion, the point where the Cemetery began its slow decline. An Emergency Board Meeting was called by the Secretary, C.S.Todd. He said he had received a letter from the Chairman. The minutes of the meeting describe what the contents of this letter contained.

‘The sec. said a letter from Mr J.S.Thompson resigning his office as chairman and director of this board. The directors having considered the reasons assigned by Mr Thompson for such resignation and being desirous that he should still continue to act as chairman of the board. It was resolved that such resignation be not accepted. That the sec. be instructed to address a letter to Mr Thompson expressing the earnest desire and request of the directors that he will reconsider his decision and by  withdrawing his letter of resignation resume his position and seat as chairman and director the board.’

The reply

On the 2nd June that year C.S.Todd read out the reply from J.S.Thompson to the Board. The minutes simply state that,

‘ received a reply thereto which he read to the Board and from which it appeared that Mr Thompson had determined not to withdraw his letter of resignation’

It is difficult to gauge from the above what a momentous point in time this was. The dry minutes do not reflect what consternation this resignation letter would have engendered. John Solomon Thompson had been the man who had navigated the Company through the task of selecting and buying the land. He had been instrumental in instigating the Act of Parliament that prevented the Hull Corporation for taking over the Cemetery. As the Chair he had negotiated hard with the Railway Company and forced it to change the proposed route of the Victoria Dock line. He had brought the Company through all of these perils and now he was resigning. Why?

What’s gone wrong?

Sadly, we have no knowledge of the ‘why’. Where are these letters? They are lost to us now in the wastepaper drive fomented by Churchill in World War Two.  What on earth had happened that made the esteemed Chair feel he could no longer carry on?

In March everything was rosy. The Company were in negotiations with the Local Board of Health about leasing the western part of their grounds for burials. The Company had just signed the agreement and covenant with the Hull Workhouse for the burial of the town’s poor.

In those intervening two months something had upset John Thompson so much that he felt he had to resign.

I could hazard a couple of guesses on what had caused this turn of events but that is only guesswork and not to be written down as proof. Oh, how I’d love to have seen those letters that were sent. As I said earlier it’s just another of those mysteries that crop up now and again and cause me a headache. A troublesome anniversary. Anniversary April 1858

 

Cemetery Wildlife March 2022

by Helen Bovillin General, Volunteers, Wildlife2 Comments on Cemetery Wildlife March 2022

Where do I begin? March has been a great month for the many and varied members of the cemetery wildlife family!

This first month of the new season started off with a few rainy days but then the sun came out.  Most of the days have been very sunny with the occasionally frosty start, but daytime temperatures have been higher than average for this time of year.

This warm sunshine is just what the hibernating cemetery wildlife needed and I saw the first butterfly of the year – the above Small Tortoiseshell – on 10 March.

Insects

It’s nice to be writing about insects again!  A week after I saw the Small Tortoiseshell, I saw Commas and Brimstones and I got a brief glimpse of a Peacock. These were on the grass verge alongside the cemetery, but I also saw some of them inside the main part of the cemetery.

These four species of butterfly spend Winter as adults and can sometimes have slightly damaged wings by the time they emerge. This isn’t surprising considering the number of storms they’ve had to survive this year.  But I did also see some very smart, new-looking individuals too.

Commas

I saw two Brimstones and both were males.  Their wings are bright yellow but they always rest with their wings closed so you only see that bright yellow in flight.  The females emerge slightly later than the males and are a pale green, almost white.

During the last weekend I saw my first white butterflies of the season.  I saw a very active Small White on the grass verge.  It only stopped very briefly and when I studied my photo, I found it was a male.

Small White

Then in the edible garden area behind Thoresby Primary School I saw a Large White.  I realise this isn’t a part of the cemetery but think for the purposes of this report it can be included.  After all, if your main entry into the cemetery takes you past this area then your cemetery wildlife experience begins here.

Both these species spend their winters as a pupa – a good indication that the weather is now warm enough for the butterflies to complete their final transition into full adults.

Large White

So that’s six different species of butterfly in just one month and in a relatively small area.  Quite impressive!

There have been plenty of Bees around.  The queens have emerged from their Winter hibernation and are starting to look for places to start a new colony.

These are the main species I’ve seen so far – Buff-tailed, White-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees, and Common Carder Bees.  I also saw a Tawny Mining Bee towards the end of the month.

Bees

I also saw some Bee-flies.  Their fluffy little bodies make them look remarkably like small bees.  If you’re lucky to see one of these flies resting on a flower or a leaf look at the wings, held open at right angles to the body.  Bees rest with their wings over their bodies.

Bee-Fly

Another insect I was delighted to see was this Hawthorn Shield Bug, on a Common Dog Violet leaf.

Hawthorn Shield Bug

There are lots of Ladybirds of various kinds around too.  Note the 7-Spot one on the right of the Commas photo for example.  This is one of the twelve species native to the UK, and there are also Harlequin Ladybirds around too.

Plants and Flowers

After a slow start the Lesser Celandines are now flowering in abundance and the grass verge at the side of the cemetery is looking beautiful.  They are also flowering inside the cemetery.  These small yellow flowers can have between 8 and 13 petals, and they feature on several of the photos in this report.  The other yellow flowers in the photos are Dandelions.

The Blackthorn trees around the cemetery are now in full flower and some of the leaf buds have started to open.  Fresh green shoots are starting to appear on some of the other trees as well.

But when you look at the ground the signs of Spring are all around in the smaller flowers now starting to open.  Red Dead-nettle and Wood Anemones are currently in flower on the grass verge.

Red Dead-nettle

Wood Anemone

Inside the cemetery small patches of Common Dog Violets can now be seen, and I even found a few Periwinkles in flower.

Common Dog-Violet

Periwinkle

Birds

The birds are in full song at the moment, with the Robins being one of the loudest.

Robin

The gathering of nest material has begun in earnest and I’ve seen several Blue Tits exploring the nest boxes.

Last year the volunteers sunk a shallow dish into the ground in the Quaker Burial Ground as there is no natural supply of water in the cemetery.  Other than the pools that form in wet weather of course!  The Blackbirds seem especially fond of it.  It’s topped up regularly in dry weather but is kept shallow for the safety of all visitors.

Blackbird bathing

As far as the larger birds are concerned, there are Magpies, Carrion Crows, Stock Doves and Wood Pigeons in the cemetery.  They can be seen foraging among the many ground covering plants including Wild Garlic, the leaves of which are shown here.

Wood Pigeon

Some of the volunteers had a close encounter with a Sparrowhawk, flying close over their heads and into the far corner of the cemetery.  It was too fast for a photo though! I also caught a brief glimpse of a female Blackcap earlier in the month.  There are also Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Long-tailed Tits and Dunnocks around.

Conclusion

March has been a great month for the cemetery wildlife, with lots of sunshine and warmth.  But I couldn’t end this report without mentioning the Daffodils which are now open throughout the cemetery.  They are looking particularly spectacular along the grass verge, and should continue to look good well into April.

Cemetery Wildlife February 2022

Daffodils

 

 

 

Anniversary April 1858

by Pete Lowdenin General, History, Volunteers4 Comments on Anniversary April 1858

Sometimes, you know you are going to have a bad day. From when you get up to when you go to bed things just keep on going wrong. This month’s anniversary celebrates – if that’s the right word – a bad week for a number of people.

The clergy attack

Back in April 1858 John Shields had a bad week. On Thursday, the 1st of April Mr Shields had to defend himself against some criticism from the clergy. Mr Graham, the curate of Holy Trinity, approached the Board. He said that the superintendent had used, ‘most gross and insulting language towards him when in the discharge of his clerical duties.’

Sadly, what was said or not said, was not recorded. However, the Board said they would investigate and called Mr Shields before them. The Board may also have been wanting to be seen to do the right thing. However, the Board must also have had misgivings about Mr Graham’s evidence.

This was because the clergy of Holy Trinity parish had long held some resentment towards the Cemetery. With the coming of the Cemetery the burials in the Holy Trinity churchyard and the Castle Street burial ground had decreased sharply. This in turn affected the revenue of the clergy. And, sadly, this drop in income was probably the most important factor in their continuing to bury people in these overcrowded burial grounds.

So, the Board knew that there may well have been some other reason behind this accusation. I don’t believe that their investigation would have been more than asking Mr Shields whether he had been insulting to Mr Graham. When Mr Shields probably replied no, that would have been the end of that.

The next week

On the following Monday, the 5th, Mr Shields had a much more delicate and distasteful task before him. Let’s try to set the scene.

He will have been working in his office in the Lodge. Probably trying to get his books up to date as Sunday was the busiest day for the Cemetery. That was day when most burials took place and he was probably rushed off his feet that day getting the chapel ready for each burial. Apart from that he would have had to check the paperwork for each burial and take the monies owed. This was apart from supervising the staff throughout the day. Yes, probably a busy day and Monday was the day to sort it all out.

A knock on the door of the office. Two of his staff stood there. Probably with their caps off and maybe even shuffling their feet a little. On the door being opened I’m pretty certain that one of them would have said they’d found something. And I’m equally sure that Mr Shields would have asked what had they found and been equally as shocked at their answer.

cholera monument 1993

Inside the box

For they had found a box in the shrubbery near to the new cholera monument. Inside that box they found two dead children. Two female babies, One can imagine his shock at this news and his horror when he went to look for himself. He contacted the police immediately who arrived and took the children’s bodies away ‘to Newland to wait the Coroner’s request’.

He reported it to the Board but no more information is forthcoming in the Minute Books.

Child life expectation

However this was not a singular incident. It may well have been unusual in the confines of the Cemetery but the lives of children during this period could be short. The life expectancy in Britain in 1850 was 42 years. For the working class this would have been significantly lower, probably 28 years. And the life expectancy at this time was so low because of the large number of children who died before they reached the age of 5. Over 25% of children died before reaching the age of one. 40% of all the annual deaths in the Victorian period were of children under 5 years old.

The anonymous author of A Short History of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, commented that to be an English baby at the beginning of the 20th century was ‘to occupy a position as perilous as that of a soldier going about to go into action’. With such statistics it is difficult to counter that claim.

Illegitimacy

Illegitimate babies were much more at risk. In the 1870s it was estimated that 35% of all such births in manufacturing towns died before the age of one. In London it was nearer 75%. It is highly likely that the children found in the Cemetery were illegitimate.

Let’s look at this crime a little. It is sad to say that in law, and probably in reality, this crime was seen as a ‘female crime’. Until 1803 the crime of infanticide was tried under the Bastardy Act of 1624. Under this act the mother had to prove, via witnesses, that the child had been born dead. Unless she could prove this she faced the death penalty, for it was a capital crime. Over time, as more and more juries failed to convict the accused for one reason or another, a new Act was proposed.

1803

This was the 1803 Act. This Act required the prosecution to prove that a murder had taken place. However if this could not be proved another option presented itself. The jury could return a verdict of ‘concealment of birth’. The penalty for this was from two months up to two years in prison.

Why would a woman conceal her pregnancy or the birth of a child? One of the many reasons why this would happen was the nature of Victorian society, especially towards unmarried mothers. Emsley in Crime and Society in England 1750-1900 states,

‘Most of the women brought before the courts charged with infanticide during the 18th and 19th centuries appear to have been young women, commonly servants, desperate to maintain their positions and their respectability’.

So babies were ‘routinely killed’. Carver in The 19th Century Underworld states,

‘The Thames held as many bodies as the Ganges’. He goes on to show a typical case he found in the Marylebone Mercury of August 1859,

‘The body of a baby boy was found floating in a water-butt of a house in Upper Boston Street. Attention had been alerted when the wife of a tenant noticed a peculiar taste in the water.’ It doesn’t bear thinking about does it? Yet, as the figures above show, this was a commonplace occurrence.

The New Poor Law

How did we get to this situation? The law didn’t help. The 1834 New Poor Law Act had a Bastardy clause. This said that all children born out of wedlock were the sole responsibility of their mothers. To gain a flavour of how the law saw such people the mothers of bastard children were described as ‘vicious’ in the legislation. It was hoped that the legislation would stop, ‘idleness, bastardy and beer drinking.’ But only in women as the Act wasn’t aimed at the other sexual partner!

Abortion

And, of course, in an attempt to avoid this scenario abortion rears its head. And we come back to the 1803 Act. Prior to that Act abortion was met with a fine or a short term of imprisonment. However if the child was terminated before ‘the quickening’ there was no penalty. The ‘quickening’ was deemed to be when the mother could feel the foetus move, around the 13th week of pregnancy.

By 1837 this loophole was removed. Under this Act,  it was only the abortionist who committed a criminal act in conducting an abortion not the mother. This changed with the introduction of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861 which is still on the statute book. It encompasses such crimes as GBH and ABH. Under this Act both the abortionist and the woman were both deemed equally guilty. Abortion was removed as a criminal act by legislation in 1967.

Conclusion

However, the foetus still needed to be disposed of. Which is where the bodies in the cemetery may well have come from.

I’m sure that John Shields’ week must have become better. I wonder more about the poor girl who gave birth. Would she ever forget her dead children being left alone in a lonely place beside a monument to death from disease? In that context John Shields’ bad week was nothing in comparison. It was not a good anniversary for her. That girl had a heavy burden to carry for much longer than a week. Placed upon her by an uncaring society. A society lauded by some politicians and historians, even now, as a highpoint of civilization. Victorian values eh?

Anniversary March 1877

 

Freddy Kruger

by David Hamiltonin General, History, Volunteers2 Comments on Freddy Kruger

Freddy Krüger and Family revealed

 

pic 1

pic 2

The grave site C37/3060 in Hull General Cemetery before the plot had been cleared in late 2021 and the parts of the headstone re-united.

Freddy Krüger and family revealed

The gravestone located in Hull General Cemetery had long been hidden beneath a thick  bed of ivy and other vegetation. The “Friends” of the cemetery often referred to this plot  as “Freddy Krüger’s Grave. Late in 2021, the volunteers decided to clear the plot and liberate the headstone from the vegetation, in doing so they found the stone was in two pieces, one of which was lying face down. Once the two parts had been reunited the inscription was clear and read as follows: –

pic 3

The inscription reveals a close link between the Raines and the Krüger families. Interestingly there is a lack of any biographical information in contrast with other memorials in the Cemetery.

After research over several weeks the true story of the Krüger and other families was revealed and we find a story of the Baltic trade between Hull and Russia, shipwreck, tragedy, and philanthropy in Victorian Hull through to the early 20th century.

Descendants of Robert Raines

 

Descendants_of_Robert_Raines

Sarah Raines

Sarah was one of at least three daughters of Rev. Robert and Elizabeth Raines, she was born in 1789 and baptised in Hull St. Mary on 3rd June and died 12th July 1861. She appears to have been a lady of independent means who lived all her life in Hull and never married. In the 1851 census she is living at 7 Spring Street, head of the household with a nephew and two servants. The nephew is registered as Edward Brebim aged 19 and working  as an engineer, nationality, Russian born in Riga. (I have been unable to find any family connection to Edward and the surname is untraceable and suspect).

There is an entry in Pigot’s Directory of 1828/9 of Sarah Raines having a Millinery and Dressmaking business at 1 Jarratt Street. There are no other records of her being in business in Hull and no references to her in the local press.

However, we find a detailed press report in the Hull Packet of a trial at Somerset Assizes on March 29th 1800. A certain Mrs Leigh Perrott was charged with stealing lace in the shop of Miss Gregory, in the City of Bath. Miss Sarah Raines, apprentice to Miss Gregory (milliner and  owner of the shop), swore that on the 8th of August the prisoner came to the shop……. and was a witness to the theft.

 In the 1861 census records we find Sarah living at 24 Pearson Street with one servant where she dies of “decay of nature” in July the same year. There is no record of any obituary, will or probate.

 

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 Elizabeth Raines

Sarah Raines’ sister Elizabeth was born in 1781 and died on 10th November, 1849, she is buried   in Humbleton churchyard. She also had a sister Mary-Ann born in 1787 who was married to John Whitton.

Elizabeth married Francis Reimers, gentleman, on 18th February 1798 in Holy Trinity, Hull. They had two children: –

Francis Thomas born May 1800 and died January 1869 Christiana Elizabeth born December 1802

Francis Reimers died in August 1803 and buried in Hull St Mary on 30th August leaving Elizabeth a widow. His estate was valued at £100.

On the 7th March, 1810 Elizabeth marries “Jno. Frederick Krügar” in Holy Trinity, Hull. On his  marriage to Elizabeth he is described as a German Teacher.

There are no official records of “John Frederick” in UK archives. His birth and death are not recorded but his marriage to Elizabeth Reimers (nee Raines) in 1810 is recorded in the Hull Trinity Parish record and there is a note of him being a clergyman in 1848 on the marriage of his son Henry  Raines Krüger1 to Eleanor Blythe. There is no evidence of his presence at the marriage as a witness.

In the 1841 Census we also find Elizabeth living with her children from her first marriage at Prospect Street.  Francis Thomas Reimers (her son) is head of the household, she is not described   as a widow. It therefore seemed as if “John Frederick” was deceased by 1841 or had otherwise disappeared without trace.

1 There are two Henry Raines, son and grandson of Johann Friedrich Krüger

Johann Joachim Friedrich Krüger

Later I found strong evidence of family ties to St. Petersburg in Russia and that Henry Raines Krüger (his grandson) spent time in St. Petersburg with his first wife Edith who died there in the Alexander Hospital in 1886. I therefore wondered if “John Frederick” was a Lutheran clergyman of   Russian descent. I found there are two Lutheran cemeteries in St. Petersburg. In the Smolenskoe Lutheran Cemetery in St. Petersburg there are several “Krügers” interred and in particular Johann Joachim Friedrich Krüger. Born 3rd July 1797 and died 3rd December 1874 age 77 years. This would seem a good match as he would have been 33 years old in 1810 on his marriage to Elizabeth.

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“Rest peacefully in your tomb, your saviour will welcome you”

 A further search of the cemetery records failed to find Edith, first wife of Henry Raines Krüger who died in Alexandra Hospital in 1886 although there are several other “Krügers” interred there.

It would seem that Johann lived in St. Petersburg along with other members of the family and it is likely he worked as an agent for Hull merchants in the Balkan trade with Russia.

Descendants of Johann Joachim Friedrich Krüger

Descendants_of_Johann Joachim Friedrich Kruger

Captain John Frederick Krüger

John Frederick was the youngest of Johann Friedrich’s three children, a merchant seaman, master mariner, latterly a marine surveyor and Trinity House Brother. He was called as an expert witness in several inquests into maritime accidents. He was clearly an esteemed member of the Hull community and there are numerous press reports of his close involvement, together with his brother Captain Henry Raines Krüger in the affairs of the Port of Hull Sailors’ Orphan Homes (see later).

In 1854 he married Emily Atkinson in Sculcoates, she was born in 1825 and died 28th October 1880 in Hull and is interred in Hull General Cemetery.

In the Merchant Seamen’s register (BT120), May 1836 he is Mate aged 25 on a ship belonging to Welton of Hull. Later in 1842 – 1844 he is recorded as a merchant seaman aboard the Royal William.

By 1851 he has become a Master Mariner living at 7 Spring Street. In July 1854 he was   deemed qualified to be an expert witness at the Coroner’s Inquest into the loss of life resulting from the launch of the barque Dowthorpe which went awry (appendix 2).

In the 1861 census (ships at sea) he is Master of the paddle steamer PS LION along with his wife Emily, the Master’s wife aged 36 and his young son John Frederick aged 21/2.

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The P S LION (pictures in Maritime Museum and Ferens Art Gallery) a Hull based paddle steamer,

626 tons, 320HP built by Brownlow & Co., Hull

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During the Crimean War the ship was chartered by the government for the conveyance of troops and stores. After the war she was lengthened and converted to screw propulsion at 150HP and 690 tons, before conversion she required 650 tons of coal for the St. Petersburg voyage and now only 350 tons was required and was able to carry an extra 400 tons of cargo, and her speed increased from 6.5 to 8 knots.

On the 18th November 1861 the SS LION left Kronstadt and encountered a gale, Captain Winteringham and Captain Krüger a passenger managed to drive her ashore on the island of Gotland off the Swedish coast where she was driven to pieces in the gale. The crew and passengers managed to get  ashore.

Leeds Mercury, 13th August 1888

PROBATE of the will dated 18th February 1881, of the late Captain John Frederick Krüger of Hull, Marine Superintendent, who died on the 10th June last, and was one of the oldest members of the Hull Merchant Service and an Elder Brother of the Hull Trinity House, has been granted to the executors, his sons.  Mr. Henry Raines Krüger and Mr. John Frederick Krüger and Mr Joseph Atkinson.  The testator devises all his real estate for sale and bequeaths the proceeds and all residue of his property to his said two sons and his daughter, Mrs Sarah Raines, as his tenants in common, the value of the personal estate being £6.613 15s 8d.

The Port of Hull Society’s Sailors’ Orphan Homes

Captain John Frederick and his brother Captain Henry Raines Krüger were prominent members of the merchant shipping community, Brethren of Trinity House and lifelong supporters of the Port of Hull Society’s Orphan Homes charity. Their dedication and generosity are recorded in a small book Lifebelt and Anchor published around 1900 recording the history of the Port of Hull Society as well as in numerous press reports of the activities of the society.

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Capt. J. F. Krüger was one of the founding members of the Port of Hull Society and at the time of his death was the oldest serving member of the committee. He was connected with the earliest beginnings of the Orphanage and School. In conjunction  with his brother Capt. H. R. Krüger, and Mr John Wright, he took an active interest in the enlargement of the orphanage when Mr Titus Salt gave his great contribution. (Titus Salt donated £5000 towards the cost of the new wing to accommodate an additional 100 orphans).

Capt. Krüger had been a member of the board of Trinity House since 1869, and  he advocated the claims of the Orphanage with such zeal before the Trinity House brethren that they eventually became large subscribers to our funds, The generous subscriptions which, at this time were received from St. Petersburg, were also the result of Captain Krüger’s influence.

Lifebelt and Anchor, p125

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Engraving reproduced from Lifebelt and Anchor

The Orphan’s Home is still in existence and is now the Park Hotel in Park Street.

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Park Street

On the façade of the former Sailor’s Orphans Home in Park Street, Commerce and Navigation are depicted providing Charity with the means to care for homeless waifs

 The Book of Hull, John Markham

Captain Henry Raines Krüger

Captain Henry Raines Krüger, son of Johann Friedrich and younger brother of John Frederick, born in 1813. He died in March 1874.

In the same year (1874) the committee were saddened by the death of Mr H R Krüger, one of two brothers who were among the earliest and most zealous friends of the Society. He was a sea captain and an agent for Messrs. Brownlow & Lumsden, a prominent firm of Hull shippers at that time. His duties connected him very closely with Russia; indeed there was Russian blood in his veins. For thirty years he had served on   the committee, and in work for the Orphan Home few could have been more faithful than he.

Lifeboat and Anchor, p 99

Rev. Henry Raines Krüger

Henry was the eldest son of Captain John Frederick, born in June 1857 in Sculcoates he spent most of his early life as a forwarding clerk in the shipping trade. In the 1881 census he is living with his father John Frederick at 3, Wright Street. At this stage he is still single.

On the 27th December 1883 he marries Edith Kershaw in St. Paul’s Church, Sculcoates. Shortly after we find he and his new wife have relocated to St. Petersburg, Russia where she dies in the Alexander Hospital on the 24th February 1886.

 

PROBATE

17th April 1886

Personal estate  £306

Administration (with the Will) of the Personal Estate of Edith Krüger (wife of Henry Raines Krüger) late of 37 Louis Street in the Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull who died 24th February 1886 at the Alexander Hospital, St. Petersburg in Russia was granted at YORK under certain Specialities to the said Henry Raines Krüger of 37 Louis Street and of 9 Fish Street both in Kingston-upon-Hull.  Forwarding agent and John Frederick Krüger the younger of 3 Wright Street, Kingston-upon-Hull Provision Merchant the Executors.

I can find no record of her burial in St. Petersburg or anywhere else.

Henry must have remained in St. Petersburg for several more years, presumably either working  with or for his father or grandfather in their shipping business as he is not recorded in the 1891 census.

By 1893 Henry has found a new life. He marries Mary Ellen Fergie in Wigan, gains a BA and is  appointed to the curacy of Cullompton on the 15th June the same year. He continued his studies, gained an MA and is appointed Rector of Jacobstowe, Okehampton, Devon.

His widow, Mary Ellen retired to Hove, Sussex and died there on 30th November 1945, her estate was valued at £2,548.

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 18th September 1929

Devon Clergyman’s Death

The death has taken place of the Rev. H. R. Krüger, who at one time held the curacy at Cullompton and was later presented with the living at Jacobstowe by the late Sir R. T. White-Thomson. After working in the parish for some years he was offered one of the new churches built to meet the demand of the growing   population in certain parts of Plymouth. On the death of the Rev. J. W. Banks, he was presented with the living at Hatherleigh, coming to reside in the parish in 1918. In the summer of 1927, while on holiday he had a seizure which left him practically paralysed and he was persuaded by his friends to retire from active work, and a Commission granted him a pension from his living, which in the meantime was accepted by the Rev. J. C Rossiter. Much sympathy was felt for Mrs. Krüger, who has been the indefatigable nurse and constant attendant ever since her husband’s sudden illness. A knell was rung on the bells from Holsworthy, and on Sunday the Vicar made feeling reference and asked for the prayers of his congregation on behalf of Mrs. Krüger.

John Frederick Krüger (the younger) and the Apple Trade

John Frederick Krüger was the younger son of Captain John Frederick Krüger, born 18th September, 1858 in Sculcoates. We first find him aboard the PS LION with his mother and his father in command on route to Hamburg or one of the other Baltic ports. He soon becomes a shipping and merchant’s clerk, joins White & Sons fruit importers, and works his way up to senior management and a seat on the board.

John Frederick married Harriet Anne Gray on the 18th October 1888 in the Herrington Street Chapel in Sunderland.

He was evidently a valued employee and on good terms with Colonel William Lambert White, governing director of White and Sons fruit importers as he received a gift of £100 as a token of his friendship.  (Hull Daily Mail, 23rd September 1930)

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Yorkshire Post

Monday December 12th, 1932

  1. J.F. Krüger

Pioneer of the Australian Apple Trade in Hull

Mr John Frederick Krüger, who has died at his home, 23 Park Avenue, Hull, was the pioneer of the large trade in Australian Apples now done by the port. He was a director of the firm of White and Sons, Ltd fruit importers and spent 58 years with it having joined in 1874, when the business was carried on under the style of White and Son and Strutten. He went overseas a great deal for the company.

In 1912 he was in Australia and through his initiative the first direct consignment of Australian apples was sent to Hull. The trade was developed considerably, over 400,000 boxes being imported to Hull last year. At a later date he also arranged for direct shipment of apples from South Africa but owing to the difficulty of obtaining return cargoes they had to be discontinued.     A dinner was given in his honour in 1924 to celebrate 50 years with the trade.

Footnote and acknowledgements

This has been a fascinating journey through the history of merchant shipping and people of the Port of Hull in Victorian England. It has been a challenge to condense all the information I have gleaned into a concise biographical story of the Raines and Krüger families, their ancestors and descendants.

I was fortunate to find the small textbook on the history of the Port of Hull Society’s Sailors’ Orphan Homes in the Carnegie Centre “Lifebelt and Anchor” (H362.73) in which I found the images of Captains J. F and H. R Krüger together with the engraving of the orphanage in Park Street.

Finally, I want to thank Karen Towner for her encouragement and advice in compiling this biography

Appendix 1

This page reproduced from Lifeboat and Anchor, the history of the Port of Hull Society showing the eminent benefactors of the Society.

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Appendix 2

Illustrated London News, July 22nd, 1854

LOSS OF LIFE AT SHIP LAUNCH

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On the morning of Thursday week, Messrs. Earles, the eminent iron shipbuilders, of Hull, had arranged to launch from their yard at the east end of Victoria Dock, a very fine iron barque, named the Dowthorpe which they had built for Messrs John Beadle and Co., merchants of Hull.

This vessel is about 400 tons burthen and has on deck two poop houses. Everything was prepared, and as it was thought, every precaution taken to ensure success in the launching. Men were stationed at all posts to prevent people from getting on board the vessel, but without avail. At the time of launching there were between 300 and 400 persons on board, and of these, as many as could conceivably stand had stationed themselves on the roof of the poop houses where there was not a scrap of rope or an inch of bulwark to hold on by.

At about ten minutes past eleven o’clock the ceremony of naming the vessel Dowthorpe was performed by Miss Baird, the last   of the wedges was knocked out, and the good ship glided easily and well into the water. At time it was found, we are informed, that there was too much “way” on her and some efforts were made to check her. At the same time the people on board, with the usual carelessness of danger, commenced “sallying” her – that is rushing from side to side, to make her rock in the water. Down she dipped on one side, and at this moment one of the check ropes broke, bringing the whole strain of checking on the other side, to which at the same moment the people rushed.

The combined influence of the two forces heeled the vessel completely on her beam ends, and the unfortunate people who had taken their stand on the “poops” were shot into the water one upon the other. For the moment it was thought the ship would go over altogether; but fortunately, at this moment the other check rope broke, and this, together with the lightening of the top load, by the precipitation of   the people into the water, enable the vessel to right herself. In the meantime there were between fifty and sixty men and boys struggling in the water, pressing on each other to make their escape.

Happily, there were several rafts of timber floating in the dock, and upon these clambered a large proportion of the unfortunates. The loss, therefore, is not so great as might have been feared, four persons only having been dragged up. The names of the persons who have been found drowned are John Jackson, twenty-two years of age, rivet man; Joseph Lucas, fourteen, son of Mr. Lucas, hairdresser; John Coulon, twenty-four, labourer; and John Shipson, nineteen, ship-carpenter

Inspirational Women

by Bill Longbonein Facebook Archive, General, History, Volunteers1 Comment on Inspirational Women

This is an article that Bill Longbone produced some years ago for the Facebook site. In it he listed a number of women who were independent minded, resourceful and also influential. They also had a connection to Hull General Cemetery.

Bill called the article  ‘Inspirational Women’ and the title fundamentally says it all. With one or two changes here it is once again for your pleasure.

Eleanor Rollit

Eleanor Anne Bailey

Eleanor Rollit (Bailey) was born in Hull in 1853, the 2nd daughter of ship builder, William Bailey and Mary Badger Ainley. William was a self made man, and a partner in the steamship company, Bailey & Leetham, which was taken over by Thomas Wilson & Co. in 1903. William was a JP, and a director of the Hull Dock Company and lived at White Hall, Winestead.

Eleanor married Albert Kaye Rollit at the newly opened, St Peter’s Church, Anlaby on 26th August 1872 when she was just 18 years old. Her brother, Walter Samuel Bailey, of The Mansion, Anlaby, married Albert’s sister, Ellen Rollit.

Albert Kaye Rollit, was the son of solicitor John Rollit, and brother of Arthur, also a renowned solicitor who lived at Browsholme, Cottingham. Albert became a successful eventually became President of the Law Society, and was later knighted.

Eleanor’s charitable work

In 1874 their only daughter, Ellen Kaye was born, and the family lived at Thwaite House in Cottingham. Eleanor was very involved with local charities, and was a great supporter and benefactor of the Sailor’s Orphanage on Spring Bank, she was also a patron of the training ship T.S. Southampton, that trained wayward boys and orphans in the basics of seamanship, and was moored in the Humber at the mouth of the River Hull. Eleanor personally opened bank accounts with the Hull Savings Bank for the boys.

Eleanor was always referred to as charitable and philanthropic, she organized annual visits and fetes at the family house in Thwaite Street, for the children of the orphanage, and subscribed towards a new wing at the Hull Royal Hospital in Prospect Street.

Lady Mayoress

When her husband became Mayor of Hull in 1883-1885, Eleanor became Lady Mayoress and extended her support for local charities and good causes. She was also very active in the early women’s suffrage movement. Sadly, during her tenure of Lady Mayoress, she suffered heart problems, and died on 11 January 1885, aged only 31.

Her funeral was attended by ex-mayors, councillors and many of the local dignitaries. The cortege, which left from the family house in Cottingham, was lined all the way to Hull General Cemetery, with crowds of in excess of 20,000 people, including the orphans of the Sailor’s Orphan Homes. Her portrait was painted by Ernest Gustave Giradot and hangs in The Guildhall, a marble bust by local sculptor William Day Keyworth junior is also in the Guildhall.

Cartoon of A.K.Rollit for Vanity Fair

In1892, her husband, Sir Albert Rollit, put a private members bill supporting votes for women, no doubt inspired by his wife’s work.
She was buried in the family grave, which includes her father in law, John Rollit and some of his children. Her headstone still remains in HGC, but the top section with her epitaph has been removed, and is in need of some repair work, (see photo below).

Rollit Memorial as it was when Eleanor was buried

‘The Friends’ are looking at a proposal to carry out restoration work to the headstone.

And now

Her husband, Albert, moved to London and remarried the controversial and twice married, Mary Caroline Michell, Dowager of Sutherland in 1896, he died in 1922, his cremated remains are in the family grave in Hull General Cemetery.

Thwaite House, was later purchased by the University of Hull, the gardens were used by the Botany Department the house became Halls of Residence called Thwaite Hall. The house and grounds are currently being sold by the University.

Mary Sharrah

Alice Sharrah

Mary Alice Sharrah was born in Hull in1863, the daughter of William Simpson Sharrah, a prominent Wesleyan, who was The Seaman’s Missionary for the Port of Hull, and his wife Mary Ann. She taught music from an early age, setting up the Hull School of Music (The first school of music in England), in 1887, originally from her family home at 22 Reed Street, and later at 55 Spring Bank.

22 Reed St

In 1894 she married William Henry Simpson, a director of a local grain merchant’s, and lived at their large house at 55 Spring Bank, which still exists. For teaching purposes she kept her maiden name of Sharrah, and referred to herself as ‘Madame Sharrah’. As well as music, she also taught drama and elocution, instructing many local talents such as Annie Croft, her son David Croft of Dad’s Army etc, Doris White and many others.

Hull School of Music promotional material

Charitable work

Madame Sharrah supported many charitable institutions with her shows and concerts, including The Mother Humber Fund, Newland Orphan Homes and the Hesslewood Orphanage. Throughout WW1 Alice was responsible for organizing many concerts in aid of servicemen.

Her daughter, Phyllis Sharrah continued the school after her mother’s death on 25th May 1940, amalgamating with Sizer Simpson School. The premises became 55 Antiques in the 1960’s, next to The Silhouette Club, and is now part of a number of listed buildings in the Belgrave block.

The entire family of father, mother and Mary are all buried in Hull General Cemetery, but sadly the headstones have been removed.

Mary Kirk Mawmill

Mary Kirk Mawmill was born in Beverley on 7th October 1810, the daughter of William & Hannah Mawmill. She married Edward Robinson Harland in Hull on 11th August 1832. Edward had been indentured to be a greengrocer, but a year after his marriage he started his own printing business at 14 Carlisle Street, (a street later demolished to make way for Jameson Street).

They lived near the business premises in Carlisle Street, and had 5 children, employing 2 apprentices. Unfortunately, Edward died suddenly in 1844 aged only 33, leaving Mary with 5 young children and a business to run.

Single mother of five

Mary was unphased by this set-back, and continued to run the business and bring up her young children. Under her stewardship, the business grew from strength to strength. She was described in the Hull Daily Mail as ‘a woman of rare business qualities, succeeding in keeping the Company together in the midst of great difficulty’.

A further set back occurred to Mary when her daughter, Emma, died in 1855 aged 20.

However, the business continued to expand, and became involved in the printing of tickets, two of her sons, William and Edward also joined the company to assist in the running of the Company. However, William died in 1880 aged 38, the company name was recorded as M Harland & Son. The other son Thomas, died in New Zealand in 1907 aged 74, the remaining daughter, Sarah, died in 1910 aged 73.

Her death

Mary died of an apoplexy at her home at 104 Regent Street on 3rd November 1885 aged 75, and was buried in Hull General Cemetery. After her death Edward took over the company, and moved to larger premises, to what was known as Phoenix Works, in Land of Green Ginger, although the correct address was Manor Street.

The company became one of the largest printing companies in Hull, moving to Springfield Way, Anlaby in the 1960s, and innovating into data printing and bar code systems. I believe that the company was taken over by a multi-national printing company in the 1990s, and business transferred to Eastern Europe, but a management buy-out took place and the company still trade at their Marfleet premises on Hedon Road.

Sadly, Mary’s headstone no longer exists, and she is not recorded in the MI books. She certainly was a resourceful and inspirational woman.

Mary was also the great grandmother of Annie Croft, the well known Hull actress and singer, but that’s another story…….

Annie Croft

Annie Croft 1910

Many people will have heard of Annie Croft, the Hull girl who became an international star of stage and screen, but few will know of her fascinating story.

Although, not buried in HGC, she is very much associated with it, as her great grandmother, Mary Harland and the woman behind the success of Harland’s Printers is buried there.

Annie Croft was born Gertrude Mulgrave on 17th August 1892 at 11 Tuke’s Terrace, Walker Street, to Frederick Steele Mulgrave and his wife Lily Ann (Davis).

Adoption

She was adopted by Michael Croft (1853-1895) and his wife Emma, the daughter of Thomas Harland and the grand daughter of Mary Harland, who we have discussed previously. She was baptised as ‘Annie Harland Croft, the adopted daughter of Michael & Emma Croft of 424 Hessle Road at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at the corner of St George’s Road on 24th November 1892. Michael and Emma had a shop on the opposite corner of St George’s Road to the chapel.

Over the years there has been much unfounded rumour regarding the parentage of Annie Croft. The ‘story’ was that she was the illegitimate daughter of Muriel Wilson, the daughter of Arthur Wilson and Edward Prince of Wales, (later King Edward VII), after an affair whilst the future king was staying at Tranby Croft. Whilst it is true that Prince Edward regularly stayed at Tranby Croft, (he was there at the infamous ‘Baccarat Scandal’) it has been proven beyond doubt that Annie’s ‘royal parentage’ was just a rumour.
Sadly, Annie’s adopted father, Michael Croft, died in 1895 aged just 41, leaving Emma to bring her daughter up on her own, but with some financial help from her father Thomas Harland.

Emma remarried William Drury, (a sea pilot) in 1898 and lived at 32 Waverley Street. Apparently William was a brusque man who liked a drink. He died in 1914, when Annie was 20 years old.

Annie Croft2

 

Becoming an artist

Annie joined Madame Sharrah’s ‘Hull School of Music’ when a young girl. She quickly became known as a talented singer and dancer, appearing in many of Mme Sharrah’s concerts and shows. In 1907, when only 16 years old, Annie decided to form her own school of dancing and music, which she called the Waverley Academy of Music, operating initially at the family home in Waverley Street, later moving to 5 Fountain Street.

Annie Croft Waverley

In addition to teaching dancing, acting and singing, Annie produced many concerts and plays at the local theatres. During WW1 she produced many shows supporting local charities and raising money for servicemen.

David Croft

Annie’s talents were well noted and she was offered parts in plays in London, and film roles. She married American stage and film star, Reginald Sharland (1886-1944), in Hull in 1914, and appeared in many plays with him. They later moved to Bournemouth. They had two children, Peter, (1917-1988), and David Sharland (1922-2011), both of whom trained at Madame Sharrah’s Hull School of Music and adopted the stage names Croft.

David Croft became famous as the writer of several BBC sitcoms, including, Dad’s Army, Are You Being Served?, Allo, Allo, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, and Hi-De-Hi.

Annie divorced Reginald Sharland in 1931, and remarried Francis Gough in 1938.

Annie died in Dorset died on 23rd March 1959. She was aged 66.

Jane Wing

 

Jane Wing

Jane (Barnborough) was born in Preston in 1778, and married John Wing at Holy Trinity Church, Hull on 21 Feb 1811. John was born in 1777 at Beeford, and had moved to Patrington some time before 1791, where he had set up a small post office and a mail coach service. The coach ran from Hull to Patrington twice a week, and although less than 20 miles distant, the journey took a minimum of 4 hours. This was at a time when the route to Holderness was via the turnpike road at Wyton Bar, Preston, Hedon and Thorngumbald.

Wings premises

Advert

Transport before the railway

The business was very successful. John & Jane moved their premises to North Bridge Foot. This was situated at the junction of Witham and Gt Union Street.

Jane and John had at least 7 children, Thomas, John, Jane, Robert, William, George (died in infancy), and David.

In 1826, John died suddenly, aged only 49, leaving Jane to bring up the family on her own. Jane took up the challenge, and managed to continue running the coaching business with the assistance of her son John. He also ran The Holderness New Inn on the corner of Witham and Dansom Lane. John also developed a further coach route to Hornsea.

Into the Charterhouse

In December 1844, aged 67, Jane successfully applied for entry into the Hull Charterhouse. This was probably with the assistance of her youngest son, David. For many years he was a Poor Relief Officer for South Myton District.

However, in 1858 further tragedy struck when John junior died aged 46. His elder brother, Thomas, who in 1848 was recorded as having the Carpenter’s Arms and livery stables in Gt Union Street, took over the running of the business and The Holderness New Inn. He gave it up though, probably because of construction of the Hull to Hornsea Railway in 1862.

Thomas, moved to the St Stephen’s area of Hull, where he became an inn-keeper and coach proprietor.

Jane’s only daughter, Jane, married Samuel Fisher who ran a druggist store at Wilton Terrace, Holderness Road, next door to the ship’s chandler, and Quaker, John Good. Another son, Robert was a clerk at a commercial druggist. A further son, William, emigrated to Australia.

Hull to Withernsea

Ten years after Jane entered the Charterhouse, on 27 June 1854, the Hull to Withernsea railway line opened, cutting the journey time from Hull to Patrington to about ½ hour. This must have greatly affected the business that Jane had developed. However, a coach service ran to Patrington for some time after.

Jane died in The Charterhouse on 23 October 1861 of ‘Decay of Nature’ aged 83, and is buried in HGC with several members of her daughter’s family, the Fisher’s. The headstone was sadly removed in the 1970s.

Julia Hammond

Julia Hammond was born 31st December 1859 in Wisbech. She was the youngest of 10 children born to labourer, Christopher Hammond and and his wife Martha (Canham).

In the late 1860s the family moved to Hull, and lived at 3 Fanny’s Terrace, Clarendon Street. Her father died in 1871 aged 51, leaving her mother, Martha, to raise the children. Martha married John Hare in 1874, but she died in 1885.

Marriage

On 28th March 1875, when Julia was still only 15, she married George Turpin at St. Andrews Church, Kirk Ella. She was illiterate at the time, and simply put her mark. She was also under the marrying age and incorrectly stated her age as 18. Both gave their addresses as Wold Carr, which was approximately where Parkfield Drive is now, and would have been in the Kirk Ella Parish.

George was born in 1858 at Oxmardyke, near Gilberdyke. He was the son of Mark Turpin and Hannah (Simms) of Cliffe, near Market Weighton. At the time of their marriage, George’s occupation was given as a labourer. He later became a plate layer on the railways, eventually becoming an engine driver. They had 15 children, only 10 of which survived childhood. In 1881 the family was living at Cliffe, later moving to 13, Filey Terrace, Gillett Street, and then to 11 Gillett Street.

Julia Turpin

Training to be a midwife

Although having very little formal education, and being unable to read and write, Julia trained to become a midwife. This was at a time when only unmarried mothers and poor women actually gave birth in hospital. Prior to 1900, women in Hull were 6 times more likely to die from an infection in hospital, than at home. At that time, the majority of births in working class areas in Hull, were attended by a ‘local woman’, who would have experience of attending births, but would not be qualified.

Increasingly concerned about the infant mortality rate, the government introduced the Midwives Act in 1902. This meant that all midwives had to be qualified and registered. It took a couple of years to fully implement. Hull opened its first maternity ‘house’ at 569 Holderness Road, near Westminster Avenue, on 1st March 1905. In 1929, the old Sanatorium on Hedon Road, was converted into a Maternity home. However, there was a cost of £1 to enter the hospital, which not everyone could afford.  Even as late as the 1920s, many women still employed the services of ‘a local woman’ when giving birth.

2500 babies delivered

Julia was one of only a handful of certified midwives in the Hull area. With her navy blue uniform, and riding her sit up and beg bicycle, complete with basket, she was a familiar figure in the Hessle Road area. She would have been on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She went on to deliver over 2500 babies in the West Hull area.

Her husband, George died of an aneurysm at 17 Eastbourne Street 21st July 1929 aged 71.

Julia’s daughter Olive, and grand-daughter Sylvia, followed in her midwifery footsteps both serving in the Hessle Road area. Olive delivered about 3,600 ‘Hessle Roader’s’ before she retired in 1939, and daughter Sylvia delivered over 2000 babies until her retirement in 1958.

Julia died at 36 King Street, off Charles Street on 2nd May 1937 aged 77.

Both Julia and George are buried in Hull General Cemetery. The headstone no longer remains.

Jean Bartel

Jean Bartel

The story of the Hohenrein family of butchers and it’s tribulations during WW1 is well documented. Many of the family are buried in Hull General Cemetery, and are commemorated with an impressive marble monument.

The family originated in Mosbach, Baden- Wũrttemburg, near Heidelburg, Germany, Georg Frederick Hohenrein (1832-1902) emigrated to Hull in 1848, and established pork butchers shops in Waterworks Street and Princes Avenue.

This story relates to one of Georg’s great grand children, Jean Bartel, who, although not buried in Hull General Cemetery, has direct links to it.

Georg and his wife Katherina (Myer) had 6 children, 2 of which died in infancy. During WW1 the family suffered from anti German sentiment, and Charles Henry (1883-1974) changed the family name to Ross.

George William

Charles Henry’s brother, George William (always referred to as William) (1865-1933), married Julie Bierman. From this marriage they had a son, William born 1897, and a daughter, Else, born in Hull 3rd February 1898. Becoming increasingly concerned at the anti German sentiment during WW1, he emigrated to Germany with his family. However, as British subjects, George William. and his teenage son, William were immediately interred in the Ruhleben Internment Camp, near Berlin until the end of the war.

Jean bartel 2

Moving to the USA

After the war, his daughter Else, married Alfred Leonhardt Bartelmeh, and in 1922, the family moved to America. They had a daughter, Jean who was born in Los Angeles 26th October 1923. Jean shortened her name to Jean Bartel. She later won the Miss America competition in 1943. Jean was the first college student to be crowned Miss America. She worked on Broadway as an actress/singer, and later worked in films and TV. Jean once claimed that “I was never beautiful, but I had vitality and looked healthy”. She married William Hogue but had no children. She died 6th March 2011 aged 87.

Sadly, her brother William, who became a doctor, was killed in an allied bomb attack in Germany in WW2.

Emma Hodge

Emma Robson (Hodge)

Emma Hodge was the eldest of the 6 children of Henry Hodge and his wife Jane (Simpson). She was born in Louth on 27th November 1837. Her father was working there, prior to his retuning to Hull to establish his own seed-crushing mill.

Primitive Methodist involvement

The family lived on Holderness Road, near Williamson Street. Emma became very involved with the Primitive Methodist movement through her father. He had donated large sums of money for the establishment of chapels in Hull. He was also a friend of William Clowes. Clowes was one of the co-founders of this religion.

She was an active member of the ‘Bright Street Chapel opposite the family home. This chapel was one which her father had laid the foundation stone. He had also donated substantial monies for its construction in 1863.

Emma married Joseph T Robson (1838-1897) at the William Clowes Chapel in Jarratt Street on 26th May 1859. Joseph was a manager at her father’s mill on Holderness Road. He was also an active member of the Primitive Methodist Church.

Emma, (referred to as Mrs JT Robson), and her husband, were well respected, and regularly preached at local chapels. She also became a councillor, a rare event in Victorian England.

They moved to a house in Hornsea Parade on Holderness Road. During their marriage they had 3 children. These were Henry Hodge (1860), Edwin (1863) and William Arthur (1865),

Emma Hodge 1

Death

Emma died from Erysipelas, (an acute skin disease), on 30/6/1869 aged just 31. Her father was devastated by her death, and erected a large monument in the ‘Prim Corner’ section of HGC. The Reverend Joseph Wood wrote a rather morose book about her, entitled ‘Sunset at Noonday’. The 1870 ‘Primitive Methodist Magazine’ published Emma’s obituary. In it it is stated that ‘she was as near our ideal of the model wife and mother’.

Emma Hodge grave

Her husband remarried Ellen Mallinson in 1873, and had 2 further children. He died in 1897 aged 59 and is also buried in the same grave as Emma.

Rebecca Greenwood

Rebecca Greenwood

Rebecca was the grand-daughter of William Irving, (the eldest daughter of Jane 1812-1860), and her husband John Richardson Greenwood (1806-1874), the son of a Hull shipping merchant. She was born in Hull on 8 April 1837. She was baptised at the Fish Street Independent Church on 22 June, 1837. The family moved to Dollar in Scotland, and later to Crosby Garrett. This was on the edges of the Lake District. Rebecca spent her teenage years here. Her paternal grandfather, George Greenwood, was a lay Baptist preacher who lived in Haworth. He was also a friend of Patrick Bronte.  During the family’s visits to Haworth, Rebecca became friends of the Bronte sisters.

Emigration

The family emigrated to Australia in 1858, unaccountably, leaving their youngest son (Rebecca’s brother), William Irving Greenwood in Hull with her parents William & Mary Irving. Was it because he was a sickly child? We don’t know. He died of scarlet fever, in 1862 however aged only 11. He is buried in the family grave in Hull General Cemetery.

After the family emigrated to Australia, Rebecca married George Morrison M.A., after her family emigrated to Australia. He was the Principal of the National Grammar School, Geelong, in Melbourne. He was made the Principal on 7th December 1859. They had nine children. Rebecca helped run, and expand the Geelong College with her husband.

Rebecca Morrison played an important, though little advertised role, in the evolution of the Geelong College. Known simply as ‘Mrs Morrison’ to generations of students. She guided the boarding and domestic establishment that underpinned the operations of the School.

One ex-student wrote, “She always took a vivid interest in the boys at the College, and her marvellous memory for names and faces lent a great deal of charm to the visits of old boys, who came back expecting to find themselves forgotten, only to learn that Mrs Morrison remembered them and many little incidents of their school careers”.

George’s death

After the death of her husband in 1898, Rebecca continued be involved with the college. The Morrisons were to have eight children – five sons and three daughters. Rebecca died at South Yarra on 26 March 1932 aged 94 – three of her sons; Charles Norman, George Ernest, and Arthur Robertson Morrison having predeceased her. Geelong College still exists and continues to flourish.

Geelong College

Sara and Polly Smith

Sarah Smith was born in Hull in 1758, the daughter of Joseph Smith. She was baptised in Holy Trinity Church on the 31st August 1758. She also had a sister who was 10 years her junior called Mary, (Polly).

Sarah married mariner, William Robinson in Holy Trinity on 13th September 1785. She was obviously educated, as she signed her marriage certificate.

Matron

Sarah took on the post of Matron and House keeper of Trinity House on Christmas Day, 1794. In addition to providing lighthouses, charts etc, Trinity House were also trustees to a fund for relief & support of all maimed and disabled seamen, their widows, and children.

Headstone of Smiths

Remarkably, Sarah stayed in the post for 52 years, until her death on 21st November 1847 aged 90. She was succeeded in the post by her unmarried sister, Polly. She remained in the post for a further 10 years, until her own death in 1867, also aged 90.

Trinity House were obviously very impressed with the service of Sarah and her sister, Polly. “To record their faithful services the Corporation of The Trinity House have caused this stone to be erected.” The headstone still remains.

Sarah was buried in the same year that Hull General Cemetery opened. She was the 137th person to be buried there. A remarkable epitaph to two remarkable women.