An anniversary
The 13th January 1942 was the 79th anniversary of an act of destruction that we could not conceive of happening today.
A Board meeting for the Company took place in the Cemetery Lodge on the 13th January 1942. Michael Kelly, superintendent and director, informed the other directors of a decision he had taken. This decision was understandable at the time but for later historians of the HGC it was disastrous and tragic.
Below is a photograph from Bill Longbone’s family album of Michael Kelly, his wife and one of his daughters standing outside the rear of the renovated Hull General Cemetery Lodge. The renovation took place in 1906/7 which dates the photograph reasonably well. You may notice that the Lodge does not have its turret at the front of the building which was taken down during the widening of the entrance to Princes Avenue.
Kelly’s actions
At this board meeting Kelly said that, ‘responding to the appeal from the Government for waste paper for War needs’, he had collected various documents dating back to the founding of the Cemetery and taken them to the collection point run by Hull Corporation. In other words he was recycling historic documents for the war effort.
The documents he collected for disposal can be seen in this entry from the Minute Books.
The old journals and all of the ledgers lost. I could weep. Lost for what? To make paper for forms in triplicate for the use of various government departments. Sacrilege.
I think I may be a bit biased here but this ranks with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria to me. Another black mark against Churchill. Not only the iron railings that decorated the city but also the history of the Cemetery. All gone by his decrees. Words simply fail me. And that doesn’t happen often.
Pete Lowden is a member of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery committee which is committed to reclaiming the cemetery and returning it back to a community resource.