The Irving Family

The Irving Family

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

William and Maria Irving were my 3x great grandparents.

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

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

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

 

William Irving junior

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

William Irving 1807-1883  

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

Maria Irving (nee Wilkinson) 1808-1874

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

The Cemetery and the Irving family

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

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

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

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

The first interment

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

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

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

The last of the family in Hull

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

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

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