Blacktoft jetty

 

Blacktoft -  jetties and inns. 

After a query about a Blacktoft family who were piermasters I thought I would put together a summary of that bit of Blacktoft history. It has turned out a bit longer than I thought! Probably because where there are jetties there are often pubs so I have found out a bit about them too. Thanks to Robert Thompson of Blacktoft who has shared his musings on both topics.

Blacktoft as a riverside settlement has always been a place of mooring for vessels. There were originally three large staithes there (triangular stuctures which jutted out into the river) where boats could load and unload. One of these was Skyn staithe which was where the Hope and Anchor [now no longer a pub] is today although the pub was not built until the 1820s.

Blacktoft had also by the 1820s a public landing near the Bay Horse Inn which stood on the double bend in the village. This was where paddle steamers on their way to and from Hull and Goole called and where until the railway came where  coal for local villages was landed.There was a ferry from there too to Horseshoe Landing on the opposite side of the river Ouse. 

The first mention of an alehouse in Blacktoft was in 1627, when the Rev. Thomas Fisher was accused of “frequenting a Robinson’s house and a Thompson’s house, being alehouses in the parish of Blacktoft, and did play unlawful games”

A later ale house keeper probably of the Bay Horse was Richard Boase who is first mentioned as an ale house keeper in Blacktoft in 1754. He had to assure the magistrates,

 “That he was a peaceful, honest man, and a proper person to conduct a public house in Blacktoft, as is the necessity for the convenience of trade on the river and other just causes”

Other landlords came and went but then John Lister came to Blacktoft. He was born in 1766 at Rawcliffe and in 1790 married Frances Briggs in Howden when he was described as a husbandman. By 1798 he was in Blacktoft, owning a small amount of land. He had two daughters  Elizabeth and Mary but in 1806 Frances died. He remarried in 1808 Fanny Young from Crowle and by then he was described as an innkeeper. They had children John, Fanny and Thomas.

John Lister lived in Blacktoft almost 60 years until his death in 1855. During that time he was innkeeper, farmer and coal dealer.

This is the original Bay Horse inn sign, found many years later on the site

The Hope and Anchor

But in the later 1820s a rival inn was built in the village. This was the Hope and Anchor. It was built by 1829 when William Reynolds of Blacktoft, 'of the Hope and Anchor', married  Bessy Jacques, eldest daughter of Thomas Jacques of Bellasize.

Skyn staithe was renovated and became the ferry staithe.  Coal was delivered here until around 1880. And the area nearby became the village "shopping centre"!

William Reynolds left the inn and was living, a farmer, with his family at Gowthorpe where his wife died in February 1846.

The new landlord was William Shillito, originally from Selby. He did not stay long and in 1852 an advert appeared as follows.

Jan 1852

Blacktoft to  be let and entered upon on the Sixth of  April next, the Hope and Anchor, Public Housue together with grocer's shop, and any quantity of land not exceeding eighteen Acres, now occupied by Mr. William Shillito. For Particulars of rent, apply to John Schofield, of Faxfleet Hall,  or to Thomas Haldenbv,  Porter -Street, Hull.

Another similar advert appeared four years later

To be let at Blacktoft, and entered on the 6th of April, 1856, That well-known Public House, the Hope and Anchor with the Grocer's Shop, Butcher's Shop, Coal Shed, Stable, and Garden  and about 16 Acres of good land, chiefly Grass, now in the occupation of Mr. Richard Clegg.

But a big change was about to take place. The new landlord was a local man, George Taylor. and he was there when in 1874 the Aire and Calder Navigation company bought land at Blacktoft and built a jetty.

The Howdenshire Gazette reported in October 1874  that

Blacktoft. The Aire and Calder Navigation are progressing quickly with the pier, which is being erected here with the view of giving vessels coming up the river from Hull to Goole some place to moor against should they find it necessary to remain midway during low water. The pier is 180 feet long is being built very strongly, and the depth of water alongside will be sufficient for heavily laden vessels. It will be completed, it is expected, in a few weeks time. It will remove one of the objections which have been raised by shipowners to sending up their vessels to Goole, and the Aire and Calder Navigation  are  certainly entitled to the thanks of all interested in the port of Goole for what they done in this matter.

It took a little longer than a few weeks and a year later we read that,

October 1875

Blacktoft Pier, which has been built at the cost of the Aire and Calder Navigation, for the protection of ships bound to and from Goole, is now finished. The barque Ida, which arrived on Friday with a cargo of logwood from Jamaica, is said have been the first vessel making use of it. The weather interfered with her completing her voyage on Thursday evening, so she laid by the pier until the next morning

In 1881 the pier was lengthened  and was now 470 feet long by 22 feet wide.

The Blee family outside the Hope and Anchor. Thomas Blee was landlord by 1891.

Robert Powell

By 1891 there was a piermaster who lived in a house next to the jetty. This was Robert Powell. Robert Powell actually deserves an article on his own. He was born in Blacktoft,  and aged 18 in 1846 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery. He was a gunner. In 1850 in Montreal he married Leocadie Lefebvre who was from Quebec and they went on to have five children, born both in Canada and England. In 1867 he was discharged but while she and the children remained in Woolwich Robert came home to Blacktoft.

By 1881  he was living as a pensioner with Emily as his wife. She was 15 years younger than him and said she was born at Bielby near Pocklington on most censuses.  He was described as piermaster in 1891 and 1901 living in Jetty House. He died in 1905 and is buried at Blacktoft. Emily moved to York and died in 1927.

Leocadie meanwhile was living in London when she died in 1898. Her death certificate describes her as  the wife of Robert Powell, Piermaster of Blacktoft

The Howard family

Janet, a lady whose family have been connected to Blacktoft for many years recently sent me some information about her Howard family.

Her great grandfather was Joseph Howard. He was born c1839 in Gainsborough where his father Thomas was a boatmaster. Joseph settled in Hull, working as a riverman. In 1865 he married Mary Elizabeth Watkinson, giving his occupation and that of his father as mariner.

They had seven children including  Maria born 1866, Myra born 1867, William born in 1869, George born 1870, Herbert Tom born 1872 and Joseph born 1879.

At some point in the 1890s Joseph and Mary moved to Blacktoft where according to his sons' marriage certificates he was postmaster.

In 1897 son George, who described himself as a dentist, married Clara Collins at Blacktoft. Clara was born in Hever, Kent where her father was a small farmer but in the 1891 census she was working in a dentist's household in Burton on Trent. However they met is speculation - but thereafter the Collins family and the Howards were intertwined and connected to Blacktoft. 

A few months later in May 1898 William Howard married Edith Collins, Clara's sister at Blacktoft. 

And in 1906 Horace Bannister Collins, brother of Clara and Edith  married Myra Howard at Blacktoft. He was 36 and she was 39. Myra described her father as a gentleman and Horace too described himself as gentleman.

Horace Bannister Collins in the doorway of his shop next to the Hope and Anchor

In 1901 William is listed as grocer, shopkeeper and coal dealer whilst Edith his wife is listed as grocer. But after the death of Robert Powell William became piermaster and moved into Jetty House in 1907. William and Edith had four/five children, Beatrice Myra born 1899,  Eveline Edith born 1905,  Joseph William born 1906, [died aged 3 months] Marie born 1907 and Joseph born 1909.

Edith and William with left to right,  Eveline,  baby Joseph on Edith’s knee, Beatrice, Marie on William’s knee.

The family lived there until 1922 when William was killed in a tragic accident.  William was in a pony and trap driven by Philip Blee, the licensee of the  Hope and Anchor. They were returning home from North Cave and were near Newport. With them on the rear seat of the trap were Mr Blee’s married sister and her niece.  On the journey a lorry with a load of four tons of oranges and lemons, driven by nineteen year  old Vincent Bird of Barnsley collided with the trap, which  overturned, and Mr Howard was killed.

The trap had pulled to the side of the road to let the lorry pass but the overhang on the lorry had caught the trap. Mr Blee was knocked unconscious and sadly the lorry wheel ran over Mr Howard. There was a court case but the young driver was cleared of manslaughter.

The Howard family moved out of Jetty House but stayed in the village.  

Jetty House

Beatrice became a nurse and was living in Devon in 1939.

Eveline married Herbert Robinson, a merchant seaman from Goole in 1930. He was  awarded the MBE in 1944.  

The newspaper report tells us

Mr Robinson, who is a native of Goole, has followed the sea since leaving school, and during the last war was in ships carrying ammunition to France. After service with various Goole shipping companies he joined the Goole Steam Shipping Co. (Associated Humber Lines) in May, 1926. as second officer on the s.s. Saltmarshe, and was promoted to the rank of chief officer in 1937. 

He holds a foreign-going master's certificate. Mr Robinson was chief ,officer on the s.s. Rye (commanded by Capt. A. Hiley, who has also been awarded the M.BE.).when she sank an E-boat in a Channel convoy action ,and he has also been in many other incidents since the beginning of the war.  

He was later promoted captain and died in 1960

Eveline/ Evelyn was the headmistress of Blacktoft school and they lived in the schoolhouse there. Mrs Robinson is remembered as being quite strict.

Marie married Albert Bradley from Gilberdyke. He was a churchwarden and hay cutter and as a relief teacher Marie taught at both Laxton and Gilberdyke schools. They are Janet's parents.

Later Marie had  the first two semi detached houses built in Staddlethorpe Lane. Sunny Dene where Eric and Annie Reed lived and Meachlands where Janet's family lived until she sold it in 1957 to Eric Reed when Brian Reed with his wife Elva and children moved there.

Joseph went to Drax school and became a customs officer.

Two pictures showing how busy the jetty was

Later events

In 1939 the jetty master was Frank Schegel who had previously been berthing master on Goole docks. In 1940 his son, also Frank, married Enid Dickson of Staddlethorpe.

Frank snr left Blacktoft and the new pier master was Captain Dick Collier. There is a lovely account on Goole on the Web  written by Derek Collier of moving in. [There are many other memories of the village on the site]

On a wonderful and very sunny Saturday in July 1941, Captain Dick Collier and his wife, three daughters and two sons (Mary, Pauline, Dorothy, Dick and Derek) arrived to move into the pier house. The gardens at each side of the concrete path from the pier entrance down to the house were ablaze with large double red poppies with a rose arch half the length of the path. The house had mains water and a water toilet (only one in the village), also a bath room with hot water from the coal burning cooking range. No gas; no electric; at night we had paraffin lamps. The family of five children five years to thirteen years old started school on the Monday. Two classrooms, teachers, Mrs Taylor for under nines and Mrs Robinson for nine to fourteens.

There were many experiences, one being when a bomber crewed by Polish airmen crashed into the Trent one midnight. Sandy [Rowland] Winn a farmer of Faxfleet telephoned Capt. Collier and asked him to listen carefully as he put the phone out of his bedroom window, there were distant shouts of "help, please, please help". Capt. Collier agreed to meet Sandy at the drain on the Blacktoft to Faxfleet road where Sandy kept a very small boat with a very dubious inboard engine. They arrived along with Norman, son of farmer/milk man Parker and set off for the Trent training wall. They found about four airmen lying on the stones with the tide rising and lapping their legs. All got into the boat but, the engine failed. As they started to drift, a ship's masthead lights came into sight (from Hull). Capt. Collier signalled with his torch "persons stranded in Ouse", Fortunately the pilot was a wonderful personal friend (Tommy Mapplebeck from Goole). He manoeuvred the ship with tremendous difficulty until the boat was alongside and heaved it up on one of the ships life boat riggings. All ended well.

In 1950 Frank Raywood took up the post of jetty master, until his retirement in the 1980s.

A new jetty was built in 1956 which is still in use. There are lots of  old newspaper accounts of ships colliding with each other and with the jetty- too many to write here.

But I will conclude this rather long blog post with another memory from the Goole site.

I wish I had a £1 for every time we berthed at Blacktoft Jetty in the 1950s, usually because of fog. I remember the pub at the time was like sitting in a back kitchen - they had beer barrels on trestles. The skipper kept deck watches on but if we were off watch we went for a beer. I remember one night aboard the SS Alt, in a real peasouper of fog, hearing wild geese flying overhead, they must have collided with electric cables as suddenly it rained geese falling on deck. We collected them and Xmas came early - roast goose next day was on the menu. 

When I began this post I did not realise how much happened at Blacktoft - now I do!!

Laxton VE day

 This week we are celebrating VE day - Victory in Europe. The day was 8th May 1945, 80 years ago and there are a dwindling number of those who remember it.

I live near Laxton and thought I would look  briefly at those four  names who are on the war memorial board in the church there and find out a little about them if I could.

Lily Anson

She was born in 1913 and  was a member of a large family many of whose descendants live locally today.

Her father Joseph died in 1923 and a newspaper report comments

1923 By the death of Mr Joseph Anson Saltmarshe has lost a very highly respected and  widely known resident. Mr Anson who was 58 years of age spent the past 30 years at Saltmarshe 13 of which he was  in the employ of Mr PC Thompson. He leaves a widow, three sons and eight daughters. The funeral took place at St Peter's Laxton the Vicar the Rev W Sherwin officiating. Practically the whole village turned out to pay their tribute.

In 1939  Lily was working as a domestic servant in Howden. 

Lily was a corporal in the WAAF [ Womens Auxiliary Airforce] and died on 18th September  1945 aged 32. She was a cook and was admitted to Little Bromwich isolation hospital where she died of diptheria

She is buried at Laxton and the memorial stone is a war grave

Frances William Barker

Frances William Barker was the son of Edward and Gertrude Barker. His father was a woodman on the Saltmarshe estate.

He was born in  1924 and in 1939 was living in Woodside Cottage Laxton with his parents and brother Alan.

He was only 17, an apprentice, when he was lost aboard the SS Bullmouth, a merchant ship on a convoy.

On October 29, 1942, SS Bullmouth was sailing to the Tyne in ballast when she was torpedoed and damaged by U-409 and became a straggler. The position was about 100 miles NW of Madeira. She was then struck by a further two torpedoes from U-659 and sank. The chief officer and five crew members managed to reach the island of Bugio near Madeira but the master (John Wilfred Brougham), forty-four crew members and five unknown DEMS gunners were lost.  Forty three men are commemorated on Tower Hill, Panel 21 and two on the Canadian Merchant Seamen Halifax Memorial.

Sidney James Hobson

Sidney was born in 1918, the son of James and Ann Hobson.

In 1921 he was living at  High Metham with his parents and widowed uncle and cousins

In 1939 he was  living  on Front Street in Laxton with his parents and was a farmworker

In 1942 he married Lillian Hablett

He was a gunner in the Royal Artillery with a Heavy Anti Aircraft battery in Algeria.  He was killed on 7th January 1943

He is commemorated on the Medjez-el-bab memorial in Tunisia

Sidney is on the photo below, back right aged about 14.

Laxton school 1932
back from left: James Brown, Percy Laking, Harry ?lindley, Ernest Sweeting, Sidney Hobson
Middle::  Jean Thompson, Mildred Walker, Margaret Sweeting,  Mary Hardwick, ? Lindley, Joan Hardwick, Vera Barker, Phyllis Brignall.
Front :Ernest Brown, Jack Forth,  Robert Taylor, Ernest Sweeting, Maurice Thompson, Claude Brignall, Arthur Oakley,  Harry Brown.

Ernest Gordon Nicholson

Son of Ernest G. and Alice May Nicholson, of Laxton, Yorkshire.

In 1921 Ernest was 6 months old, born in Manchester and living with his parents in Hull where his father was an out of work fish dock worker.

In 1939 he was living with his mother Alice in Laxton

He was in the Royal Air Force Volunteer reserve an airctraftman 2nd class and was taken prisoner on 8 March 1942 when Java fell

In 1944 the Hull Mail reported   that a Tokyo message  re-broadcast by the German radio gives news of Ac.2 Ernest Nicholson. A.F., whose mother lives at Laxton, near Howden. 

  " Dear father, This is the first letter I have been able to write since becoming a prisoner of war which might possibly reach you. It will at least let you know I am still alive and able to inform you that we are being well treated. We are all anxiously waiting for the day of freedom to dawn. Give my fondest love to mother. Tell her not to worry. Soon we shall meet again. I am sure 

Unfortunately this was not to be as Ernest died of malaria on 8th May 1944 while on board  the Japanese vessel Ss Tencho Maru and was buried at sea

His name appears on the Singapore war memorial.

Looking again at where these Saltmarshe and Laxton men - and woman- served and died you cannot help but wonder at the contrast between their early lives in the Yorkshire countryside and where they lost their lives

I have not been able to find any reports or pictures about how Laxton  and Saltmarshe celebrated VE day  in 1945 but wonder how many of the children in the 1932 picture served in the forces and came home safely. Any comments and/ or pictures would be very welcome.

This however is a description of what happened in Howden

May 8th  the BBC announced, would be celebrated as Victory in Europe Day. Howden had made its celebration plans the previous Friday when ‘the Bellman’ – a local version of the Town Crier – had gone round calling people to a meeting at which a celebrations committee was formed. 

VE Day began with a swift transformation of Howden’s streets as flags and bunting appeared from all corners. Many shops remained closed. At shops which opened flags and other celebratory paraphernalia were quickly sold out. A large union jack flew from the church tower, and in the afternoon the bells pealed for an hour. Hotels were granted an evening extension; the British Legion held a victory whist drive; on the Marsh crowds gathered around a huge bonfire. The following afternoon sports preceded a children’s tea in the Assembly Hall. Then a dance at the Shire Hall drew a large crowd and with the music relayed to the Market Place there was more dancing there until well after midnight.