Ellerker church window

Today is the May Day Bank holiday Monday but unlike last week when it was warm and sunny it is cool outside. But after a couple of weeks of blue skies and no rain I was pleased to hear the heavy downpour on Saturday night.

 I was also very pleased to hear a cuckoo early one morning and to see a swirl of swallows on my way home yesterday. I am gardening, cleaning out pots of weeds and replanting with flowers. Many pots have been taken over by Herb Robert which apparently has medicinal uses and can be a sign of good luck but I am afraid it is having to go!!

I am having a look at the moment at Ellerker history. My friend is churchwarden and asked if I knew any more about the Levitt family who gave a lovely window to the church. My history group visited several years ago but there is more information now online.

So here goes. The Levitt name is well represented in the Ellerker, Kirkella and South Cave areas and there is much more about them in the fascinating Diary of Robert Sharp, the South Cave schoolmaster whose diary runs from 1812- 1837. I have taken much of the family information below from it.

In 1754 John Levitt, widower of South Cave married Hannah Norrison of the hamlet of Bentley at Rowley church.  The Norrisons were a long established family in the area and were connected with several local famiiles, including the Marshalls.

John and Hannah had a large family including Hannah born 1755,  John born 1756,  Thomas born 1758,  William born 1759,  Nancy born 1761, Robert born 1762. Then in 1766 they named a son Norrison Levitt, beginning a naming tradition which lasted several generations.

In 1818 Thomas Levitt married Ann Marshall, daughter of Richard at South Cave. The following year their son Norrison Marshall Levitt was born. Thomas had a sister Hannah.

Then in 1831 a terrible tragedy occurred. This is the report from the Hull Packet of  June 21st 1831

On Thursday last, about five o'clock in the evening, this town and neighbourhood were visited with a short, but most tremendous hurricane of thunder, lightning, rain and hail. The electric flashes were most terrific,

 We regret to add that the storm was attended with fatal consequences. Mr Norrison Marshall, only son of Mr Richard Marshall, of South Cave, had been in Hull, purchasing two waggon loads, of bones, which he had sent home; and, at the moment the rain was beginning (contrary to the urgent request of Mr. M Lyon, of' the White Horse, Carr-lane, where he had been stopping,) he set out upon his return, on horseback. 

He  had, however, scarcely proceeded a quarter of a mile, when the rain falling in torrents, he took shelter under a tree adjoining this end of the Brown Cow, a small white-house, on the Anlaby Road, near the end   of Love-lane. Immediately afterwards, there was a terrific  flash of lightning, which struck the tree, and the unfortunate young man and his horse were killed on the spot! Some of the bark on the upper part of the tree was  taken off; the trunk is perforated as with bullets and a large, piece was shivered from a post beneath the tree

 The landlord of the house was sitting  at the end  of the room near the tree and by the force of the shock he  was thrown out of his chair; the back part of his neck was also scorched. The inmates of the house were unconscious of the awful results, until they heard the crying of a child when they found that a little boy, named Topping, seven years of age had also sought shelter under the tree and that although he had escaped the strike of the lightning, the horse had fallen upon him, and his thigh was  broken. The body of Mr N Marshall was removed into the house, and Dr Munton was sent for but, of  course, medical skill was unavailing. 

The deceased appeared to be about 25 years of age. The electric fluid had struck the left.side of his body, near the heart and travelled downwards, by the inner portion of the thigh, and expended itself when it   when it reached his knee. In its course,  the dress of the deceased was cut, as if by a knife, especially the shirt and small clothes. The course of the fluid is indicated by a great discolouration, and, in many  parts, actual abrasion of the skin, presenting to the eye more of the appearance left by the ignition of a train of gunpowder, than any thing to which we can compare it.

A messenger was dispatched, with the melancholy tidings to Mr Marshall's family.

He has, since been removed to his own house where we understand, his mother lies in a very precarious  state of health.

There was a large funeral in South Cave and sadly only a few days later Mrs Hannah Marshall [nee Jubb] died.

Norrison Marshall had been, as we say today, in a relationship with Hannah Levitt, his sister in law and it soon became known after Norrison's death that she was pregnant. In January 1832 she gave birth to twins. She named them Norrison Marshall Levitt and Marshall Norrison Levitt.

Sadly, soon after birth baby Marshall died. Robert Sharp tells us that the South Cave curate [the vicar was away] refused to bury the child as he had been baptised by a Dissenting minister

South Cave had an Independent chapel with its own minister. Some of the records are online but not all - and so we cannot see the baptism. Presumably Norrison was baptised at the same time. And I do not know where the burial would have then taken place.

Baby Norrison seems to have been brought up by his Marshall family and in 1841 he was 10 years old  living with his grandfather Richard Marshall at  Castle Farm, South Cave and with his uncle and aunt Thomas and Ann Levitt and his big cousin, Norrison who was then 19, 

In 1851 aged 19 Norrison was farming at Mount Airey, 256 acres and living with him was his mother Hannah, then aged 51. I cannot find her after this.

By 1861 he was with his grandfather Richard Marshall, Thomas and Ann Levitt and the older Norrison. They were all living in Ellerker in a farmhouse, possibly Brookholme

By 1871 Richard had died [1864] as had Thomas [1870]. Ann is listed as a widow and farmer, her son Norrison was the farm manager but interestingly young Norrison, her nephew is listed as an annuitant. 

Young Norrison in 1881 had married Hannah and aged 49 was a dairyman  at West End, South Cave. 

 In 1891 aged 59 he was still in West End with his wife and living on his own means

Meanwhile in 1881 the older Norrison,  who never married,  was still living in Ellerker.  By 1881 he had a housekeeper Grace Coultous. She remained with him until his death in March 1898.  He was buried at South Cave.

As an aside she married George Stobbart in 1898 and continued to live at Brookholme until her death in 1932. Her niece Annie Kirk continued to live there until 1939. My mother, whose grandmother was a Coultous told how as a child she went to stay with Mrs Stobbart at Ellerker. And family tradition says that  earlier my grandfather Robert Nurse from Eastrington was working at Brookholme when he met my grandmother Elsie Davis from South Cave.

But back to the Levitt story. In 1897 Norrison Marshall Levitt had commissioned a stained glass window to replace the plain glass in the east window of Ellerker church.

The inscription reads that it commemorates  

Richard Marshall and Thomas and Anne Levitt, and was erected by Norrison Marshall Levitt  grandson of the first named,  son of Thomas and Anne aforesaid. 1897.'

Tradition says that figures in the window represent Thomas and Anne and perhaps the child is the  tragic Norrison Marshall. It is sometimes known as the Ascension window.

 Part of the inscription

On 4th June 1898 the Levitt window was dedicated at the same time as the new organ by the bishop of Beverley.

Later that year Mrs Grace Stobbart, nee Coultous gave the lectern in memory of Norrison Marshall Levitt

When 'young' Norrison died in 1905 the newspaper report said 

Another of the old residents bas been removed from South Cave through death in the person of Mr Norrison Levitt, whoso remains were interred in the South Cave Cemetery on Thursday afternoon. Deceased was the last member of the family to bear the name of Levitt, which, along with the family of Marshall, have for years been connected with South Cave. 

It is an interesting tale, sometime tragic, but no one can deny the beauty of the lovely Levitt window.

Hackforths of Goole

 At last it feels like spring. The incessant rain has stopped and everything is beginning to grow. Our snowdrops have finished but the daffodils are taking their place. I have been watching a greater spotted woodpecker sharing the peanuts on the bird feeder and then can hear it the hammering in the wood.

It is time too to spend less time on the computer and more in the garden. I have planted some new rasp canes in large pots as my old ones seem not to like where they are and the greenhouse is cleaned out ready for planting seeds.

 But my local history groups are still running and one of the recent topics we discussed was Hackforths of Goole - a high class grocery shop on Boothferry Road with a popular cafe above. It closed in 1969 and was now where the Nationwide is.

So I thought I would have a look at the Hackforth family - who were they and when did they come to Goole? I did not realise how many grocers there were in Goole and how interconnected their families were - I should have done!

John Hackforth was born in 1849 at Donington in Lincolnshire. His father George was a hair dresser and letter carrier. In 1871 John was a grocer's assistant at a large grocers' shop in March in Cambridgeshire.

By 1879 he was in Goole and married Mary Thompson.  Mary was born in born 1852 and in 1861 she was living with her parents and family on Barge Dock side. Her father Edward Wilson Thompson was  a grocer and provision merchant. In 1871 she was living on Boothferry Road with her brother James, a grocer.

By 1881 John and Mary had a son George Edward and John was manager of a grocer's shop on Bridge St near Dutch river bridge, probably his father in law's.

Family and business

Son Harry was born in 1881, John was born in 1883 and Ethel was born in 1884. Sadly John died in 1884.

Spring 1891 was a bad time for the Hackforths.  On 2nd March Mary's mother Ann died and on March 26th  her husband John died aged 42. So she was left with a business and young family to look after.

From the Howdenshire Gazette of September 1891 we learn that John had been in partnership with a Thomas Settle and they had three grocery businesses. Mary had been running them after John's death until matters were sorted out

One was at 6- 8 Bridge street and it was agreed that this would continue to be carried on by Thomas Settle and Fred Thompson Downing, under the name "Thompson & Co " .  

The business on BoothferryRoad, was 'disposed of to James Thompson, the former Proprietor thereof, who will carry on the same on his own account'.  James, as we have seen was Mary's brother . This was in the building which was the former Wesleyan Manse and later became Harry Boom, outfitter. James retired to Owston Ferry before the First World war and died in 1935.

A Pasture-road business was also disposed of. 

Tom Settle continued to run the Bridge St  business and seems to have been doing so until his death in 1935. as the following newspaper report explains

The death took place at Goole of Mr Tom Settle, of 31, Woodland-avenue, Goole, who for more than half a century had been in the grocery. trade. Mr Settle was 73 years ol age and was a native of the town. He served his apprenticeship as a grocer with the late Mr E. Thompson, and was for many years with the late Mr J. Hackforth, who took over the business. Later he became manager of Messrs Thompson and Co.,of Bridge-street, Goole, and held this position upto the time of his death. He was for 25 years the secretary of the Goole Grocers' and Bakers’ Association, and was prominently associated with the Goole North-street Methodist Church, of which he was a trustee. Mr Settle leaves a widow and five daughters.

Mrs Mary Hackforth lived for many years at 129 Boothferry Road, Donington Villa. The house is now demolished and is presently a bed shop.

Rev George Hackforth

Her eldest son George became a vicar.  He studied at the London College of Divinity. He was made priest in 1912 and became a curate at Llanhilleth, followed by All Saints, Crindan, Newport. He next became curate at St. Augustine’s Church, Sheffield (1916) and at St. Clement’s, Newhall, Sheffield (1918). In 1921 he moved  to London, where he was successively; curate at St. Andrew’s, Streatham (until 1923), St. Matthew’s, Essex Road, Islington and then (from 1926) vicar of St. Bartholomew’s, Shepperton Road, Islington. In 1932 he married Maud Witherall (1898-1982) and, in 1936, became vicar of Wix, Essex. The couple appear to have retired to Clacton and he died in 1965, in Black Notley Hospital. 

Harry Hackforth

He was born in 1881 and in 1891 was in Boothferry Road, possibly where his uncle James later had his business  living with his mother, George, Ethel and his aunt Susan Hackforth aged 44

By 1901 the family had moved in to Donington Villa  - Harry, George,  Ethel and Mary, who was living on  her own means

In 1911 Harry was a boarder in Otter St Derby, probably learning his trade

On Sept 16th 1915 he married Esther Newman at Stockton on Tees.

In December 1915 he joined up described as a tea and coffee specialist and confectioner on his attestation form living at  Donington Villa

He served with the Royal Engineers as a sapper and motor cycle despatch rider

After the war

Harry and Esther lived at 127 Boothferry road, next door to his mother and sister.

He took over the shop which became known as Hackforths probably in 1921 when the owner  Mr R G Leggott died. Before that  it was Wilkinson and Heald's. By January 1922  we get a mention of Hackforths cafe.

Also in 1922 his daughter Margaret was born.

 In 1927  Harry's grandmother Lucy died at Donington aged 103. Because of her age her death was mentioned in many newspapers

SIMPLE FARE FOR LONG LIFE. Woman's Death at of 103. The death occurred at Donington, on Tuesday, of Mrs. Lucy Hackforth, at the ago of 103. Mrs. Hackforth, who had lived at Donington since girlhood, retained all her faculties to the last, and took a keen interest in her surroundings. She looked the picture of health, and possessed a beautiful complexion, which was the envy of the young ladies in the district. Her diet was a very simple one—brown bread and butter (one loaf per week), milk, roast apples, and occasionally a little Lincolnshire bacon. Sho attributed her longevity to a simple life, simple fare, and absolute cleanliness. 

But in  September 1929 Harry Hackforth committed suicide by putting his head in a gas oven. He had apparently previously had a nervous breakdown and was worried about his business. In fact it was sound.

His widow Esther who had moved to her  native Stockton on Tees died in 1939 at Bootham Park hospital in York, a psychiatric hospital

In 1945 Mrs Mary Hackforth died aged 90. Her daughter Ethel who lived with her and never married died in the 1960s.

Shop and cafe

Hackforths shop and cafe was a big part of Goole's history until its closure in 1969. It was where customers could sit on a chair and be served their high class groceries and cakes; it was where countless wedding receptions were held and where ladies went for morning coffee and always wore gloves! 

We have not found out who actually ran the business after 1929 but do know it went bankrupt in 1964, was presumably re- financed  and closed in 1969 when the remaining six staff were transferred to the Fine Fare supermarket which by then owned Hackforths. Here are some pictures which might jog a few memories. 

 Shop front

 The cafe upstairs

 The shop

               Back  Dorothy Vause nee Dickins, Jean Gowler, nee Andrews, George Brant
 Front Mary Burton nee Bean, Mrs Kitwood,  Iris Pearson nee Revell, Lena, Violet Bollingham

I find it interesting that although the family were in Goole for only two generations and that, as far as I can tell the last of the family to run the shop only did so for eight or nine years the name Hackforths has lived on until the present day.

2026

 Yet again it is a damp morning. Apparently January 2026 was one of the wettest for several years but at least we here in East Yorkshire missed the worst of the January storms. Our snowdrops are putting on a fine show and the daffodils are not far behind. The chickens too are coming into lay although they too dislike this wet weather.

This blog post will be a bit of a  local history pot pourri as it is some time since I wrote one - so here goes. 

I collect the work of Frances Hutchinson, the artist daughter of Rev Hutchinson, vicar of Howden. Her views of Howden - and other towns - appear on postcards and I have a couple of her original watercolours. Recently I found one I had never seen before which is in America. It was mis-indexed as being by G Hutchinson but clearly on the reverse is written The Vicarage Howden. Also on the back is the information that it is a view of a house at Kilpin Pike. I was not sure where it was - but after writing this post I was contacted by some local people who identified it as Mr Pillings house, now demolished which stood on the corner where the Howdendyke jetty now is. Here it is.

I have also answered several queries  including one about the Howdle family of Howden. Some older residents will remember the name. Thomas Howdle was at one time landlord of the Neptune inn [now 31 Pinfold Street] and  his wife Sarah  recalled how the road was flooded upto their inn in 1871 and sightseers came to the inn to watch - times don't change!!

One of their daughters, Eliza married Joseph Hodgson and they lived for many years at Barmby. Joseph worked on the railway. Their son, William Thomas Hodgson, born 1883 was hanged in 1917 in Walton Gaol after being found guilty of murdering his wife and three year old daughter by battering them with a hatchet. Witnesses said he was known to be sometimes violent to his wife.

But much of my time recently has been spent looking at the history of Goole.  It is two hundred years since the Aire and Calder Navigation Co opened their canal linking Knottingley to Goole. As a result a new town was created where the canal met the River Ouse and the town is celebrating its 'birthday' with many events this year.

I attended a packed showing of films about Goole organised by the Civic society last Saturday and enjoyed hearing the Warblers singing a song written in 1926 called Advance Goole. The author and composer was Sydney George Metcalfe, then headmaster of Alexandra Street school. He was originally from Norwich and had not been in Goole long

In 1929 he left teaching and was ordained. After a brief time as a curate in Goole he left for Yarmouth and later became vicar of Sprowston in Norfolk where he died in 1943 aged 62.

I thought readers might like to see the song he wrote.

 

But of course there was a place called Goole long before the canal. And also long before Cornelius Vermuyden in the seventeenth century carried out his drainage work in the area, necessitating the digging of the so called Dutch River. His re-routing of the River Don  had caused flooding around Snaith and beyond and he was compelled to pay for this new channel out to the Ouse.

There are mentions of Goole from the fourteenth century and I am currently working on what was there at that time. Who were these early inhabitants? I am working on finding out