Old photos of Goole people - 2

Here are some more old photos of Goole people who made news in the town. Do add any comments about them.

Thomas Snowden, grocer and councilllor, Old Goole

J H Castle, Goole town surveyor

J Cheeseborough

Old photos of Goole people

I have in my collection of old photos many of Goole people who have in the past served as local councillors, town officials, ministers etc. I am publishing some of them here in the hope that I can find out a little more about them and their contributions to Goole's history. Do please add your comments.

I already have information about some of them and would like to acknowledge the contributions of Gilbert Tawn, a keen local historian, who has provided reports from the old files of the Goole Times newspaper.

Mr A Kirby

Cllr Edith Maud Burniston

Marriage of Mrs Burniston in 1934

The vicar of Snaith (the Rev C.H. Moxley) was married in his own church on Tuesday to Mrs Edith Maud Burniston of The Lodge, Snaith. The wedding took place at 8am and was very quiet. The Rev R.N. D----e (vicar of Pollington) officiated.

Few people of Snaith knew that the wedding was to take place on Tuesday. When the engagement was announced on February 22^nd last it was said that the wedding would take place during the summer.

Mrs Burniston has been a well-known public figure in the Snaith and Goole districts for a number of years. Her first husband Mr James Burniston died three years ago after practising as a solicitor for many years in Goole, Snaith and Thorne.

Mrs Burniston is perhaps best known locally for her work as an entertainer and in politics she is an elocutionist of considerable ability and in this direction has helped many local charitable organisations. Politically Mrs Burniston is a Conservative. In 1930 she was adopted as prospective candidate for the Pontefract division, but withdrew before the last general election. Her political activities are still however extensive, and she has been in great demand in various parts of the country, as one of the speakers attached to the Conservative Central Office.

The bridegroom has been vicar of Snaith since 1924 before which he held appointments in Doncaster, Leeds, and Sheffield Mr Mosley’s first wife, who died two years ago, was an invalid for many years     

Fred Kitwood

F H Ellicott

Selby history

One of my projects this week has involved looking in more detail at the history of Selby. It has a beautiful abbey and stands on the River Ouse which has played such a large part in its development.  I remember in earlier days queueing to pay 4d [I think] to cross the toll bridge by car although today it is toll free. The bridge always felt very fragile and rattled horribly as you crossed.

Selby had the earliest railway station in Yorkshire, built in 1834 and was also a prosperous port until the opening of the Aire and Calder canal to Goole eventually took much of its river trade.

This charming drawing dates from 1842 and shows a train crossing the newly opened [in 1840] bridge across the Ouse, linking Selby by rail to Hull.

Goole Grammar School 1926

A good number of years ago now I was a pupil at Goole Grammar School. The headmaster was Mr J L Latimer although he retired whilst I was there and was followed by Mr Peter Teed.

I remember the strict insistence on uniform - no duffle coat, only a blue gaberdine mac and the horrible 'pork pie' hat. Outdoor shoes had to be black and lace up and we had to wear  white socks until we were 14.

I have recently found a picture of the whole school - then Goole Secondary School - in June 1926. It has suffered a bit over the years but generally all the faces are recognisable. What is interesting is that the girls' uniform does not look so different from mine with a gymship and white blouse.

Mine came from Gordon Clarke's down ?Carlisle Street.  However the girls here are wearing open-necked  blouses. Was this their summer uniform, when we wore blue and white striped dresses or did they not have to bother with the dreaded tie?

This is a section from the middle of what is a very long picture.  I believe the gentleman wearing a gown in the centre is the school's first headmaster Mr Clarence Jacob Forth

From my garden

This weekend has been very hot and sticky and then last night the weather broke with the crashing and banging of a thunderstorm during the night. It always seems more impressive and a little more frightening when it is dark.

We have been picking raspberries and blackcurrants, I freeze them on baking trays and then transfer them into plastic containers. I think the rasps are my favourite although we enjoyed a blackcurrant crumble for tea.

Norman the cockerel now has a small harem of two hens and seems to be strutting more happily round the garden with them. In fact he found some low-hanging rasps and was quite reluctant to be parted from them.

The nearby grass land has all been cut and put into large green bags - just beating the rain. I thought it was silage but have been informed it is more probably haylage. I am not sure I know the difference.

It is however a far cry from when we had ponies as a child and my father cut grass on the roadside verge with an Allen scythe. We raked it and turned it by hand and then pitch forked it into hay cocks. It was very scratchy and itchy to deal with but I can still remember the  lovely smell.

Gilberdyke school old photo of Mrs Sellers' class

Following on from my previous post about Staddlethorpe station here is another piece of  Gilberdyke  history. In the same file as before I have found a picture of a Gilberdyke school class. I do not know the date - although the teacher again is Mrs Sellers.

I would love to know who the children are and when the picture was taken.

The re-naming of Staddlethorpe station

I have been looking through some files and have come across  a song, written by Gilberdyke teacher Mrs Jean Sellers on the occasion of the change of station name from Staddlethorpe to Gilberdyke in 1974.

To the tune of the Vicar of Bray, the Gilberdyke schoolchildren sang the following:


In Queen Victoria's golden reign
This station was first opened
And all the population round about
Approved the innovation.
For Goole, for Hull, for Doncaster
The people congregated
From Staddlethorpe they travelled far
With freedom long awaited.

But from this day, by one and all
Re-named shall be this station
As Gilberdyke it shall be known
Hurrah for this grand occasion.

But since these days now long far off
This village has seen changes
And British Rail's passed this decree
To suit the situation
That from this day by one and all

Re-named shall be this station

As Gilberdyke it shall be known

Hurrah for this grand occasion.

After the singing, a contemporary newspaper report (February 1974) says the new sign was unveiled by local councillor Lewis Clayton and the old sign was presented to the parish council. Here is part of the cutting (click to view larger). I do have also some photos of the event which I shall eventually put onto the old photo section of my website but in the meantime if you were there singing, let me know!!

Barmby on the Marsh history - 2

Soon after writing about the mills at Barmby I had a message from Stuart whose ancestors were in fact the millers there at one time. His 3x great grandfather was John Cook who was a miller at Barmby. John's daughter Sarah married John Fox in 1856 whose father, Joseph Fox, was a miller at Airmyn.

Joseph Fox had moved from Airmyn to Brumby (Lincolnshire) where he was unfortunately killed on the 7th January 1839 during the great storm when he went out to inspect the mill and a large wooden spar fell on him.

Stuart is happy to share this information and I too would be happy to put any other interesting bits of family history on this blog for others to read.

I am continuing my researches into the village and have just obtained a copy of an 18th century Barmby inventory for a weaver who left a loom in his (work) shop.

Eastrington Show 2011

We went to Eastrington Show yesterday and enjoyed meeting several old friends.

It was a cool day but dry and not windy like last year. Then we had a tent with a display of old photographs and copies of my book about Eastrington. It did not last long in the gale and despite our best efforts it blew down.

This year we watched the display by the locally based Action Horses and then went to see how we had fared in the produce section. My aunt's begonia had won a prize in the houseplant class, our picture of a water lily at Kew was the best flower photo but most pleasingly our eggs had also won a prize. As the grand daughter of the owners of the Eastrington Poultry Farm I felt  my grand parents would have been pleased. (I have to say I was less pleased when three of our eggs, left on display, were taken by someone. Not, I felt, in the spirit of the show!)

My family have lived in Eastrington for  over three centuries. My ancestors have, no doubt, attended most of the shows of former years and for many years my father, Doug Watson, was the secretary. I  personally have very happy memories of  shows where I took part in fancy dress, rode on the speedway, entered my pony in trotting races and later sat in some very hot tents as we tried to keep the horse jumping running smoothly.

This year's show was perhaps a bit quieter but I hope to attend Eastrington Show in 2012.

Barmby on the Marsh history

I am finding the history of Barmby on the Marsh fascinating at the moment. Whilst I have quite a lot of information on the village already, I am looking at it again and finding new material. 

Situated as it is at the end of the road from Howden, not too many people nowadays know the village - but in earlier times most of those who lived there benefited from being both on the banks of the Ouse and at the start of the Derwent navigation. 

There was a large weaving industry making sailcloth for the visiting vessels and many families were watermen, making their living from the river. There were ferries to both Drax and Hemingbrough and regular 'market boats' to both Hull and Selby.

The land around the village was not enclosed until 1853 and before this villagers had rights to graze on the Marsh - 'marsh gates' - and annual  horse races were held.

I have been looking at the mill or mills - I think there were two: a post mill outside the village and a smock mill in the village centre. I would like to know more of them.

So far I know that in January 1839  both Barmby mills were  blown down in a storm and that in 1851 Alexander Bell from Gilberdyke, John Cooke and Thomas Collins were millers. By 1861 Joseph Wood was a miller.

Barmby also had an inn called the Windmill kept by Thomas Johnson in the 1850s and in 1864 by William Jackson, who was fined that year for staying open too long.

In 1870 Joseph Fenton was refused a spirit licence for the the Windmill beerhouse as it was said that there were already four public houses for the 330 inhabitants in the village.

An advertisement for the sale of the Barmby on the Marsh windmill from 1834