Cold weather

It is Good Friday, the day when gardeners traditionally plant their potatoes. I have been outside today, wrapped up in woolly hat, gloves and scarf and looked at my veg plot. It is barren with just a few weeds and certainly in no state to plant into.

Like everyone else I am fed up with the cold, the wind and the light but definite snow showers we keep having. Even the chickens, who were laying quite well have gone on strike. I gave them a lot of hay today in their nest boxes to keep them warm and encourage them to lay again.

The Howden junior school centenary celebrations went well and the children released their 100 balloons in the Market Place last Friday morning.

We have been researching the very early history of Goole and looking at the work of Jolliffe and Banks who were the contractors for the construction of the docks in the 1820s. There is a lot more to be found out about the mechanics of exactly how the work was carried out and how and from where the stone for example was transported.

We are still updating the website and working particularly on the old picture pages. They are very out of date at the moment and there are a vast number of old photos and pictures waiting to be uploaded. I have been collecting pictures of Yorkshire towns and villages and include one here of Bridlington in the hope that we are heading for a lovely warm summer when we can visit 'Brid' and enjoy a walk in the sunshine.

an old picture of Bridlington Spa

Howden council school 1913-2013

I have been busy for the last two weeks writing a booklet about the Howden Council school. The school is celebrating its centenary with an exhibition this week in the Shire hall. I have been reading the log books and have picked out some of the main  events and printed them with a few old pictures in a short booklet which I hope will act as a souvenir .

The school was built in 1912 and opened in April 1913. What stands out in those early years is how many times the school was closed for epidemics of various illnesses such as whooping cough, measles and diphtheria as well as flu.

The first headmaster, Mr Frank Platt retired in 1929. The second head was John E Cooke who was keen on music and stayed until the early 1950s. Mr Ernest Wray who followed him set up a school farm where they raised chickens, pigs and lambs. Every year the school held a chicken dinner where some of the chickens were prepared and cooked by the children for selected guests.

Other heads were Fred Wright, Dennis Lucas, Avory Brown, Stuart Collins and Tim Wilkinson.
The present head is Mrs Judy Scargill.

The centenary is being celebrated in the Minster on Thursday evening - I am giving one of the short talks and am planning what to say.

In fact although both my parents taught at the school and my daughter was a pupil I attended Eastrington school and so cannot reminisce about schooldays in Howden. But I am sure I will think of something.

These children attended the school in 1985 and are pictured with headteacher Mrs Avory Brown. Do you recognise anyone?

Percy Jeeves of Goole

On Saturday 2nd March the Goole Rotary club are holding their annual hobbies exhibition in the Leisure Centre. It is always very popular and, as I have done for the last few years,  I shall be having a stall.

I am busy now putting my old pictures, many of which originally appeared in the Goole Times,  into albums so that they are easier to look at. It seems a never ending task! I am taking my printer so that I can make copies on the spot for anyone who finds a picture of themselves or their families.

Molly is keen to go out for a walk but it is so cold and grey that I am not very enthusiastic. The snowdrops in the garden are looking well - but I  am appreciating them from out of the window.

Today I have been talking to a gentleman who is writing a biography of Percy Jeeves, the cricketer. Percy was brought up in Goole, played for Warwickshire and was killed in on the Somme in 1916 while serving with the Royal Warwickshires.

His name was noticed by author P G Wodehouse who was watching a match and immortalised in his books.

Percy's parents lived down Manuel Street where Percy and his two brothers grew up and are buried in Goole cemetery.

How many people know of this Goole connection?

Howden Milton Rooms performance of Red Riding Hood

As regular readers of the blog will know I contribute a piece every month to a local magazine called Howden Matters.

Some two months ago the editor published a photograph which had been sent in for which he had no identification.  Since then I have been contacted by several people who knew both the event and the names.

It was in fact a performance of a pantomime organised by a lady called VI Phillips who ran a dancing school in Howden and who put on regular shows in the town's Milton Rooms.

Howden's Milton  Assembly Rooms were built as a schoolroom in 1857 behind the  Congregational chapel in St Helen's Square. The rooms were used for a multitude of purposes. At various times they  were an auxiliary classroom for the Council school, a sale room, a lecture theatre and of course a venue for Vi Philips' dance shows. I remember  going in there when my mother was teaching dancing to senior girls from the Hailgate school in the 1950s but am not sure when it was demolished. Any more memories or pictures of the Milton Rooms  would be welcome.

 

 Thora,  who played Red Riding Hood, wrote that

'The photograph would have been taken in 1936/37 in the Milton Rooms.   What a pity the place was pulled down. It was a large hall with stage and several changing rooms behind'

Back row: Mrs Jeeves, Mrs Smith, Vi Phillips, Methodist minister, Mrs Jackson, Percy Jeeves,  Edwin Turner, unknown, Bob Dennis, Robert Dennis.

Middle row:  Josephine Wilson, Ethel Tasker, Mildred Long, Bill Seddon [the fox], Betty Waterhouse, Rene Talbot, Ida Jackson, Jack Watson, Thora Turner, Margaret Talbot, Mrs Talbot, Marie Turner, Eunice Lumley.

Front row [left]: Kathleen Dennis, Roy ?, Betty Naylor, Elsi Proctor, Enid Nutbrown, Barbara Smith, Gwen Jeeves [ the fairy].

Front row [right]: Pat Naylor, Marjorie Gamwell, June Phillips, unknown, unknown.

 

 

 

Howden area Quakers

I have been looking this week at Quaker history and specifically at some of our local families who emigrated in the late seventeenth century.

The Quaker movement was founded by George Fox. Early Quakers (or Friends) stressed the importance of a direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ and a belief in the universal priesthood of all believers. They emphasised a personal experience of Christ acquired through both direct spiritual experience and the reading and studying of the Bible.

Their beliefs meant that came into conflict with the 'establishment' and were often imprisoned for non-payment of tithes, for simply attending their meetings as the law then forbade religious gatherings of more than five people outside the Church of England, or for not taking an oath of allegiance to the king. Quakers did and do not agree with swearing oaths.

In Yorkshire there were many Quakers and several local men and women spent long periods in York Castle, several of them dying there. This took place mostly in the reign of Charles II.

Meetings of Friends were held at Elloughton, North Cave, Shipton, Barmby, Ferriby, Hotham, Sancton, Metham, Brantingham and Sandholme.

Meeting-houses were later erected at North Cave and Elloughton and records of their meetings survive including their minute books and records of suffering. These two local meetings later became incorporated into the Hull monthly meeting

At Sandholme there is still a Quaker farm, once owned by Sebastian Ellythorp who died in York Castle in 1695. 

Cornelius Empson was another local Quaker and member of the landowning Empson family of Goole Hall, where there is still a private burial ground. This is referred to in 1673 when Katherin Empson, wife of James, was buried as a Quaker in "Rich[ar]d Empson’s ground, Gowle".

On the 24th of the 6th month 1680 (the Quakers had their own dating system, beginning with March as month one), the Hull Monthly Meeting of Friends registered the birth of a son to Cornelius Empson. He was named Richard and was the eldest son of four born to Cornelius and his first wife Mary.

Cornelius Empson emigrated to America in 1684. In 1685 he was described as living on Shellpots Creek, a small stream in Brandywine Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware.

On the 12th December 1710 his will was proved. He was then described as Cornelius Empson, gentleman, of Goal [sic - Goole] Grange, New Castle County, Pennsylvania, later Delaware.

Some records suggest that Cornelius Empson was born at Booth. There were at least two Quaker families in the  nearby Knedlington area. I am not sure where they lived in Knedlington, which now consists of only a few houses, but early maps  do show a Quaker burial ground there.

The Wright family

Another local Quaker family were the Wrights of Howden and Knedlington. Robert Wright, a butcher in Hailgate, Howden and his wife Alice Lawtie had at least three, possibly four sons who all emigrated to America.

The eldest son was Thomas Wright. In 1677 he emigrated to the Jersey shore of the Delaware river on the "Flie Boat Martha" from Hull. Thomas Wildbuys or Wildcup was the master. The Martha arrived "at the end of Summer 1677" carrying "114 passengers" for the Yorkshire Tenth in Burlington. Thomas Wright wrote home to his wife on October 28th 1677, having just arrived. His family followed him. He died in Burlington County, New Jersey 1706.

The second son was Joshua Wright. Joshua married on June 10th 1669 Elizabeth Empson of "Gowle Field House", Goole. I am not sure how she was related to Cornelius Empson, but she was possibly his sister.

Joshua obviously had a 'falling out' with the local Friends around the time of his marriage. The Friends records of 1669 (which are hard to decipher) for the South Cliffe meeting state that,

"Joshua Wright of Howden, having been convicted of frequenting friends meetings, denied the worlds went from it, paid tithes, forsooke ... and ... he being admonished and warned faithfully by friends, and afterwards proceeded ... world, and ...  marryed by a drunken priest."

Joshua was disowned in 1669 by the Cave Monthly Meeting for marrying Elizabeth Empson on 4 mo. 10. 1669, contrary to Discipline.

Joshua Wright, along with his wife and children Elizabeth, Joshua and Robert, seems to have left the area and eventually emigrated from Ashford-in-the-Water near Bakewell in Derbyshire. The family embarked for West New Jersey at Hull, in August 24, 1679 on the same ship as Joshua's brother Samuel (see below) and arrived at the falls of the Delaware, now Trenton, about December 20th 1679.

Joshua's will, which was written in 1690 although he  died in 1695, includes bequests as follows which show he was Samuel's brother.

"I give to Mary, late widow of my brother Samuel Wright, that farm or plantation whereon she now dwells during her life and to Samuel Wright her son to him and his heirs forever.

 I give to Peter Fretwell, my son-in-law, and Elizabeth his wife, my only daughter, our lot in the town of Burlington, belonging to the first part---------to them and their heirs forever.

 I give to Robert Wright my son - 100 acres of land and 30 pounds to him and his heirs forever. I give to Thomas Wright my son - 350 acres of land and 30 pounds to him and his heirs forever.

 I give to Joseph Wright my son - 350 acres of land and 30 pounds to him and his heirs forever.

 I give to Samuel Wright my son - 350 acres of land and 30 pounds to him and his heirs forever.

 I give to Elizabeth my wife one half of the farm or plantation whereon I now live during her natural life and after to my son Joshua with all the rest of my lands and herby give to him and his heirs forever. And the rest of my goods to Elizabeth my wife and Joshua my son, whom I make executors of this my last will and testament."

The third of the Wright sons was Samuel Wright, yeoman of Knedlington, who was born about 1645. He married Mary Starkey, daughter of John Starkey of Knedlington, on the 1st July 1671.

In 1675 Samuel Wright, of "Nedlington", grassman, was imprisoned for refusing to pay a demand of 4d for the wages of the parish clerk.

The Elloughton monthly meeting minutes of 1676 show that Friends of the Howden meeting were ordered to "enquire into the present condition of Samuel Wright's family (he being prisoner at York for the truth sake) and to bring in account the next meeting".

It was also minuted that "considering the condition of Samuel Wright of Knedlington, he being straitly kept prisoner and his wife great with child, and his estate but small; [they] sent her by Christopher Graves 10 shillings".

In 1677 another 10s was sent to Samuel's wife as she was "in weakness and her husband in prison, by a Capias Writt persecuted by the wicked Bishop's Officers".

Samuel Wright emigrated to America with his brother Joshua Wright, leaving Hull in August 1679 with his wife and children, Alice and Samuel. His daughter Mary was apparently born at sea on October 25th 1679. Samuel Wright settled in Burlington Co. along the south side of Crosswicks Creek. He died Burlington Co., New Jersey before 25th March 1690, when his wife was described as a widow in his brother's will. 

A fourth Wright son, Richard Wright, born in 1651, may have emigrated and lived at Cooper's Creek, Gloucester Co, New Jersey.

The Goforth family

William Goforth was born in 1631 at Knedlington. His father Miles had three known children, William,  George and Elizabeth.

Miles Goforth died in 1674 at Knedlington. William, who may have been married before, married Anne Skipwith in 1662 in the Friends meeting house in Hull. Anne's mother Honora Skipwith, wife of Willoughby Skipwith, was also a Quaker and died in 1679 in York Castle.

William and Anne and their family emigrated to  America on the Martha in 1677. Thomas Wright, also of Knedlington (mentioned above) was a fellow passenger. Sadly, William died in Burlington the following year. Ann remarried to another fellow passenger, William Oxley.

I am sure that there is much more to discover about the Quaker families in this area of East Yorkshire. I briefly mentioned Sebastian Ellythorp of Sandholme earlier in this blog piece. The Ellythorps are a fascinating local family and I researched them in greater detail for my book about Eastrington.

When I have time I will have a more detailed look at some of the other local Quaker families and their 'sufferings' which are available to read in the archives at Beverley.

Winter weather

I am busy with several history projects at the moment. With my Goole WEA class we are looking at the early history of Hook as well as trying to find out more about Ousefleet Hall, which was locally often known as Empson Hall.

I am also researching the history of Saltmarshe - the family and the village. The family claimed ancestry back to the Norman conquest although sadly when Philip Saltmarshe died in November 1970 he was the last of the male line. I am talking about Saltmarshe at both the Boothferry group meeting on January 28th and the Marshland History group on January 29th. I had agreed some time ago to speak at both groups but had not realised the meetings were on consecutive nights.

But life is not all history projects and the present spell of wintry weather has produced some interesting travelling conditions as well as some stunning winter landscapes. We are finding too that the house is cold even though the Rayburn and oil boiler are both going. I think it is the wind which whistles around the walls of what is partly an uninsulated old house which makes the difference.

Above are some pictures from last week of the sheep in Saltmarshe Park. It was a grey day with snow flurries when we took the pictures. I like the skeletal shapes of the trees in the background.

Goole Times - Back in Time

Readers of the Goole Times may have noticed that I have begun contributing to the newspaper's very interesting 'Back in Time' pages. These weekly pages feature articles and photographs from readers who have memories and information about the history of Goole and the wider area.

I have recently written an article in the newspaper about the great number of young goslings which were imported through Goole, arriving in crates on the decks of such ships as the SS Wharfe.

I have also contributed some of my old photographs to the 'Back in Time' pages. Many of these pictures did originally appear in the Goole Times but they have no identification on the back with regard to year or occasion.

I am putting small versions of the published pictures here on my blog. If you are interested in purchasing copies as either prints or digital images do visit my website - Howdenshire History - and fill in the contact form.

Goole Traders fancy dress

Children from Boothferry Road school with Goole's Christmas tree

Geese grazing on Victoria Street in Goole, now the site of the telephone exchange

Last night in the Steam Packet 4th March 1967 before it was demolished. Landlord Ken Rose

SS Wharfe of Goole

More Yorkshire dialect

After writing about Yorkshire dialect I had a good response from local people who are also interested in the words we use.

Pauline Stainton of Goole wrote,


"Having been raised in a new mining community that was populated with an influx from Nottinghamshire, Durham & Welsh coalfields, I’m never sure where my own personal vocabulary comes from, but I had heard the word  ‘taffled’  from our old neighbour at Rawcliffe Bridge. Although, she’d lived up here most of her life, Mrs R was born in Somerset & she’d never lost her Zummerzett twang. She used some strange expressions too  and I didn’t always understand her and I’d walk into our house totally flummoxed.

My old dictionary [Wright’s Dictionary of Obsolete & Provincial English – published in Covent Garden, London in 1869] tells me that 'Sile' comes the Northern Counties including siling- dish as a milk-strainer.  Up here, 'teem' was to empty something, presumably like teeming water from a bucket. 

I’d not heard of a 'cockstride' until I saw your blog but would you believe it the dictionary gave almost the same explanation  - 'Country folks say at Twelfth-day, "The days are now a cockstride longer".

The while / until conundrum took some thinking about.  My old dictionary confirms that in the late 19th century, Yorkshire folk were saying ‘while’ when they meant ‘until’. I will admit I probably still use it wrongly in speech – most of us do locally – but I hope I use it correctly when I’m writing."

Thank you Pauline both for writing this and also for allowing me to put this on the blog.

Meanwhile my friend Bill Wroot who grew up in Reedness was interested in the word galleyboke[s] in the previous post. He said that old farmers, when talking about a crop would often say  that it was 'galleyboke high'.

And I found myself using another dialect word today. I still have a cough from an earlier cold and I said that it was not a bad cough - only a 'little peff', meaning a slight cough.

Any more offerings??    

East Yorkshire dialect

I have always enjoyed listening to those people I know who still use out local dialect quite naturally. And having been brought up in the area around Howden I too still use some dialect expressions myself - although unless someone tells you that you are doing so how do you know?

One expression commonly used in our family is  'all taffled up' when describing maybe a ball of string or recently the heap of cable and Christmas lights we had pulled out of a cardboard box. It is a version of tangled up and is apparently peculiar to Yorkshire. I am not sure even if  it is only used in East Yorkshire.

Another discussion I had recently, after looking at the weather,  was about words meaning raining. I said 'it's teeming down' which I do not think is East Yorkshire dialect but then someone else used the phrase 'siling down' which I think is.

A sile is  derived from the Scandinavian word for a sieve and a local farmer's wife once told me that it was used of a particular type of sieve in a dairy where the milk ran straight through - hence it's raining heavily.

I could probably think of many more but here are just  a few phrases and words which I know, some of which are from my childhood but many of which I have heard used in the last few months - can you add any more?

it's slape - slippery

that fire is up to the galleybokes [one of my father's from Driffield, describing a fire piled with coal almost up to the gallows balk, which was what a hook hung on and from which a pot hung]

it's wick - meaning alive, often with fleas although a visitor once asked me if a particular cable was wick [live - ie had power through it]

goodies - sweets, although people from West Yorkshire often refer instead to 'spice'

drinkins - the drink taken out to farm workers in mid morning, sometimes also called 'lowance'

flitting - moving house

bairns - children

I will finish with what is supposedly a true story about Yorkshire road and rail signs. I will leave readers to check how true it is!

Several road signs had to be changed after Yorkshire people were  very confused by those at bridges and rail crossings which read 'Do not cross while lights are flashing'. Locally the word 'while' means until - e.g. 'wait there while I come back'.

Meanwhile I will take Molly out for a walk across the claggy field, returning all clarty having walked through countless slop holes but grateful that at least it is now a cockstride lighter.

Christmas Past

It seems appropriate as we approach Christmas to have a look back at how the season was celebrated locally in times past. We are at present having wet weather but it is not too cold.

However in December 1878 the York Herald reported that it was well below freezing and the rivers were frozen. It is interesting in these days of a long Christmas break to read that on Christmas Day the businesses were closed - which suggests that they were probably open on all other days. The report begins with what was happening in York and then moves to Goole and Howden.


From the York Herald, Saturday 28th December 1878

"Those who have sighed for a 'good old-fashioned' Christmas have at length had their wishes realised to the full, for the weather is of a more severe character than any that has been experienced for many years.

In York Christmas Day was observed in the orthodox fashion, the various places of business being closed, and services held in the different churches and chapels.

The hallowed day was ushered in by a gladdening peal on the Minster bells, and as soon as the day was fairly born the waits awoke the stillness by their carols and hymns. The Ouse and Foss being frozen, hundreds indulged in the exhilarating and healthy exercise of skating, of which for several seasons they have been deprived.

The inmates of the York Union Workhouse, numbering about 60 more than last year, were supplied with a substantial Christmas dinner, consisting of roast beef, potatoes, and plum pudding. To supply such a large number of appetites 67 stones of beef, 10 bushels of mashed potatoes, and 55 plum puddings, were called into requisition. The plum puddings were made up of 210lbs of currants, 70lbs of brown sugar, 40lbs of ground lump sugar, 120lbs of moist sugar, 13lbs of sultana raisins, 33lbs of lemon peel, and 60lbs of suet.

At tea, currant cakes, baked out of 20 stones of flour, were served up with as much of the "cup that cheers but not inebriates" as the inmates desired. Various parts of the house were decorated with evergreens and mottoes, and everything was done to render those to whom the institution afforded shelter from the cruel blast of poverty, contented and happy.

Goole
 
For the first time for several years, Christmas Day has come with the river blocked with ice, and with consequently a large number of men unemployed. The companies, in whose hands the steam trade of the port rests, have made strenuous efforts to keep the channel open, but the great block of ice in Goole Reach has baffled their efforts, and their steamers have had to return to Goole after a struggle of an exciting nature, in which the ice was the victor.

The river now presents a very picturesque appearance. Blocks of ice, stranded on the shoal sands, rise to a height of 10 or 12 feet out of the water, dotting the river for miles, while portions of the channel are covered with great sheets of ice closely heaped together, over some of which men and youths have crossed.

The Aire, the Dutch river (or Don), and the Derwent, are all blocked. On Christmas Day the thermometer was 22 deg., or ten below freezing, but until noon the weather was fine and bright. After that hour it clouded over and became very foggy. The parish church, which was very prettily decorated by the ladies of the parish, was well attended, the Christmas sermon being preached by the Rev. Dr. Bell, vicar of Goole.

At Snaith, Rawcliffe, Hook, Airmyn, and the other parishes round, the churches were suitably decorated. To meet the needs arising out of the distress, coals were distributed on Christmas eve, and on Wednesday, at the Market Hall, there was a soup boiling, tickets being given by the committee to those persons suffering from the present stagnation of trade or by the frost.

At the workhouse the usual treat was provided for the inmates by the Guardians, and a number of ladies and gentlemen attended to assist. The guardians present were Mr Huntington, Mr Bromley, and Mr Gleadow, and, notwithstanding the extra number of inmates, the house being full, there was enough and to spare. The visitors included Mrs and the Misses Wells, of Boothferry House, the Rev. T. Dickin, &c. At the close the usual speeches were made, and a very pleasant afternoon was passed.

Howden

The usual services were held at Howden Church, which was tastefully decorated, and a service was also held in connection with the Wesleyan body. The inmates of the workhouse had their accustomed treat in the shape of a dinner of roast beef and plum pudding, with other little luxuries for the inmates after dinner. The ice was the centre of attraction in tbe afternoon, and skating was indulged in by a great number of people both down the Selby-road and at the Kilpin Brick-yards."

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A later newspaper report comes from the Hull Mail in 1936:

"HOW GOOLE SPENT CHRISTMAS"

"Goole spent a cheerful Christmas, reflecting the recent improvement in trade of the port, and family parties, football and dancing were the chief attractions.

The aged, the sick, and the poor were not forgotten, and there were the usual festivities at the hospitals and institutions. The Mayor and Mayoress (Alderman and Mrs S. G. Bevan), with a number of other guests, attended the Christmas dinner at the Poor Law Institution, where an original note had been struck in the decorative scheme, the dining hall being bedecked to represent a cruise on an ocean liner.

The Christmas fare included beer provided by Mr Fred Taylor. In the evening a concert organised by Alderman and Mrs Ernest Johnson was given by Mr Geo. Waud (tenor), Mr E. Walker (baritone), Miss D. Bullock (elocutionist), B. Fish (ventriloquist), Mr Harold Dodson (piano accordion), Mr G. W. Jennings (piano), the Cliftonians Mandolin Band, and the pupils of the Bradley School of Dancing.

At the Bartholomew Hospital, each patient received a present and was allowed two visitors to tea. The Mayor and Mayoress toured the wards, and Father Christmas (Dr. K. Barrett) handed gifts from the Christmas tree to the patients and visitors. In the evening Mr H. Dodson entertained with his piano accordion, and on Boxing Day a cinematograph show was given by Mr H. Kay.

Nearly 300 poor children of the town were present at the annual Christmas Day breakfast organised by Carlisle Terrace Church Christian Endeavour Society. The Mayor and Mayoress also attended this effort, and Mr Sam Lister, acting as Father Christmas, distributed toys and sweets to the boys and girls."

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I hope all readers of this blog have a merry Christmas and enjoy their Christmas dinner. I hope too that the rivers are not frozen and the weather clement!