WHO FOUNDED THE CHARTERHOUSE?

There was a time when the name of William de la Pole was familiar to most Hull people. They knew that he was the first Mayor of Hull, if nothing else. A statue of him, a fanciful Victorian image of a medieval gentleman, stood in the old Town Hall. In September 1901 the building was due to be demolished, so the statue was moved to a spot on King Edward Street. The Hull Daily Mail reported the move, and quoted from the inscription on the base the “fact” that William was the founder of the Charterhouse. That sparked several letters pointing out that this was inaccurate; the founder was William’s son Michael. The letter-writers were correct; but there is some truth in that inscription.

There appears to have been an almshouse or hospital in Hull by the 1340s; a document in the National Archives dated 17 Edward III (1343-4) gives James de Kyngestone, the king's clerk, permission “to grant a messuage in Hull to the warden of God's House there”. Nothing else is known about this. When William de la Pole retired from active business he received a royal licence, in 1354, to found a hospital for poor people. Its income was to come from the rent of lands in Myton and properties in Hull. The hospital was apparently founded, but in 1365, the year before his death, William decided to change his plan. He wanted it to be a convent for nuns of the order of St. Clare. The change was not implemented. The source for this is the 1378 document drawn up by William's son Michael on his foundation of a Carthusian Priory.

Whilst we continually revolve in our Mind, how our most dear Father and Lord William de la Pole, Knight, (now deceased) whilst he lived, by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit, first founded an Hospital for the Poor; and afterwards, out of greater Devotion, altering this, his Purpose, was resolved to erect at Kingston-upon-Hull, a certain Religious House of Nuns, or Poor Sisters Minoresses Regular, of the Order of St. Clare, for the Enlargement and Honour of the Church of England, and to the Intent that he might make Christ his Heir: And seeing our said Father left this World, when he had not yet completed what he intended to have endow'd; and having, before his Death, most strictly charg'd us, that we should take such Order concerning the said Building, as might tend both to its greater Security, and better promote the Ends of Piety, according to our own Will and Discretion.

This is already somewhat confusing. William founded a hospital then changed his mind, preferring a convent of Poor Clares, which he didn't live to see built. But was the hospital itself ever actually built? Michael decided that a Carthusian Priory was more to his taste than a convent, and it was to be “in one of our Messuages, without the Walls of the said Town of Kingston-upon-Hull”. He goes on to describe the exact situation.

...the said Messuage, with the Appurtenances, containing 7 Acres of Land, which formerly was a Parcel of the Manor of Myton, call'd La Maison Dieu, and which from this Time, we will should be called the House of St. Michael of the Order of Carthusians of Kingston-upon-Hull, as heretofore; together with a certain Chapel, built on the said Messuage; and all other Buildings standing thereupon, with all the Appurtenances whatsoever, as it is situated, within a certain Pitfall of Dame Katherine de la Pole, our most dear Mother towards the West; and a certain Hospital of ours, now called La Maison Dieu, facing the East; and a Trench of our aforesaid Mother towards the South; and the Land formerly belonging to Roger Swerde, towards the North.

So the Maison Dieu did exist; but Michael intended to replace it with a Priory. The implication is either that the hospital had never been occupied, or that it was to be closed. The founding document of Michael's own Maison Dieu, in 1384, makes the situation no clearer.

Sir William de la Pole, knight, lately, whilst he lived, moved of divine clemency, did purpose to found and establish near Kingston-upon-Hull, firstly a hospital for Minor priests, and poor people, then, altering subsequently his intention out of increased devoutness, a religious house for nuns or sisters, Minoresses Regular of the Order of St. Clare, and for certain poor people.

Yet he goes on to say that his new hospital will be “set up in two messuages of ours called the Maisondieu”.

We may never know. Michael de la Pole, 1^st Earl of Suffolk, rightly takes the credit for what we now call the Charterhouse, but the originator was his father William.