A TALE FROM THE 17TH CENTURY

For most of the history of the Charterhouse the people who lived there are simply names, only recorded when they are given a place, or if they disgrace themselves in some way. However, a story emerges in some detail of two men who were part of turbulent times in the life of the hospital. Three Bench Book entries frame the tale but some detail is added by Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society, Vol VIII.  According to the latter source, on 28 October 1629 Joshua Marsh, a blind man,
      "was found vagrant and wandering in Hull streets.  In accordance with the cruel custom of the time he was whipped as a 'vagrant rogue' and sent to Marfleet, the place of his birth, with the pass which every beggar or wanderer had to have given him, as stated in the Statute.  A controversy arose as to which place should maintain him, for he had evidently resided in Hull for some time (the qualifying period, according to the Act, was three years).  It was referred to Sir Thomas Craven, Justice of the Assize, who ordered Hull to pay 12d. per week and Marfleet to maintain him, or vice versa.  Hull decided to pay the money, with 6d. per week awarded before, and Marfleet to keep him."

In 1635 another blind man, Ellerker Potts, was admitted to the Charterhouse. In March of that year the Bench Book records that “Ellerker Potts a blynd man shall have a place on the Olde mens hospital.” Potts was admitted at about the same time.

The two men would have been part of the exodus from the hospital in 1642. The siege of Hull by Royalist forces made the site not only dangerous but desirable to the Governor, John Hotham, as a place for a gun battery. So the inmates moved to a building owned by the foundation on Silver Street in the city, and the Charterhouse was demolished. We may assume that the residents attended Holy Trinity Church for their Sunday worship; and it was here that Potts and Ellerker came into contact with a new dissenting congregation, one of the many independent, nonconformist churches which were springing up all over the country and which later became part of the Congregationalist movement. The pair joined this church, a move which probably did not go down well with the new Master of the Charterhouse, William Stiles. A year later, in 1643, they both became Deacons in the church.

By 1649 the King had been deposed and executed and the Charterhouse was partially rebuilt. Perhaps it was the move back which prompted Potts and Marsh to indulge in matrimony. Their wives were apparently members of the same congregation. But this could not be tolerated. Only single or widowed people were admitted to the hospital. The Bench Book records that,

“Whereas Ellerker Potts & Joshua Marsh have each of them married a wife contrary to the orders of the God [sic] house hospitall whereof they are Brothers and have otherwise carried uncivily to this bench, it is this day ordered that their weekly allowance shall be no longer continued to them but from hence shall be suspended and Mr.Hoxley who payeth them is to have notes hereof given him from Mr. Maior.”

It is interesting to note that the Master did not at this time have the responsibility of paying the allowances. It must also be said that nothing further is recorded about the wives, although presumably they stayed with their husbands. But life with no money for food etc was not tenable, and Potts and Marsh were clearly not the type to take this lying down. They petitioned the Council of State, the executive arm of government set up by Cromwell. The dates are then confused by our two sources, but it appears to be in 1651 rather than 1657, as Transactions would have it, that a senior Alderman, Maccabeus Hollis, came to the Bench with a request that the allowances be re-instated, since they were both sorry for their offence. They were forgiven; but an order was issued making it clear that inmates of the Charterhouse were forbidden to marry.

Potts and Marsh were still recorded as members of their church in 1669, but died soon after.