Noteworthy deaths

Residents of the Charterhouse (or "inmates" as they were called) are very seldom mentioned by name in the records.  Only the trouble-makers tend to be given that honour.  Even in the 19th century register we get only basic data, including date of death, with no further information (with one exception, as we shall see).  Of course, most people died of old age or illness; but it appears that they were of no interest as individuals to those in charge, even when their lives or deaths were remarkable.
It takes a trawl of local newspapers to discover the stories that the records omit.  There is no mention, for instance of John Cowen, despite his well-publicised legal battle to get back the right to vote when, in 1896, Charterhouse brethren were judged to be paupers and were deprived of it.  He was successful. at least temporarily, and when he died, in February 1897, at the age of 82, the funeral (the first part of which was held at the Charterhouse) was given a long write-up by the local paper.
Another resident who warranted an obituary was James Henry Wright, who died on 21 March 1904.  He had been a master shipwright and a leading light in the "Good Intention Society", a trade union for the profession to protect their prices from undercutting.  He had been involved in a famous strike by shipwrights in 1857.
The Hull Daily Mail devoted quite a few column inches to the life and death of Thomas Stainton Cartwright on 11 February 1939.  He was just 5 months short of his 100th birthday.  The minutes of the Charterhouse trustees don't mention him
We know of 5 residents who died in tragic circumstances in the 19th century.  The earliest was in February 1836.  An inquest was held into the death of Elizabeth Brown, an 81-year-old lady who apparently had dementia.  She had "escaped" from the Charterhouse and wandered as far as Anlaby Road, where she was found drowned in a drain.
In 1850 the death of John Jackson was certainly noteworthy for the press.  He was an interesting character - "notorious" according to the inquest report. For many years he was a "radical" bookseller, living and working in Bowlalley Lane. There are newspaper references to John "Radical" Jackson as early as the 1830s - his "stern republicanism" was referred to in a letter to the Hull Advertiser published on August 5, 1836. In 1833 he was jailed for non-payment of taxes, and he was in prison again in 1841.  His death was horrific.  The door to his room was forced when a fire was discovered; Jackson was found dead, sitting in his chair with his clothes burnt off, and the bed and curtains alight.
In 1875 there was another fire-related death.  Retired tailor John Odlin was found in his room with his head "under the grate" and badly burned.  The local paper thought it worth a mention; Charterhouse records did not.
Twenty years later Alice Booth also died of burns.  In February 1895 she brushed against the copper in the washroom.  The door in base of the copper which gave access to the fire which heated the water had been left ajar and Alice's clothes caught fire.  A window-cleaner put out the fire and Alice was treated for her burns at home before being admitted to hospital.  She lingered for two weeks before dying of her injuries.
There was another tragic death in the same year.  Our register records that Robert Brock, aged 81, died on 7 January 1895. But a note adds: "Presumably; body having been found in the Queen's Dock". Robert's death certificate and a letter tell us more of the sad story. 7 January was the date he went missing from the Charterhouse. Presumably there was a search; if there was, it was unsuccessful. On 26 January, and again on 30 January, it seems that the Master assumed he was dead and was writing to the the council's Charterhouse Applicants Committee asking them to fill Brock's vacant room. A letter survives from the Town Clerk in reply on 31 January saying that they were deferring a decision "in the hope that some news may be heard of Brock". His body was not found for more than two months; it was recovered from the dock on 15 March. There was an inquest, and the verdict was that he had drowned.

The Charterhouse organ

The organ in the Charterhouse chapel is being dismantled this week.  Work is under way to fix problems of damp in the building; floors have been taken up at the west end of the chapel, and shown to have been in a dangerous state.  Now it's the turn of the east end, and that means removing the organ.  It's a delicate operation on an illustrious instrument.
The first hint of an organ in the chapel came in 1900 in a small notice in the local paper.  The Master, William Hay Fea, had complained that the harmonium currently in use was "inharmonious" and an organ was needed.  It couldn't be afforded; but part of the agreement reached with the Charity Commission for a new scheme of governance in 1901 was that an organ would be provided when funds allowed.  It seems that plans were already in place.  The local firm of Forster and Andrews was commissioned and the new organ was ready for its debut in 1902.
Forster and Andrews was a prestigious firm which existed from 1843 to 1956, and built organs all over the world.  Strangely the Wikipedia entry on them lists dozens of organs but omits the three they built, or worked on, in their own city; the City Hall in 1911, the Minster (then Holy Trinity), an older organ which F & A worked on several times in the 19th century, and, of course, the Charterhouse.

In March 1905 the Hull Daily mail reported that "The Hull Charterhouse now has an organ", despite the fact that it was three years old.  What was new was a stop referred to in the article as a dulciana, labelled on the organ itself as a diapason.  This had been presented by the Hull Cycling Club, of which the Master, Fea, was president.  In January 1906 there was a concert in the chapel which included an organ recital.  It's in the report of this that we get the first mention of Ethel Murray, who sang a solo in the concert.  A book a [Two Centuries of Music in Hull by Norman Staveley, Hutton Press, 1999] describes her only as "a blind teacher of singing and the rehearsal conductor of the HLMU in 1902".  Ms Murray also led a choir which was paid a small sum to sing at services (then on Sunday afternoons) in the Charterhouse chapel.  We have no record of when she began this (although it seems to have been in 1902).  In July 1903 the Hull Daily Mail carried an advertisement for "choir singers" for the choir, though only altos, tenors and basses were required.  Ethel carried on until the place was evacuated and closed in 1941 after bomb damage.  In an unprecedented move the trustees awarded her a small pension for her service.  She died the following year aged 79.

Perhaps the strangest workout the organ has ever had came in March 2017, when a group called the Electro-Acoustic Ensemble gave a concert in the chapel.  It was music from a particular, non-melodic, modernist period which was not to everyone's taste but proved that the old instrument could cope with anything.
We now hope that the experts will be able to put all the pieces back together again and we can look forward to hearing our cherished organ again by Christmas.

UPDATE:  It was successfully rebuilt and is back in action.

Here it's being played by James Webb on Sunday 14 November 2021.

Curious Bench Book entries

In an earlier post we discussed the case of John Hailes who, in 1571, had his allowance from the Charterhouse withdrawn when he was given the post of bellman.  A few years later two more entries in the Bench Book raise questions.  [The Bench Books are the minute books of the bench of "magistrates", the Mayor and Aldermen who made up the ruling council of the town.]  I've modernised the spelling.

"Item the 14th of September 1581 the said Mayor and Aldermen did with one full consent and assent order and agree that Christopher Harrison keelman (for and in consideration that he is both aged and blind) shall towards his sustenance have paid him forth of the revenues of the Hospital called God's house weekly so long as he liveth 12d to begin of Saturday next.  And the same to be paid by the master of the same Hospital or his assigns for the time being, the which shall be allowed him at his Audit."
It is not at all clear what this means.  There is no mention of a room for Harrison, simply an allowance of 12d a week out of hospital funds.  Was Harrison unable to live in the Charterhouse because he needed care?  It seems to be a breach of the rules.
The second extract also concerns a blind man.  It was decided on 6 July 1583 that "[blank] wife unto Ralph [blank] being a blind man and one of the brethren [of God's House], respecting her husband's infirmity that she may be at hand to help the same: She shall be placed amongst the brethren of the said Hospital in the place of Richard Jackling deceased, and that only during the said husband's life and then to depart forth of the said house and no more to have the benefit of that place: And yet if it shall please God to call any of the Sisters out of this transitory life before the death of her said husband: Then it is ordered and agreed by the consent aforesaid that she shall be then admitted amongst the Sisters in the place of that sister that shall die / and that then in the place where she is now placed there shall be a man admitted / and that from henceforth there shall not be any woman admitted into or placed in the house of the brethren, but at all times hereafter when any of that house shall die, there shall be in that place a man admitted and no more any woman."
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is that Ralph (the minute-taker obviously didn't catch the surname) had a room in the hospital but was married.  We tend to assume that only the single or widowed were awarded places, since no couples were admitted.  Here, a huge concession was made in allowing Ralph's wife a men's room, in what was clearly a separate wing of the hospital, and she was to be removed to the female wing if a vacancy arose; should her husband die before her, she was out.  It was stressed that this was not to set a precedent.
These Bench Book entries are rare but valuable.
(Thanks to Helen Good for the transcriptions.)