When John Healey Bromby died in 1868 he was succeeded as Master of the Charterhouse by Henry William Kemp. At 47 Kemp was relatively young for the job. He was born in Thanet, Kent, in 1820 and had married Amy Maria Simons in 1847. They moved to Hull and Henry bought a house on Park Street which he turned into a "classical and commercial academy" with himself as principal. When his father Isaac died in 1863 Kemp sold the house, which he had called Thanet House, to the Hull Seamen's and General Orphan Asylum charity. The charity promptly knocked it down and rebuilt it. Like most other ambitious men of his time Kemp was an active Freemason. More importantly, he was the incumbent of St John's Church, the church which one of his predecessors as Master, Thomas Dikes, had built.
One of Henry Kemp's first concerns even before his appointment as Master was the reform of the system by which people applied for rooms in the Charterhouse. People wanting a room had to lobby each of the 56 councillors individually to get their support, and Kemp had spoken against this. Following an enquiry in 1869 an "Applicants Committee" of councillors and Aldermen was set up. The new system required would-be inmates to get a printed application form from the Town Hall. The committee would short-list 6 names, who would then be voted on in a full Council meeting.
As the waiting list grew so did the problem of evicted widows, and this became an increasing concern for Kemp. Although a few "widows' rooms" were built they were too few to solve the problem. Kemp suggested what seems the obvious solution - to let the widow take over her husband's room - but the committee did not even consider it. Other problems built up, and it is difficult to disentangle from the surviving records what Kemp's part in them was. The councillors seem to have left everything to him, then refused to get involved when he needed their intervention, until finally blaming him when the problems could not be ignored. The Applicants Committee functioned well enough but there was no other coherent oversight.
By 1879 there was sufficient disquiet among the councillors to prompt a Special Charities Committee meeting "to investigate various matters connected with the management of the Charter-House". One issue was so-called "back money". If someone was admitted to a room which had been vacant for a number of weeks, the new resident was entitled to the weekly allowance for those weeks. That could be a handsome bonus amount. But it had been customary for the costs of refurbishing the room to be taken out of that back money. However, it was asserted that some rooms, which were supposed to be repainted every three years, had not been touched for much longer than that. Other issues of payments which should have been made to residents but were not were raised, as well as a misuse of funds by Kemp. Neglect of the buildings were alleged, along with the pressing need for water closets. The committee was unsure of its powers in these matters and decided to study the documents and interrogate Kemp.
The reaction from Kemp was decisive - he'd had enough. He tendered his resignation, not only from the Mastership but from the ministry. His fellow clergy asked him to reconsider and on 25 July 1879 he was invited by the residents to a meeting in the garden (the only place, apart from the chapel, where such a meeting could be held). It was reported the next day in the Hull Times in such detail that we must suspect that the piece was written by Kemp himself:
"I suppose I have not in my life-time suffered more pain than I have during the last three months. I am quite willing to confess my shortcomings as a master. It may be that I have not seen quite so much of my brethren and sisters as they would have liked. But you know that I am of a somewhat sensitive and delicate turn of mind. I do not like to intrude upon people. I regard each one of your rooms as if it were your own castle. I take no liberty with you of any kind whatever. I do not interfere with your religious freedom in any way, and therefore I think that to a certain extent it was a fault of mine that you did not see so much of me as you might have wished, but in another point of view it was almost a virtue. It
arose out of my delicacy of feeling that you should have perfect liberty of action with respect to your religious professions. Now, of course, I made some practical mistakes. I am quite willing to confess I made a mistake about those coals. At the same time I did not put any money into my own pocket (cries of “No, no”) ................. For the last four years I have worked very hard for this hospital – (hear, hear) – although I have not worked where you might have wished, that is amongst yourselves in your own rooms – but in the management of the estate – and I may say that I have been very fortunate in the management, so fortunate that I thought I should have been able by this time to have increased your pay by at least 1s per week, and I think if I had done so you would have had no reason to be dissatisfied with my management of the hospital (cheers)."
The residents begged him to stay, and so Kemp withdrew his resignations. The Advisers Committee carried out an inspection and made recommendations. And then in March 1881 came the first hint of what was to be a remarkable act of philanthropy by William Thomas Dibb (see The Benefactor ) and resulted in 14 new rooms.
In 1886 Kemp was appointed to a canonry in York Minster; but there was a problem in that canons were normally holders of a Masters degree and Kemp was "only" a BA. So a testimonial was held for him and money raised from local luminaries to buy the degree and the robes needed for the ceremonies. The testimonial meeting, chaired by Sir Albert Rollitt at the Charterhouse, heaped praise on Kemp.
Henry Kemp died on 7 March 1888, of diabetes and gangrene of the foot. Two letters survive from Kemp's son which show one side of an interesting argument about a proposed memorial to him in the chapel. The family did not want one, insisting that their father would not have wanted the charity's money spent on such a thing. The councillors must have stated that it was established practice to install such memorials, because the son's response was to give in provided that there was no debate or disagreement about in the committee. The result is a large brass plaque which we know from later minutes to have cost £45.
