Pubs and publicans

 It might come as a surprise that the Charterhouse has owned a number of pubs in its history.  In 1822, for instance, there were 5.  The reason is simply that the lands bestowed on us by Michael de la Pole and his son became part of the port city which began its growth in the 18th century, and plots of valuable land were leased to what we would now call developers.  Pubs were profitable and the income from leases was very welcome.  The Church of England, along with the Roman Catholic church, has never had a problem with the sale and consumption of alcohol - in moderation, of course.

Among the oldest of the pubs on Charterhouse property was the Blue Bell Inn, close to the Minster.

It has its origins in the 17th century and is the only one of our pubs still in existence.  Jane Crake, who was admitted to a room in the Charterhouse in 1855, knew it well.  Her husband John was the licensee up to his death in 1841.  There is no record of Jane being the publican; another man is listed after John's time; but she is described as that on the 1851 census, and in our register.

The Charterhouse itself was very close to two pubs on land we own.  On the corner of Charterhouse Lane and Wincolmlee was the De La Pole Arms, leased in 1802, by Thomas Wilson.  

De La Pole Arms

Sun Inn

On the other side of the road, at the corner of Charterhouse Lane and Bourne St, was the Sun Inn.  Between them, these two establishments must have made hefty profits from the residents and been responsible for some of the evictions on the grounds of habitual drunkenness.  The Sun Inn was familiar to one resident, Ada Carver, for a different reason.  Her husband, John, was the licensee in 1911.  That fact must have helped her to get admitted in the 1930s.  

Both the De La Pole Arms and the Sun Inn were demolished in the 20th century.  Where the Sun stood there is now a patch of mature trees.

The original Grapes

Almost as close to us as the Sun Inn and the De La Pole Arms, although not on our property, was the Grapes on Sykes St.  In 1871 and 1881 the publican was John Brigham Salvidge.  He retired to a room in the Charterhouse in March 1894.  In the 1930s the building was replaced by a new pub, which was later renamed, imaginatively, the Charterhouse (causing some confusion to the postmen).  It closed in the 2010s and is now a hostel.

Quite a few Charterhouse residents were formerly publicans.  I've found some, but there will be more with names too common to research.  Hannah Grant, who was admitted in 1840, is listed in the directories of 1829 and 1834 as licensee of the Unicorn on Salthouse Lane.  Very little is known about this pub.  Equally obscure is the inn which was apparently run by William Addey.  On the 1861 census he is described as an innkeeper and lived in Queen St - where there were no pubs.  He entered the Charterhouse in 1880, and on the 1891 census his occupation as "retired publican".

John Bardsley was the licensee of the Rose & Crown Inn at 5 Blackfriargate in 1881 but went on to describe himself as a retired manufacture of mineral water.

William Hird was licensee of, first, the Coach & Horses on Mytongate.  He gave that up in 1830 and took on the Crown and Cushion which was situated on the junction between Silver St and the Land of Green Ginger.  Hird and his wife Martha Knowles were born in Lincolnshire; their 14-year-old son William died "after much suffering, borne with extraordinary patience" in 1843.  The couple were still there in 1851, but ten years later they were in Aldbrough running a board and lodging house.  Two years later they entered the Charterhouse.  William died in 1864, Martha three years later.

John Cribb was born c. 1795 on the Isle of Wight but he was in Hull by 1830 and by 1834 was a beer retailer in Air St.  The 1830 Beerhouse Act had liberalised the law so that beer and ale could be brewed and sold from domestic premises, and Cribb's home in Air St was listed as a beerhouse in 1838.  By 1842 this had become the Tanner's Arms and Cribb was listed as an ale and porter dealer.  Like many other publicans John Cribb didn't rely on the pub trade for his livelihood; he also worked as a tanner, and the name he gave his pub surely reflects that.  From 1859 to 1869 he had the licence of the White Swan in Wincolmlee, but perhaps that didn't work out because on the 1871 census he was described as a tanner.  He was admitted to the Charterhouse in 1873 and died in 1881.

George Coggrave is more elusive.  He was born in Howden c. 1806 and at some point before 1856 he had the licence of the Full Measure in Lower Union St; it was transferred from him in that year.  On the 1861 census he is a licensed victualler living in Vincent St but of which pub or where is unknown.  In 1871 he was an unemployed barman.  He entered the Charterhouse with his wife Emily in 1874 and died in 1880.

The Bean

Christopher Hewson was a sailmaker for most of his life, but in 1881 we find him living at 17 Bean St with his wife and a servant, running The Bean.  (This is it today, a later incarnation).  As with so many others it was a temporary break from his real business.  He was back to sail-making by 1891.  He was admitted to the Charterhouse in 1901.

King William IV

We have a fuller history of Robert Fewster, who combined being a builder and joiner, employing 7 people at one point, with running the King William IV in Bond St.  But he went bankrupt twice and lost the pub for good.  He entered the Charterhouse in 1874.

Ship & Plough

Another who dabbled in pub management was William Duffield Hardy.  Born in Bishop Burton in 1823, he became a tailor in Hull, described in 1870 as a "clothier of Lowgate".  By 1881 he was a Master Tailor employing three "hands".  But in 1873 he took over the licence of the Ship and Plough on Salthouse Lane.  We don't know how long he kept it, or whether he took an active role in its management.  Hardy married his housekeeper, 16 years his junior, in 1882 and by 1891 he seems to have retired as a tailor while his wife is described as a tailoress.  He entered the Charterhouse in 1892 and died 4 years later.

A surprising pub landlord was James Henry Wright; surprising because he was prominent as a Master Shipwright at the same time.  Born in 1828 in Kent, he made his career in Hull and became a leading light in the Good Intention Society, a shipwrights' trade union founded in 1824.  It regulated wages and ensured that the master shipwrights didn't undercut each other in bidding for work.  The owners fought against it and tried to defeat a strike in 1857 by bringing in labour from other ports.  Although Wright must have been a busy man, by 1871 he was publican of the King's Arms on Witham, although he lived on Princess St.  The census described his as Publican and shipwright.  

King's Arms

It's not clear how long he kept the licence of the pub, but it closed in around 1902, which fits with Wright's admission to the Charterhouse in 1903.

Another who tried combining pub management with another career was Samuel Morton.  Born in Leicester in 1837, by 1871 he was living in Hull and working as an iron moulder.  Ten years later he was the licensee of the Grapes Inn on Lime Street, and living with his family on the premises.  We don't know how long that lasted, but by 1891 he was back working as an iron moulder, and stuck with that until entering the Charterhouse in 1907.

Grapes Inn, Lime St

Next there is Joseph Jennings.  In 1891 he describes himself as a publican and lives at 24 King St.  But we can't find his pub there.  

Rose & Crown, West St.

The 1892 Bulmer's Directory has him as the victualler of the Rose & Crown on West St.  Jennings became a Charterhouse resident in 1874.

Richard Purdon had a chequered history.  He was born c.1790 in Wilberfoss.  On the 1841 census he was in the Hull Borough Gaol.  Ten years later, married to Harriet, he was a labourer living in Temperance St.  The 1861 census record is lost, but he entered the Charterhouse in 1864.  When he died, in 1867, the death notice in the local paper said he was "formerly of the King's Head Inn, Mytongate".  

Samuel Ripley's venture into the pub trade was just as brief.  He was born in Kirkstall c.1821 and married Eliza.  For most of his working life he was a "forge hammerman" (by 1891 that became a "forge steam hammerman") but on the 1881 census he was a licensed victualler.  In July 1887 the local paper published the routine list of the transfer of pub licenses, and this tells us that Ripley had been the licensee of the Founder's Arms on Drainside.  He entered the Charterhouse in 1895.

Samuel Cheeseman was licensee of two pubs, one after the other.  He was born in 1850 and followed his father's trade as a twine spinner before becoming the "hotel keeper" of the Granby Hotel on Wellington St at some point in the 1880s.

Granby Hotel

By 1901 he had moved on to running the Brittannia Hotel on Mytongate.

  By 1901 he had retired.  He was admitted to the Charterhouse in March 1913.  Interestingly, Samuel's mother. Isabella, had also been a resident, dying in 1909 aged 90.  Samuel died in January 1922.

Greenland Fishery, Church St

John Coultas was born in Blacktoft near Goole in 1808 and became a tile maker in Goxhill, Lincolnshire, before coming to Hull and taking on the license of the Greenland Fishery on Church St.  There were several pubs of that name in the city.  John stayed there until at least 1871.  He became a Charterhouse resident in June 1879 and died in October 1882.

William Arthur Hodgson, born in 1862, was a cabinet maker for most of his life but went bankrupt in 1901.  Five years later he took up the license of the Yorkshire Arms on Witham and was there until the pub closed at the end of 1912.  He and his wife were living on Russell St in 1934 and entered the Charterhouse some time between then and 1939,

Robert Carrick, in a surprising career change, was a pub licensee for only 5 years.  He was an East Riding man, born in Lelley near Preston in 1802.  He lived in Preston until the 1860s working as a farm overseer and bailiff, before moving to Prince St in Hull.  In 1870 he took over the license of the Spread Eagle in Lime St and held it until 1875.  Three years later he was admitted to the Charterhouse.