Song of the Men of Hull

 The Victorians loved a good ceremony.  All sorts of events provided an excuse; visiting royalty, the opening of a new housing scheme, even the start of work on an infrastructure project could occasion a civic party with a band and a choir processing from the station or church or town hall.  So when the Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company, founded in 1880, cut the first sod to begin a new line between the two towns on 15 July 1881 there had to be an appropriate ceremony.  (It was 4 years before the railway was actually opened and didn't make it quite to Barnsley).

Step forward Henry Kemp, Master of the Charterhouse.  He wrote a poem, Song of the Men of Hull, in 8 stanzas, which was set to music by William Spark.

The medallion of Kemp on the front of the sheet music was, we are told, "executed by Mr Charles Mason, Hull, and presented by him to the Rev H W Kemp B.A."  Kemp was not known as a poet - not surprisingly.  But he did his best to get as much of Hull's history into the work as possible, including Michael de la Pole.  Unfortunately this meant that both the sheet music and the catalogue entry (below) had to go to great lengths to explain that history.  True to the title, it is all about great men.  No women were apparently involved.

I know of only two surviving copies of the song, but perhaps there are more languishing in piano stools or choir cupboards.

The music was the work of William Spark, a Leeds-based organist, composer and music teacher.  How the collaboration came about is not known.  As we see in the lengthy introduction, it starts off in 6:8 time.  Two choirs are then involved, a 3-part and a 4-part.  Perhaps these were intended to be the junior and senior members of a large church choir.  Each verse switches from 3-part to 4-part half way through, and switches rhythm from 6:8 to 2:4 as it does so.  

The event was reported by the Eastern Morning News in mind-numbing detail for those accustomed to watching such occasions on film.  There are two broadsheet pages of very small print unrelieved by pictures.  The full history of the railway company and its plans; the vast numbers of people taking part in the procession representing all aspects of the city's life; who conducted the ceremonies and how; all are described meticulously including the fact that there was a great deal of snowfall.  But one has to plough through to the last column of the first page to find the only mention of the song:  'The "Song of the Men of Hull" was then sung and the vast concourse dispersed"'.  That's it.  Who sang it, who wrote it, the article writer seems not to care.  It would seem that the song was not written especially for the occasion.  And to be fair, it is only the catalogue entry (above) which claims that it was.  The sheet music simply says it was sung then.  Maybe it was the fact that it was sung then which prompted Kemp to get Gough & Davy, Hull's long-lived music shop, to publish it (at the price of 3 shillings - about £10 in today's values, so hardly cheap).  But it was destined to sink into deserved obscurity.

Thanks to Steve Bramley and Andrae Sutherland for their considerable help with the research for this post.

Celebrations

On 5 January 1950, reported the Hull Daily Mail, the Charterhouse held its first ever Christmas party.

The writer is careful; "as far as can be ascertained from records".  But it was probably true.  Early records are patchy and say very little about the residents.  In the earliest phase of the hospital there was plenty of outdoor space for partying, but little, if any, communal space indoors apart from the chapel.  However, it is unlikely that any money would have been forthcoming for celebration meals or the like.  Little changed with the rebuilding of the later 17th century.  

Religious celebrations would have followed the pattern of those in the parish churches.  Before the Reformation, Christmas and Easter could have been exuberant affairs.  Much changed after the religious upheavals after that.  It is said that Cromwell abolished Christmas.  He didn't.  Nor did the Puritans abolish it, or not quite.  What they tried to abolish was the celebration of Christmas; it should be a time of fasting.  When John Shaw became Master of the newly-rebuilt Charterhouse in 1651 we can be sure that there were no unseemly celebrations of any kind.  Shaw was such an ardent Puritan that he was sacked from his job at Holy Trinity and eventually forced out of the Charterhouse.

Another complete rebuild in 1780 again failed to provide a meeting place for residents.  There was (and is) a very large garden behind the Master's house, but it was private and residents could use it only at the invitation of the Master.  

Not all celebrations need to be parties.  Often a gift will do.  The first celebratory gift to the residents that we know about was on 5 November 1608, in commemoration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot 3 years earlier.  This may well not have been a one-off, but it is the only time we know about.  Royal occasions were especially popular.  On 3 December 1841 inmates got 2s. each to celebrate the birth of Prince Albert Edward nearly a month earlier.  On 29 January 1858 the Hull Packet reported that the Mayor had “provided an excellent tea for the aged occupants of the Charterhouse” to celebrate the wedding of the Princess Royal to the Crown Prince of Prussia on 25^th January. They also got two shillings each (c.£6 today).  Since there was nowhere to hold such a tea in the Charterhouse it is possible that it was at the Town Hall, a temporary HQ for the Council in what had been the Mayor's own house).  And on 10 March 1863 inmates were each given 2/6 (around £10.50 in today's values) to celebrate the marriage of Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra.  Again, there may well have been other such occasions which were not recorded.  

There was something special about Christmas 1899.  On 21 December the Hull Daily Mail reported a generous gift from the Sheriff of Hull, amounting to about £780 in today's values.  Where this entertainment was held we don't know.  It's possible that a local church hall was hired.  

The next day the paper reported a more practical gift from the local MP (and there wasn't an election in the offing).  At the time a pound of tea cost about 1/7d, around £6.20 in today's values.

For more personal celebrations, particularly from the mid-19th century, there were always the local pubs.  The Charterhouse was surrounded by pubs; but they were patronised by men much more than by women.

The need for a hall of some kind at the Charterhouse had long been obvious, and was discussed from the early 1930s.  The surveyor, John Watson, had a definite site in mind, a patch of land at the western side of the complex facing the road.  But there was never any money.  Finally, late in 1938, the building of a "recreation room" was agreed and work began.  What was immediately known as the hall was completed in August 1939.  The timing was bad.  The RAF expressed an interest in commandeering it, but didn't go through with this. 

Inside, the hall very much resembles a school hall.  It has plenty of space in which chairs and tables can be set out; a stage with rooms behind it; and, essentially, a small kitchen.  But it was ten years before it could be used.  In 1941 the Charterhouse was evacuated and the buildings fell into disrepair,  It was re-opened after restoration in 1948.  In April 1949 the Chairman of the Trustees “gave a tea to the inmates ..... to commemorate the restoration and re-opening of the Charterhouse” - presumably in the hall, which was given the title of the Watson Hall after the surveyor who had done so much to bring it about.  

Celebrations have changed over the years.  It has been a while since residents put on their own shows, for instance.  But we know that the hall has been the scene of memorable occasions.  In 1977 there was evidently a meal to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of HM the Queen.

This photo is from the Hull Daily Mail.  

Recent social occasions have been rather muted affairs, with Covid 19 much on our minds.  Royal births and marriages no longer attract monetary gifts.  There is room for personal celebrations to be held in our own flats.  But maybe we can have a big "do" on the 73rd anniversary of that first Christmas party.

UPDATE June 2022

Since the end of Covid precautions the hall has been busy.  The latest celebration was to mark the Platinum Jubilee, 45 years after that 1977 photo.

It was a less decorous affair.  Times change.