The right to vote

On 22  May 1780 the Master of the Charterhouse, John Bourne, was ordered by the Aldermen "to leave them [the inmates] to their own free election of members to serve in Parliament".  The timing is rather odd; the general election was not held until the Autumn of 1780.  But most interesting is the fact that there were any residents who were entitled to vote.
Hull, in common with only a few constituencies around the country, had a "freemen" electorate rather than using the usual property qualification.  One could become a freeman in a number of ways, including inheriting or buying the privilege, or gaining status as a tradesman - the route presumably taken by a few Charterhouse brethren.  It meant that, in Hull, around 1,200 men had the vote.  That made it very expensive for the candidates, who had to pay to transport their potential voters to York, where the poll was held, and to bribe them (illegally, of course).  The vote was public.  The 1780 election resulted in William Wilberforce becoming Hull's MP.

Sir William St Quintin

The first reference to Charterhouse voters comes as early as a report by Matthew Bolton in 1716.

One candidate in the 1713 election was Sir William St Quintin . -------- "A poor old man - more than 80 years - residing in a miserable room, two pair back in a House in Munk Gate Ally, was ask'd by St Quintin and Maister's partie for his Vote. which he would not Promise to give; and on St Quintin being tould that his Personal appliemente might be of service, he took the opportune of going to see him. On finding the old man St Quintin said, "Well, my worthie friend, I want your Vote." The man looked at St Quintin thro' his Specktackle glasses and said, "You want my Vote, is that the ways you come to ask a Favor, I shan't give you it - that's flat." "Why not?" said St Quintin, "it would be better for you if you did, and I will tell you why. A Vacance is verie likelie to take place, I hear, in the Charter-House; now if you choose to do me a Favor I'll do one for you, for I'll get you the Room when the Inmate dies." The old man looked at Sir William thro' his Spectacles and said, "Mayster Quintum, I'm an aude man, and I feelit will be verie likelie the last Vote I shall iver give; I ha beene of opsit Principels to yours all the days of my Life, and what little Time itte plesith God for me to Live, so I shall Remain. A Charter House room to me would be a great Boon ------ " But he refused to give St Quintin his vote. The candidate was so impressed that he gave him a guinea and told him that he would send his carriage to take him to the poll so that he could vote for the other candidate, Daniel Hoare; and on polling day he did just that. The story concludes: ------ Let me give Sir William St Quintin credit for the following; a Room in the Charter-House became Vacant in about 2 months after the Election, and the poor old man became its Inmate, but onlie for a verie shorte Time, as in about another Month he entered that Bourne from which no Traveller returns!!!" 

The Reform Act of 1832 changed the situation.  No more freemen were created, but those who remained kept their entitlement.  As they died off one would expect that Charterhouse men would be ineligible to vote.  There were still freemen, however, by the middle of the century.  The 1852 election which saw the Liberals James Clay and Lord Goderich returned for Hull was so blatantly corrupt that an enquiry was launched.  Among those giving evidence were freemen of the Charterhouse.  The Hull Advertiser, reporting on the process in April 1853, included the testimony of Anne Loft, wife of Benjamin Loft: "My husband is too infirm to come.  He is in the Charter-house.  He is a freeman.  He voted Clay and Thompson and I received 30s for him.  At the last election he voted Clay and Goderich, but did not get any money."  Incidentally, the Conservative agent in the 1852 election was Richard Mitchell, a hairdresser, who, 15 years later, became a resident of the Charterhouse himself.  Politics seem to have played a part in a number of admissions.

 When there were no more freemen it was successfully argued, through two more Reform Acts in 1867 and 1881, that the men of the Charterhouse fulfilled the property qualification.  The lands with which the founder had endowed the hospital were still owned in the name of "the Master, Brethren and Sisters of the Charterhouse" and it was accepted that this made the men property owners.  This lasted until 1896, when a legal objection was raised by the Liberals.  These men were, it was argued, disqualified on the basis that they were paupers.  If this was accepted, the men of the Charterhouse would, at a stroke, have lost their right to vote.  The decision would also affect the residents of Trinity House.  One resident, John Cowen, refused to accept this.  He had been involved in politics all his life, as an agent and organiser, and he knew his way round the system.  He took his case to the Revision of Voters' Lists hearing - but the barrister ruled against him.  Cowen appealed, but a year later, after an initial decision to confirm the ruling, it was overturned and voting rights were restored.  Cowen died in February 1897.  Later that year the original decision, disenfranchising the Charterhouse men, was confirmed and they had to wait until 1918.  The women, of course, did not fulfil the property qualification in the 1918 Act and had to wait until 1928.

On 26 November 1923 there was a by-election in the Hull Central constituency where the Charterhouse was situated.  The sitting MP, Joseph Kenworthy, had been a Liberal but crossed the floor to join Labour and resigned to fight a by-election.  The Hull Daily Mail ran a story about "The 'Father' of the Charterhouse":

"By half past ten between six and seven hundred people had polled at Scott Street station, representing what one official described as 'a hundred per cent poll'.  The Scott Street station was also the centre for members of the Charterhouse where election enthusiasm has been more than usually keen.  During the campaign the old people have had an opportunity of hearing all three candidates, and there have been some keen debates on the merits and de-merits of the various parties.  The majority of the old people support either the Liberals or Conservatives, but a few of the younger men and women have expressed themselves in favour of the Socialists.  Arrangements had been made for the old people who were able to votes to be conveyed to Scott Street by motor-car, and as early as half past nine, some of them had made the trip to the polling booth.  The oldest member of the Charterhouse to register his vote was Mr William Hakney [should be Hakeney] who is ninety years of age."

Kenworthy won.

The right to vote was hard-won, and residents still cherish that right.

Bring up the bodies?

"It is known that several of the de la Poles sought burial in the Charterhouse (which effectively became the family’s northern mausoleum). Sir William de la Pole (died 1366) and his wife Katherine (died 1381) were buried beneath the high altar in the priory church and their son Michael, 1st Earl of Suffolk and his wife Katherine in the chancel."  So says John Cook, writing in 1882.  What happened to the graves of such an illustrious family?

The priory was closed in 1539.  Writing in the early 1540s, John Leland reported (in his Itineraries),"The Charter House of the De la Poles foundation, and an Hospital of their Foundation standing by it, is without the North Gate. The Hospital standeth. Certain of the De la Poles were buried in this Carthusian Monastery: and at the late suppressing of it were found divers troughs of Lead with Bones in a Vault under the High Altar there. Most part of this Monastery was builded with Brick, as the Residue of the Buildings of Hull for the most part be."  [spelling modernised]  The lead coffins indicate high status burials.  But what happened to these coffins?  No one knows.

Carthusians have always buried their own dead without coffins, usually in the cloister garth.  This is consistent with what was found in the early 19th century, when the land which once belonged to the Priory was developed into what is now Sykes Street.  On 3 June 1809 the Hull Advertiser reported that human skeletons had been found, oriented east - west, and that "masses of wall of immense thickness" were discovered when digging for the foundations of new houses.  The skeletons were no doubt those of the monks who had lived and died in the Priory.  But, like the aristocratic remains found many years before, they appear to have been discarded.  Archaeology had not yet developed as a science, and no plans were made of the site.  Perhaps before any future redevelopment of the area there will be an attempt to excavate it properly.

John Hailes, bellman

From the Bench Book, 1571

[In the margin] John hailes appointed to be bell man. & the annuitie he haithe of the hospitall to Sease.
Item the day and yeare abovesaid the said maior & aldermen did give and bestowe the office of the Bell man to John Hailes he to enter to yt at michelmas next. And that from thensfourthe the xls whiche he haithe yerely of benevolence paied him by the maister of the Hospitall shall be paied him no more for that the said office is thought to be a competent Lyvinge for him. (Transcription by Helen Good.)

John Hailes is the first named inmate of the Charterhouse in the records - perhaps.  The 1571 Bench Book is the first to mention the hospital at all, and doesn't call it the Charterhouse, probably because at that stage, only 32 years after the dissolution of the priory, the term was not routinely applied to the hospital.  We can be confident, however, that it's Michael de la Pole's foundation which is referred to.  The only rival at this time, the Trinity House almshouse, was not under the control of the Mayor and Aldermen.

This short paragraph presents us with several unanswered questions.  John Hailes has an annuity from the hospital; can we be sure that he is an inmate?  There was no provision in the founding document to pay an allowance to anyone who didn't have a room in the hospital, so we must assume that he is.  And that allowance was 40 shillings a year.  Presumably he had been awarded his place because he qualified as "aged poor".  Yet here he is being given a job which carried pay of at least 40s.  Did the withdrawal of his allowance also mean that he lost his room in the hospital?
What was a bellman?  (The clerk wrote the term, twice, as two words rather than one, but that seems irrelevant.)  It was unlikely to have been simply the task of ringing a bell to mark the time at the hospital for services.  That would not have carried a salary as large as the inmates' allowances, and it probably would not have required the endorsement of the Mayor and Aldermen.  There are two possibilities in this period.  A "bellman" could be either a town crier or a night watchman.  The second seems more likely.  As with all these questions we can't be sure, but for centuries the job of patrolling the streets of a town at night was given to elderly men.  In the days before police forces the watchmen would carry a bell (and later a whistle) to alert householders to trouble.  Was this John Hailes' new job?
Despite the questions, John Hailes has the honour of being the earliest named beneficiary of Michael de la Pole's foundation.

The Charterhouse Register

Until 2017 a thick, leather-bound volume was locked in a safe in the Charterhouse office.  It was transcribed last year, and is now archived at the Hull History Centre.  It is a precious document, not only for its list of a thousand or so names of residents over nearly a century, but also for its incidental insights into their lives
The register's neat columns are inconsistent in the information they contain.  First comes the entry number, then the date of "appointment".  This is the date on which the inmate was officially awarded a place; not everyone actually moved in.  The room number comes next and the inmate's name follows, with their age.  Next is the "cause of removal", often left empty but occasionally with intriguing comments; then the date of death, again sometimes empty, the age at death and, finally, the date of birth (again often empty).
Anyone looking through this volume from its start is puzzled at the first clutch of entries.  The dates of admission seem random, and the ages at admission out of keeping with the Charterhouse's rules.  These people were admitted far too young in some cases.  Only the dates of death are sequential, and these begin in the 1830s.  My earlier researches shed light on this.  During the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Aldermen of the City of Hull had corrupted the hospital to the extent that they took it in turns to nominate people to a place and disregarded the rules.  They appointed people who were well under 60, or were their retired servants, or to whom they owed a favour.  This was not a secret.  In 1833 Thomas White produced a detailed list of residents showing the facts of their admission and their circumstances.  It was the shake-up of local government in the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act which stopped the worst of the corruption, with a wholly new Corporation elected.  In 1836 some kind of investigation took place.  A list was compiled, very similar to that of White, which inspectors went through and commented on after talking to the inmates.  It is this list which forms the beginning of our register.  Presumably a fresh start was demanded, and the register was to be evidence of it.  It was maintained until the early 1920s, when it seems to have fizzled out.  There is a new register these days.
It takes further research to discover that the original register is not a full list.  The censuses show that wives of male inmates are frequently not recorded.  The room was awarded to the man, and his wife was usually evicted if he died before her.  In one instance we found, the wife of Richard Saxby was living with him in the Charterhouse on the census but is only recorded as admitted in her own right some time after his death; she had probably been living, unrecorded, in what was known as a "widow's room".  Mary Ann Miller was evicted after her husband Thomas died in 1888, having been in the house for only three months.  She had to wait for seven years to be admitted again.
The room numbers are meaningless now.  The 19th century buildings have been replaced and the rest of the accommodation has been converted into flats.  It is impossible to say now even in which building the inmate's room was.
The cause of "removal" was usually death, and there is rarely any information about the death.  We know from newspaper reports of three residents who died in fires, but this is not mentioned.  A very early newspaper item of 1836 recounts the inquest on the death of Elizabeth Brown, a Charterhouse resident and dementia sufferer who was found drowned in a ditch.  She does not appear in the register at all, and was probably the wife of an inmate.  One entry, on the death of Robert Brock on 7 January 1895, demanded further research.  The note says, "Presumably, body having been found in the Queen's Dock".  His death certificate reveals that Brock's body was not found until March, so it was presumed at an inquest that he had died on the day he went missing.
Some removals are for "misconduct".  We can assume that this often means drunkenness, although that is only specified for three evictions.  Towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th people were removed to the asylum (the mental hospital at Willerby) or to the workhouse infirmary when they could no longer look after themselves.
Several names appear in the list of people who never took up the room they were awarded.  Usually this was because while on the waiting list they had found a place in another hospital.  In 1890, "It was found that Wm Jones when elected had been some time dead"
The register has been a great help to people researching their family history.  It also provides glimpses into the lives of those fortunate enough to be granted a place in the Charterhouse and the allowance that went with it.
NB A recently published transcript of the register was not done under the auspices of the Charterhouse, and contains some errors.  Free information can be had by contacting the Master or via our Facebook page.

The founding charter

The founding document of the Hull Charterhouse

Translated by John Cook, 1882

To all and singular the faithful people of Christ, Michael de la Pole, knight, lord of Wyngefeld, wisheth eternal salvation in the Lord. Forasmuch as human frailty or power sufficeth not to worthily repay for all the benefits received from Him, the Lord who giveth liberally, yet He of grace permits to be returned to Him what he hath bestowed, so that human virtue cannot more fitly thank the Creator than by restoring to Him something of what He hath plentifully given, and bestowing in charity upon His members part of one’s earthly goods; and forasmuch as we bear in mind that our most dear and memorable lord and father, Sir William de la Pole, knight, lately, whilst he lived, moved of divine clemency, did purpose to found and establish near Kingston-upon-Hull, firstly a hospital for Minor priests, and poor people, then, altering subsequently his intention out of increased devoutness, a religious house for nuns or sisters, Minoresses Regular of the Order of St. Clare, and for certain poor people, but died before he could complete this his devout purpose; therefore, We, desiring to fully effectuate the same as in his lifetime he requested us, yet changing in part his plan, with the license of our lord Richard, King of England and France, and Edward, late King, and of all others whose consent, in this behalf is requisite, have founded and made near the said town of Kingston, in the place first ordained by our said father, a religious house for monks of the Carthusian Order, instead of the said nuns, or sisters, and have so endowed the same, that God willing, it shall endure throughout all ages: And we being willing, moreover, to establish there a number of poor people according to the first intention of our said father, have, to the honour of God, the most glorious Virgin Mary his mother, the blessed Michael the Archangel, all Archangels, and holy spirits, the blessed Thomas the Martyr, late Archbishop of Canterbury, and other holy ones of God, by the license and consent aforesaid, founded and built, and by these presents do found, make, and set up in two messuages of ours called the Maisondieu, in Miton, next the priory of the said Carthusian house on the east part, near the said town of Kingston-upon-Hull, containing an acre and a half of ground, a certain house or hospital for thirteen poor men and thirteen poor women, feeble or old; which house or hospital we will to be called God’s House of Hull, and, like the Carthusian house, to last forever: And we place, establish, constitute and ordain, in the said house or hospital, under the rules and limitations below written, thirteen poor men and thirteen poor women, brothers and sisters of the same house, so long as they are necessitous; over whom we make, and by the tenor of these presents appoint Sir Richard de Killum, priest, master and warden from now; Willing and decreeing that every person who shall become master there after him, shall also have taken priest’s orders, and be of the age of thirty years and more, and there continually keep personal residence, under obedience to whom the rest of the poor people as well brothers and sisters shall continue and be in perpetuity: That the said master have a dwelling by himself within or near the said house, and that by the prudence and discretion of the master for the time being, all things to be done both within and without, as well for ruling and increasing the possessions, as for directing and teaching the brothers and sisters, shall be regulated; which master immediately after that by us or our heirs, or in case of the negligence of us or our heirs by the several persons in the order hereinafter nominated, he has by our or their letters patent been appointed to the rule of the said hospital, shall, without any other admission or question of any ordinary, have the administration of all the goods of the said hospital, and them lawfully administer, distribute and control, according to the rules and regulations hereinafter written, and shall receive of the said house for the keeping up of his position, as well for food as clothing, £10 sterling every year at the terms of St. Michael, the Birth of Our Lord, Easter, and the nativity of St. John the Baptist; and when absent on the necessary business of the house he shall be allowed reasonable expenses for a moderate time; and he shall be bound to celebrate mass every day in one of the chapels of the said house, when thereto able, and not absent on arduous affairs of the house, or otherwise legitimately hindered, in which cases he shall provide at the expense of the house for the same to be celebrated during his absence by another proper chaplain: We also ordain that each one of the said poor people, as far as conveniently possible, have leisure to attend every day before dinner in the church for prayer and service, and after dinner resort to some honest occupation; and that the said poor people do, in all their prayers and services, specially recommend the state of our said lord King Richard and this kingdom, and our own state, and the state of our children, Michael, John, Thomas, William, Richard, Anne and Margaret, and of our brother Edmund de la Pole, knight, and of our sister Margaret de Nevill, and of Sir John de Waltham, clerk, and of Robert and John, and of all our benefactors, and of all others to whom we be bound, whilst we live: And that the said poor people do daily specially pray for the soul of our said lord King Richard, and for our own soul when we are departed this life, and for the souls of Sir William de la Pole, our father, Katherine, our mother, Katherine, our wife, Walter and Thomas, our brothers, Katherine and Blanche, our sisters, and also John, and John, and the souls of all faithful ones departed: And the said master shall pay to each one of the said poor people forty shillings annually for all their necessaries as well food as clothing, namely to every one of them 8d. per week, and the rest of the said forty shillings to each one yearly at the four terms aforesaid by equal portions: We enact also that on the master or any of the brothers or sisters dying or leaving or being removed from the house at any future time, we, during our life, and, after our death, our heirs, lords of the manor of Miton, if they be of full age, shall put another suitable person in the place of the one so dying, leaving or being removed: And if we, our heirs aforesaid, being negligent or slack in this matter, do in the future fail for one month after the decease, departure or removal of the master, or of any of the brothers or sisters aforesaid, to appoint or substitute another in his or her place, or if our heirs be under the age of 21 years, the prior for the time being of our Carthusian house of Kingston-upon-Hull within fifteen days after the lapse of such month, and after the lapse of those fifteen days the mayor for the time being of the town of Hull within other fifteen days thence immediately following, and, after the lapse, without the vacancy being supplied by any of the foregoing, then, within another fifteen days immediately following, the Archdeacon of the East Riding, in the church of York, or, in his absence, his officer, shall successively, each one in his proper turn, by his letter patent only without question of any ordinary or superior, or any further form or process of law, substitute and appoint suitable persons in the places of those so dead, departed or removed as aforesaid, against which appointment there shall be no appeal; yet all this shall be without prejudice to us or our heirs, when, on any future occasion, we shall not be negligent nor they negligent nor within age. And for securing proper care of things, the master of the said house shall every year, if it be needful, show the state of the house, and the receipts and expenses thereof, carefully computed calculated and accounted for upon his oath, before four of the maturer and more experienced persons of the said house, annually selected for such purpose by all the brethren and sisters of the said house, in the presence of some one by us or our heirs, or in the case our heirs are negligent or under age, by the prior, mayor or archdeacon aforesaid specially delegated for that duty; and if anything beyond the necessary expenses of the said house, and of the master, brethren and sisters aforesaid, shall remain in the hands of the master at the end of any year, such surplus shall be securely placed in the treasury of the said house for the general benefit of all the said brethren and sisters for use in any emergency. Provided that if the master be absent fifteen days from the said house or hospital and not upon its business, or shall not make payment to the said poor people as herein-before required, but, on the contrary, shall fail in making payment for three days after that he has been asked so to do by the said poor or any of them; or has openly violated that statutes of the said house or hospital, or committed any other grave fault, thereof being convicted upon the evidence of three or four of the brethren or other trustworthy persons; or otherwise be insufficient or incapable in the administration of the goods or government of the hospital, he may thereupon by us or our heirs, or in default of us or our heirs, or if our heirs be minors, then by the prior, mayor, and archdeacon aforesaid in order as above given them, be wholly removed from his said office and administration without need of any process in law; and let the same be observed amongst the said poor people offending in any way against our present ordinances, saving that the master for the time being shall always have the first right to punish or remove the poor people. We enact, moreover, that every master, brother and sister of the said house or hospital shall, on admission, make corporal oath to faithfully observe to the utmost of his or her ability these statutes and ordinances: We also ordain and provide that against the sudden necessities or unprosperous times that may happen, a chest be made and kept in the treasury of the said priory wherein we wish to be and have verily placed One hundred pounds of money, under the care and written acknowledgement of the said master, prior and mayor, for the common benefit of the said master and poor in any emergency; until when such sum may be lent out on sufficient security in the discretion of the said prior and mayor, but we ordain that whenever the principal shall come in, it shall be at once replaced in the said chest: We have given and granted, and with the license and consent of our said lord king Richard, and of all others whom it may concern, Do give and grant, and by these letters confirm unto the said master, brethren and sisters, the aforesaid messuages for their dwelling or foundation or endowment, and five other messuages with the appurtenances in the aforesaid town of Kyngeston-upon-Hull, and one messuage and four oxgangs of arable land, four acres of meadow, and ten acres of pasture, with their appurtenances, in Cotyngham, to have and to hold unto the said master, brethren and sisters, and their successors, of the chief lords of the fees by the services therefor due and accustomed for ever: And we, the aforesaid Michael and our heirs, will for ever warrant and defend unto the said master, brethren and sisters, the aforesaid messuages, land, meadow and pasture, with their appurtenances, against all people whomsoever: We especially reserve to ourselves and our heirs power to increase or lessen this ordinance, and to make any new ordinance as often as necessary for the better rule and greater stability or security of the said house or hospital: In witness whereof we have caused these our letters patent to be made, These being witnesses, the venerable prelate, Alexander, Archbishop of York, primate of England; Henry de Percy, earl of Northumberland; Thomas de Sutton, Robert de Hilton, Walter de Fauconbergh, knights; John de Demylton, mayor of the said town of Hull; Walter Frost, Robert de Selby, Robert del Cross, and others; Given at Hull on the first day of March in the seventh year of the reign of the said king Richard.

John Shawe - in his own words

John Shawe is the only Master of the Charterhouse to have left us his own account of his time in the role.  In 1663-4 he wrote a memoir of his life for his son which includes interesting details of the decade he spent there.  The original memoir has been lost, but a copy was published in 1882, along with copious notes, edited by Rev J R Boyle.  I have extracted the relevant sections.
Memoirs of Master John Shawe, a sometime Vicar of Rotherham, Minister of St. Mary's, Lecturer of Holy Trinity Church, and Master of the Charterhouse at Kingston-upon-Hull.  Written by himself in the year 1663-4.  Edited by the Rev. J.R. Boyle.
-- In the same year, 1653 [should be 1651 - ed] I was made Master of the Charter-house (or hospital called God's house) near Kingstone-upon-Hull, by the grant of the Maior and Aldermen of Hull, under their hands and common seal (which place was promised to me, at my first coming to Hull, in 1644, and I think was unjustly detained from me so long, and I as unjustly removed from it now; to which I think I have still right (as well as I have seal and their grant) both in law and in conscience).  At my first admission to be master of the Charter-house, I found the house in £100 debt; I found no money to begin withall, and but about 12 poor people belonging to it, (tho' by de la Poole's [sic] foundation, 26 ought to be maintained thereby).  I observed that by the Duke of Suffolk, Michael de la Poole's foundation (for he was the Founder and donor thereto) there did belong only ten pounds per annum, and a house to the master; but the former masters had taken all the fines (when any leases of lands belonging to the poor of the Charter-house were let) to themselves, which fines were a great part of the revenew; and so came the house thereby partly, to be in such debt, when I came to it; I considered that I had not that temptation of want that others had, and that by the foundation only £10 per annum belonged to the master; and that the fines were belonging of right to the poor, as well as the rents; I resolved, therefore, that no penny of the fines should ever be taken by me, or ever cleave to me or my posterity, (nay, most part of my ten pounds a yeare I gave to the poor, one way or another), for I naturally (gnesios, Phil.2:20) cared for those poor, took great delight in their well doing, and had more care of their revennues than of my own estate; so that, within 7 years (of the 9 years) that I continued master of the Charter-house, (where I dwelt, and still preached at the High Church in Hull as before), I paid the £100 debt, and encreased the number of the poor to 40 persons; I encreased the weekly pay of every one of the poor more than formerly it had been; I encreased also all their extraordinary pay, at certain times in the yeare; I laid out about six hundred pound in building (or adding to the buildings of the Charter-house); so that I made it as handsome a habitation, as any minister had in the north of England; and when I came away (not renouncing my title thereto) I made my accounts, and left with the Maior (Mr. Crowle) and the Aldermen, for the use of the poor, 253 pounds, and some odd moneys, for which I have their receipt, and if I had continued but 4 or 5 years master there more, I could well have maintained a hundred poor people, but what will now become of their revenue, the wise God only knows, (the good Lord, who is the father of the poore, provide for, preserve and blesse the poor of that house!).  I caused to be writ in great letters, on some part of the inside of the Charter-house, which I had built, for a memorial to my successor (who I wish had been better) these verses, which I think are there still
Successor dear, if thou dost here / A fair house find, built to thy mind, / without thy cost, / Serve God the more, care for these poore; / Seek their true good, both soul and foods, / No labours lost
Recollecting the names of the four last masters of the Charter-house before me, (for I could recover no more), I caused likewise to be there writ underneath, thus:
Masters, of old, next, since, late, now, I saw / here, Briscen [Briskin], Wincop, Marvel, Stiles, and Shawe.

Several pages follow of Shawe's account of his family and of his complex relationship with people in power.  In 1661 he was banned from preaching in Holy Trinity Church, but was allowed by the King to continue as Master of the Charterhouse, "and live in that habitation".
-- So, I returned to the Charter-house, and preached to the poor under my charge there, every Lord's day; and the people of Hull flocked to the Charter-house constantly, so that their churches were empty; whereupon the officers sent (every Lord's day morning early) soldiers to beset the Charter-house round, so as not to suffer any town's people to come thither; yet the people one way or other got to us, so as one Lord's day the officers and soldiers took 300 Town's people in the Charter-house, with whom they being much incensed, they drew up their bridges, and shut the Town's gates and kept the people whom they found there from their houses and familys, til the next morning; and about 60 of them were in the Charter-house all night, some in beds and some by the fire; only some of them as they came near the gates that night, drinking at an Alehouse as they went, and being asked where they had been, answered at the Alehouse (which was true), and these only were let into their houses that Lord's day night.  I finding that my house was every Lord's day thus begirt, and myself by their order inhibited to come into the town of Hull, to convers with the people there, and seeing the clouds arise, many dangers impendent, and myself left (an almost) incapacity to do good there, did make up my accounts for the revennues of the Charter-house to the Maior and Aldermen; and delivered up to them (as I said before) 253 pounds and odd moneys for the poore (though I delivered not up my grant and seal to them, nor my right to the Charter-house).
Shawe left the Charterhouse on 20 June 1662.

1582 - a curious entry

A strange story emerges from the Bench Book in 1582 [230v].  Here is the entry in full (with the spelling modernised):

Item the 6th of July Anno Praedicto the said Mayor & Aldermen with one full assent and consent and with the advice & consent of Maister Briskin Maister of the Hospital nigh Kingston upon Hull called Gods House that [blank] wife unto Ralphe [blank] [231r] being a blind man and one of the brethren there, 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 & then she 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 & agreed by the consent afore said that she shall be then admitted amongst the sisters in the place of that sister that shall die, and that the in the place where she is now placed there shall be  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.

It is frustrating that the Bench's minute-taker failed to catch Ralph's surname and his wife's Christian name and so left blanks.  But the real puzzle is that Ralph had been admitted to the hospital while still married to her.  We know that the 200-year-old hospital had two wings placed on either side of a central chapel, one as male and the other as female accommodation.  No couples were allowed.  One could assume that only the single or widowed would be granted places, but it appears not, at least for men.  The blind Ralph was clearly in need of 24-hour care, so his wife was admitted to look after him; but not to share his room.  The recent death of Richard Jackling had created a vacancy in the men's wing, so she could use that; but it was to be as temporary an arrangement as possible.  If a vacancy occurred in the women's wing before Ralph died, his wife would get the room for as long as he lived - but no longer.  The Aldermen also made it clear that this was a one-off expedient and in no way set a precedent.