The Botanic Garden

The Botanic Garden, by B. Maund, F.L.S, 

[Volumes I –VI], 

Edited by James C. Niven 

[Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Hull] 

[L.001 NIV]

As summer is upon us, I thought it would be an ideal time to highlight this extraordinarily beautiful series of six volumes.  This issue was published in 1878 and contains an array of exquisite illustrations of flowers and plants.  It is in our local studies collection since it was edited by James Niven, Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Hull.

Hull’s Botanic Gardens, south of Anlaby Road was open to subscribers in June 1812.  Over time, due to Hull’s rapid urban expansion, the Botanic Gardens rural ambience was impossible to retain and it closed in 1877.  James Niven was commissioned to design another Botanic Gardens on a larger, more rural site on Spring Bank West.  This was opened in July 1880 but Niven didn’t live long to see the fruits of his labour, passing away after a long illness the following year.  Niven was also responsible for planning Pearson Park.  

More free parks opened in Hull [West Park, 1885; East Park 1887] and, as a result, the Botanic Gardens closed in 1890.  Part of the site was sold to the Hull Football Club in 1887 whilst the remaining land was acquired for the creation of Hymers College which opened in 1893.

Caoimhe West, 

Reader Assistant, Unlocking the Treasures Project

International Archives Day

On the 9th June 1948, the International Council on Archives (ICA) was created. Since 1948, this date has been celebrated as International Archives Day. The aims of the ICA are to support and develop best practice within archives, and to promote awareness across the world.
To mark International Archives Day we bring you a brief tour, in pictures, of Hull History Centre’s collections.

Exterior of Hull History Centre showing our 'Larkin Toad'

And the tour starts outside the building, with a piece of sculpture which some of you might remember as being part of the Larkin Toad trail. The association of the poet Philip Larkin with Hull History Centre is two-fold: firstly, the centre holds his personal archives, including workbooks, letters, photographs and library; and secondly, as Librarian, Larkin’s support for the development of the University of Hull’s manuscript collection laid the groundwork for what became the University Archives Service (now part of Hull History Centre). The toads are a nod to one of Larkin’s most famous poems. In addition to Larkin’s papers, the History Centre holds some other notable literary collections, like the papers of novelist and feminist reformer, Winifred Holtby (1898-1935), and the papers of novelist, playwright and screenwriter, Alan Plater (1935-2010).

Larkin workbook page showing a draft of the poem 'Toads' [U DPL/1/3]

The bulk of the History Centre’s holdings consist of records created by Hull City Council and its predecessors. These records document the history of the city from some of the very earliest years of the settlement. One of the earliest documents, and perhaps most locally significant, is the charter granted by King Edward I in 1299. Written in Latin on parchment, the charter enabled the fledging settlement to become a borough, a self-governing community, with its own court, coroner, market and authority to collect taxes. This began the process which led to Hull becoming the thriving city we know today.

Charter of King Edward I, 1299 [C BRC/1]

And from the high and mighty documents which guard the legal rights of our city, to the mundane council records that are necessary for the daily life of a city.... The History Centre also holds records which document the drive to improve housing conditions during the 1920s and 1930s. The following image records the laying of pipes necessary for the conversion of old privies into water closets.
Layout of the new drainage for 53 Freehold Street, in the west of the city, 1928 [C TAP/73/125]
The History Centre’s holdings don’t just document the local situation, they also demonstrate the international connections and relationships which the city has had over the centuries. Hull has a number of links and twining arrangements with many places across the world, including Rotterdam, Reykjavik, Freetown, Szczecin, Niigatta and Raleigh. This document records a 1967 visit to Hull made by a party of civic dignitaries from Rotterdam.

Itinerary for the visit of a group from Rotterdam, including Mayor W. Thomassen, 1967 [C SRL/E/178]

Some of the History Centre’s most well-used collections are the papers of notable landed families which document the workings of their estates and the political careers of prominent family members. The records of the Sykes family of Sledmere in the East Riding of Yorkshire are an example of how archives can be used to look into the origins of political tensions. Sir Mark Sykes (1879-1919), was a noted traveller, diplomat and British politician. He was heavily involved in the Middle East and his papers help to shed light on the Arab Revolt and the collapse of the Turkish Empire during the First World War.

Map of the Euphrates district, 1910 [U DDSY2/4/72]

Within the Local Studies Library there are many examples of scrapbooks which have been compiled by various antiquarians and researchers, and which reflect the interests of the compiler. This image, from the ‘Yorkshire Scrapbook’ shows the page for Hull and was compiled in the mid nineteenth century. It brings our attention to various events, including the importation of over a million leeches in 1825!

Page from the 'Yorkshire Scrapbook' [L DLYS/1]

Finally, with an eye to a historical future that never was, we take a look at what the city might have looked like, had the vision of town planners Sir Patrick Abercrombie and Sir Edwin Lutyens been put into practice. Developed in 1945 with the intention of regenerating the heavily blitzed city, it was certainly a bold vision of the future. However, it was unpopular with local politicians and businesses, and would have required vast amounts of funding and resources at a time of economic difficulty. Had it been done our city would be very different from today!

View of Hull as proposed by Abercrombie and Lutyens [L.711A]

The vision of the Hull History Centre is to make history available to all, for research, for learning and for leisure. We want to inspire everyone to take an interest in the city of Hull, it’s past, present and future. We hope we’ve inspired some of you to come and see what else we hold. All that remains is to day ‘Happy International Archives Day’!

Paul Leaver, Archivist/Librarian (Hull City Archives and Local Studies)

Access to books at the History Centre

We are now four months in to the Unlocking the Treasures project and we thought we’d take a moment to provide a progress update, but also help you get the best out of using the Hull Libraries to access books at the History Centre.

At present, over 1,200 books have being catalogued. Some are newly catalogued making them available on the Hull Libraries Catalogue for the first time, while others have been edited to ensure they can be found more easily when searching. We hope to have all our books available to search on the Hull History Centre’s online catalogue shortly.

With just a fraction of the books catalogued, we still have a long way to go. But in this short time a good range of subjects have been added to our already extensive book stock. Recent catalogued subject’s include geology, medicine, the supernatural and ghosts, temperance and religion. These complement our existing book stock on transport, natural history, trade and industry, architecture, literature, biographies, family history together with Hull and East Riding history.

Storage rack of newly catalogued books

You can search for books held at the Hull History Centre (and across all of Hull Libraries) by using the library catalogue. Searches can be carried out by ‘word’ or ‘phrase’, ‘author’, ‘title’, ‘subject’, ‘series’ and ‘periodical title’. Some books at the History Centre can be borrowed using a Hull library card. Look out for ‘DUP’ when viewing a catalogue entry as this means they can be borrowed. Books can be borrowed for 3 weeks.

Hull Libraries catalogue search

Books that cannot be borrowed will be shown on the catalogue as ‘Reference Material’. You can still access these books it just means you will need to view them in our search room. This is because some books are rare or out of publication, and these are very difficult to replace. Also the search room is environmentally controlled meaning some of our older, more fragile books will be preserved for future generations.

A selection of books from the local studies collection

Joining Hull Libraries is simple. You can join online by visiting the Hull Libraries website. You can also join in person. And remember anyone can join, just remember to bring some proof of name and address. So go on, search the Hull Libraries Catalogue today and see what you can discover!

Neil Chadwick, Project Officer

A Mercantile Family's Correspondence 1743-1866

In September 2018, papers relating to the Terry family of Hull were deposited with Hull History Centre.

The papers consist of a large quantity of correspondence which has the potential to reveal a great deal about the religious development of the Hull area and beyond during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It could also be useful in telling us more about merchant family relationships in Hull as well as helping to shed light on the many battles for social reform and philanthropic causes that took place during this time, including William Wilberforce’s campaign to end slavery. The correspondence makes a fascinating read and has now been catalogued under the reference C DFTF. Additionally, the depositor created transcriptions of the correspondence, copies which are available in our search room [C SRL/T/46].

The Terry family were merchants. Richard Terry (c.1740-1804) was a Hull shipowner. His company ‘Richard Terry & Sons’, traded primarily with the Baltic and Russia importing timber. He was also an Evangelical Anglican. A Methodist sympathiser, he was a devotee of John Wesley, who visited Richard’s Hull home at Newland several times and once even preached in his garden. Richard married Anne Avison in in 1767.

One of Richard and Anne's sons was Avison Terry, another merchant and ship owner who served Hull twice as Mayor (1827, 1829) and once as Sheriff (1813). He was the person responsible for raising £1,110 by public subscription for the building of St. John's Church, Newland. The Church was consecrated by the Archbishop of York on 23rd September 1833.

Newland Parish Church, Hull [L RH/3/315]

Ann Terry’s brother was William Charles Avison (1746-1821), another Baltic trader who spent most of his working life in Baltic ports, mainly Narva (Russia) and Elsinore (Denmark). From the correspondence it is clear that he was in close business contact with Richard Terry. However there had been a short period when the suitability of Richard as a husband for Ann was in doubt. Some of the letters make astonishing reading and are certainly good examples of what women faced when they dared to marry someone whom their family and friends deemed unsuitable!

Other letters in the collection are from members of the Stillingfleet family. Rev. James Stillingfleet [1741-1826], a noted evangelical, attended Oxford University and became a Master of Arts and fellow of Merton College. He was ordained as a deacon in 1764 and as a priest in 1766. He became rector of Hotham in 1771, where he remained for nearly 56 years until his death. One of his closest friends was the Rev. Joseph Milner headmaster of Hull Grammar School, himself a prominent evangelical and historian.

Another contributor is John Thornton of Clapham, London (1720-1790). He was a merchant involved in the Baltic trades and Russia and an early patron of the evangelical movement in Britain. Some sources suggest that John Thornton was the second richest man in Europe. He traveled extensively and spent most of his fortune on promoting the Evangelical movement and buying up parish patronages so that they could install evangelical priests thus contributing to churches in many different parts of the country. Some correspondence is between John Thornton and Richard Terry and relates to the churches in and around Hull, including Cottingham. During this period the mainstream Church of England was in a parlous state with much corruption and absentee clergymen claiming their salaries.

John Thornton married Lucy Watson in 1753. Their sons; Henry, Samuel and Robert all became Members of Parliament and members of the Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers determined to reform the established church. The Clapham Sect was led by Rev. Henry Venn, curate at Holy Trinity, Clapham Common. The Thornton brothers, close friends and cousins of William Wilberforce, were also associated with the campaign for the abolition of the slave trade and many other campaigns for social reform and philanthropic causes, as were the Terry and the Stillingfleet families.

Portrait of William Wilberforce, 1836 [L DFWW/3/1]

This is a fantastic collection and we are really happy to be able to promote it as a valuable historical research resource. As a hitherto undiscovered collection, the research value is huge and would make a fantastic project for any student of history.

Anyone wishing to learn more about this collection can visit us at the History Centre. For visiting information please see our website. A full descriptive catalogue is available to view in paper format in the searchroom and will shortly be available through the online catalogue.

Elspeth Bower, Archivist Librarian (Hull City Archives)