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Trinity House

* Dr. Lambert's "Two Thousand Years of Gild Life." (1891.)

The Trinity House, where the business of the Corporation is transacted, was originally erected in 1457, and rebuilt and enlarged in 1753, since which time it has received considerable additions. The building consists of four sides surrounding a spacious area or court. The north, south, and east sides consist of single apartments for younger brethren or their widows, whilst the west side contains the hall, housekeeper's apartments, handsomely decorated dining and council rooms, a good reading-room, a museum, and the offices of the secretary. The front is a handsome structure of brick, stuccoed, in the Tuscan style of architecture, with a pediment of freestone, ornamented with the royal arms, supported by recumbent figures of Neptune and Britannia. In the hall hangs a curious boat, brought from Greenland in 1613, together with the dress and oars of the man found in it. There are several other relics of arctic research in the same room. The dining-room possesses a full-length portrait of George III., in his coronation robes, and in the council-room are portraits of many Hull worthies. The staircase and landings are also adorned with several fine portraits and pictures. This Corporation also possesses a very fine and valuable collection of antique plate, and many maritime curiosities.

Adjoining the north side of the Trinity House is a handsome chapel, which is an elegant Grecian structure, rebuilt in 1839-40. It is paved with marble, and the columns and pilasters are of the same material. The communion table is a fine slab of highly-polished marble, supported by a gilt eagle, and the east window is filled with stained glass, representing the Ascension.

The western entrance to the premises is from Prince's Dock side, through a handsome Doric gateway, beneath what were the Victoria Almshouses, erected in 1842 for 12 pensioners, but which are new used as mercantile offices. Adjoining the main building, in Trinity House Lane, is a neat stone-fronted edifice, erected in 1844 for the offices of the Corporation. There are several other large almshouses in the town connected with the Trinity House. One of these is round the corner in Posterngate - a fine building with a Doric pediment, supported by large fluted pillars, and surmounted by a colossal recumbent figure of Oceanus, by Earle, weighing three tons. Another is on the Beverley Road, and is a handsome pile of buildings in the Elizabethan style, of red brick with stone facings. This was originally a proprietary school, known as Kingston College, and was purchased by the Trinity House in 1851. A third is the Mariners' Hospital, in Carr Lane, an imposing range of buildings in the Grecian style, erected in 1834. The building consists of a centre and two side wings. The entrance is under an imposing Doric pediment, supported by large fluted columns, and exhibiting in bold relief the hull of a ship. At the back of the hospital is a row of houses, erected by this Corporation in 1848, and known as the Mariners' Almshouses.

These hospitals and almshouses have accommodation for about 340 younger brethren of the Corporation, master mariners, and seamen belonging to the port, their wives or widows, who receive payments varying from 6s. to 15s. weekly. There are also about 2,000 out-pensioners, who are paid 15s. to £3 per quarter. The Guild has been frequently enriched by the bequests of many deceased brethren, and holds considerable property in houses, lands, dock shares, and other securities. It has also a large income from the charge for the lights, buoys, and marks on the Humber. Its revenue is said to be upwards of £50,000 per annum.

A technical school of education, founded in 1785, is also maintained in connection with this institution, in which about 150 boys are clothed and educated for the mercantile marine service free of charge. Boys enter the school at 11 years of age, and after remaining four years, are apprenticed to the sea service. Adults are also prepared to pass the Board of Trade examinations as masters, mates, &c. The school is at the rear of the Trinity House, and the present building was erected in 1842, and enlarged in 1862. It consists of two fine rooms 50 feet long by 20 feet wide and 22 feet high.

The Charter House

In 1408 Sir Michael de la Pole made a substantial addition to the endowment of the hospital, by a grant of lands at Hessle, West Ella, Myton, Willerby, Ferriby, and Tranby.

In 1643, during the second siege of Hull, the exigencies of the defence necessitated the destruction of the hospital, and, by order of Lord Ferdinando Fairfax, the Governor of Hull, the venerable buildings, which for three centuries had succoured the aged and poverty stricken, were completely demolished, and its site converted into a two-gun battery. Meanwhile, the master and alms-folks found shelter in one of their houses in "Whytefryergate" (now the site of the Cafe de la Pole, in Silver Street), where they remained for close upon six years. These troublous times over, the second hospital with master's house was erected in 1649-50. In 1777 the second hospital was pulled down, and re-built at a total cost, when completed in 1780, of more than £3,000. In 1801 the income had so improved that there were 42 inmates, each receiving 4s. per week; and three years later the income had so outgrown the necessities of the institution, that an additional block of 14 rooms, now called the "Back House," was erected, and in 1805 the allowance to each of the 57 poor people in the house was increased to 5s. per week, and in 1823 to 6s. per week. In 1840 the building was still further enlarged by the erection of 12 rooms, and other 12 rooms were added in 1866. In 1872 the then master, the late Canon Kemp, obtained a most humane and useful extension of the charity's scheme. Whenever a married brother died, his widow had to turn out again into the world. Mr. Kemp, wishful to provide against these unfortunate contingencies, set about raising voluntary contributions for the erection of special rooms for occupation by these widows, and he succeeded in collecting sufficient to erect four such rooms, adding, out of the hospital fund, enough to build a sick room and mortuary as well. In 1886, by the munificence of the late W. T. Dibb, sheriff in 1883-4, further rooms were added. At present, God's House, at Hull, established to maintain 13 poor men and 13 poor women, shelters and supports 47 poor men and 53 poor women, all of whom receive an allowance of 7s. per week, with coals, turf, and medical attendance. This increased usefulness of the house is owing, of course, to the great increase in the capital and letting value of the hospital's property. The entire income of the charity is about £3,700 per annum, exclusive of the sale of chalk off the charity's property, the produce of which is now wisely treated as capital. Out of this sum the master has a salary of £300 per annum, with a house and garden. The master and pensioners are appointed by the Corporation of Hull. The appearance of the hospital is very plain. It is built of brick, two stories in height, and consists of a centre, with wings. The entrance is beneath a semi-circular portico of six Tuscan columns, above which are the arms of the de la Poles. Running round the frieze of this portico is the following inscription : - " Deo et Pauperibus Michael de la Pole comes de Suffolk has ædes posuit A.D. MCCCLXXXIIII.: Renovatus iterum auctiusque instauratas piæ fundatoris memoriæ D D Johannes Bourne, Rector A.D. MDCCLXXX." The centre of the building is occupied by the chapel, which is well furnished, and contains several mural monuments of the late masters for the past 150 years, including a handsome tablet in brass, recently executed to the memory of the late Rev. Canon Kemp, M.A.

Almshouses

Pexton's Almshouses, in Mariners' Court, Syke Street, were founded and endowed in 1865, by Mr. Wm. Pexton, of Cottingham, and formerly a draper at Hull. They consist of four tenements for four poor men or women, and each inmate receives 5s. a week.

Hull Seaman's and General Orphan Asylum is a handsome Elizabethan structure on the Spring Bank, covering upwards of two acres of ground, and having two extensive and open frontages. This institution was opened in 1866, since which date various additions have been made to the original buildings, a very large portion of the cost of which has been borne by Mr. Chas. H. Wilson, M.P., and his brother, Mr. Arthur Wilson, J.P. The orphanage consists of boys' and girls' wings, with separate play-grounds, day rooms, dormitories, sick wards, baths, lavatories, and officers' apartments. There is also a large school with class-rooms, dining hall, washhouse, drying-room, laundry, kitchen, store-room, disinfecting chamber, and offices. There are 210 single beds in the institution, which shelters that number of orphans, besides providing 200 others, who reside with their relatives, with education and partial clothing. The asylum is designed for orphans of seamen connected with or born within the Port of Hull and its ancient limits of Bridlington, Grimsby, Gainsborough, and Goole, or within seven miles of the Trinity House, Hull. Other orphans besides those of seamen are admitted, but the latter have precedence. The orphanage is conducted on the principles of the Church of England, but orphans of all denominations are equally eligible.

THE PORT OF HULL SOCIETY FOR THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SEAMEN was established in 1821. The hull of a merchant ship named the "Valiant" was fitted up and used for several years as a floating chapel. The work of the society extending, more permanent buildings were from time to time required. The Sailors' Institute, in Waterhouse Lane, was erected in 1842, at a cost of £1,700. In this building, besides a large lecture hail for religious services, there are reading-rooms, library, class-rooms, and other offices. The building has a stuccoed front, finishing with a pediment in which stands the figure of a sailor leaning upon an anchor. In December, 1837, this society established an Orphan Institution for clothing and educating the children of deceased sailors and rivermen connected with this Port, and in May, 1863, it founded the Sailors' Orphan Home, where the most needy of such orphans are entirely provided for. In 1866, a large mansion in Park Street was purchased for the orphanage, which has since been considerably enlarged, and now accommodates about 200 orphan children. The home is a handsome pile of buildings of white brick, with stone dressings, and consists of a centre and two wings, with large school and other buildings at the rear, extending to Clarendon Street. The centre pediment contains a finely sculptured group emblematic of the objects of the institution. The institution is supported by voluntary contributions, and the sphere of its operations embraces all the ports and fishing stations on the north-east coast, from Lynn in the south, to Hartlepool in the north, as well as places connected with the inland navigation of the Humber. The Mission Halls at the Alexandra and St. Andrew's Docks have been erected by this society to reach the seamen and fishermen at those docks.

The Sailors' Home, in Salthouse Lane, was opened in 1860. The building was formerly used as the branch Bank of England. It is fitted up for the temporary residence of sailors. There are two large dining halls, a comfortable reading-room, and an excellent library. Draughts and other games are at the service of the sailors, who may obtain good board and lodgings at reasonable rates, and have their money and other valuables taken care of. The Home is not self-supporting, and the deficiency has to be made up by public subscriptions.

Hull Royal Infirmary

The Hull and Sculcoates Dispensary was established in 1814, and now occupies a handsome building in Baker Street, erected in 1887. It is of Flemish Renaissance character, built of red brick, with stone dressings and red tiled roof, and comprises spacious waiting room, consulting room, dispensary, board room, and home surgeon's residence. This excellent institution affords relief to a large number of patients, and is supported by voluntary subscriptions. In connection with this dispensary is the Auxiliary Sick Fund, established in 1816, managed by a committee of ladies who give relief - in kind - during the winter months to poor persons who have received medical assistance from the dispensary, and who are, from poverty, unable to purchase strengthening food.

The Homeopathic Dispensary is in Whitefriargate, and is supported by voluntary contributions.

The Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, in Park Street, is a handsome structure, in the Gothic style of architecture - of the early French character - executed in red bricks and Ancaster stone dressings. The building extends through to Clarendon Street, where the out-patients' department is situated, and constitutes an entirely separate building. The hospital is fitted up with every modern convenience. This institution was established in 1873, in a private house in Storey Street, where its benevolent work was carried on until the erection, at a cost of £7,500, of the present structure, which was opened by the Marchioness of Salisbury on the 22nd July, 1891. There is a convalescent home at Hornsea in connection with this hospital. It is supported by voluntary contributions.

The Orthopædic Hospital, in Wright Street, has for its object the treatment of hernia, club feet, spinal disease, contractions and distortions of the limbs, injuries to bones and joints, and other bodily deformities.

The Sanatorium, or Fever Hospitals, are a series of plain and substantial buildings, executed in white stock bricks, with glazed red brick bands, erected in 1887, at a cost of £13,000. Each block is isolated, and the whole covers an area of eight acres, on the Holderness Road, about two miles from the centre of the town. There is provision for 100 patients. The grounds are tastefully laid out, and a carriage drive conducts to each block of buildings. The situation is very open and airy.

The Hull Blind Institution was formed in 1869, to afford employment and assistance to the blind. In connection with the institution is a blind-type library and a blind reader. The workshop is a stone-fronted building in the Grecian style, in Kingston Square (erected in 1832 as a school of anatomy and medicine). About 9,000 baskets of various kinds are annually made here.

The Hull, East Riding, and North Lincolnshire Institute for the Deaf and Dumb is in the Spring Bank. At the back - in Grey Street - a school has been erected, and furnished with the most approved appliances for teaching, under the new system. The institute is supported by voluntary contributions.

Cogan's Charity School, in Park Street, was founded (1793) by Alderman Cogan. At the foundation 20 girls were clothed and educated free, but this has since been increased to 60. Each girl is allowed to remain in the school three years, and if, after that, she has been in respectable service seven years, she is allowed £6 as a marriage portion. This school was formerly carried on in Salthouse Lane, but in 1877 it was transferred to the present building, in Park Street, which had formerly been occupied by the inmates of Lister's Hospital. Let into the wall is a curious tablet, removed from Salthouse Lane, which reads as follows : - The letters of this curious inscription are the initials of the following words : -

                 O Most Transcendent Being,
                 Aid and sanctify this gift;
                 O Lord Jesus Christ!
	           That many orphans may say
                           Amen.

The Hull Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, in connection with the Roman Catholics, affords relief to the poor of that faith, and several poor orphans are supported by it in various Catholic Orphanages.

Hull Charity Organisation Society was formed in 1876, and has offices in Junction Place, near the Monument Bridge. The objects of the society are the relief of deserving distress, the repression of mendicity, and to co-operate with the various charities of the town. The relief committee sits on Mondays and Thursdays.

The Temporary Home for Fallen Women, in Nile Street, was opened in 1861. Hope House, on the Anlaby Road, is occupied as the Hull and East Riding Female Penitentiary. This institution, for the reclamation of fallen women, was established in 1811, but was subsequently discontinued for some years for want support. It was revived in 1837. The house affords an asylum for about 30 women, who are required to remain in it for one year, after which they are placed in respectable situations. There is a Sheltering Home for Girls in Mason Street, which is supported by voluntary contributions, and a Home for Friendless Girls in Clarendon Street. This home was established in 1886 for the reception and training of friendless girls, and for providing them with outfits and situations. The Hull Vigilance Association, for the protection of young girls, is in Jarratt Street, where a home is provided for them when necessary.

The Model Dwellings, at the junction of Midland Street and St. Luke Street, form three sides of a square, with a courtyard in the centre. They were erected in 1862, by the gift of £5,000 from Miss Turner to the Incorporated Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes, on a piece of land given by Miss Broadley. There are separate residences for 32 families.

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