Hull General Cemetery

Main cemetery entrance and railway level crossing, view from Spring Bank (c. 1889, F.S. Smith)

Hull General Cemetery Company was established in 1846,[map 1] with a capital of 1,000 shares of £10. The cemetery on Spring Bank was opened in 1847, for Anglican burials only, with the foundation stone of the cemetery's entrance lodge formally laid by the mayor, B.M. Jalland on 2 June.[note 1] The ground was consecrated on 28 August 1847.[3][4] In 1859 the foundation stone for the cemetery's chapel was laid, by the mayor, Martin Samuelson.[5][map 2] The cemetery entrance was in a gothic revival style,[map 3] consisting of three lodges and six large double gates;[note 2] the original mortuary chapel was octagonal, a second chapel was later added exclusively for Anglican rites, and a third in 1863 for the use of non-conformists.[6][note 3] At the time of its development the cemetery was in the parish of Cottingham, and on the outer fringes of the urban development of Hull.[7][8]

In 1854 an act allowed incorporation of the company, and allowed it to expand.[3][7][note 4] Intramural burial were abolished in Hull after 1856/7.[9] In 1855 Quakers took a 999-year lease on a plot of ground within the cemetery.[map 4] Several prominent Quakers were later buried in the ground including persons from the prominent local employers of the Reckitt, and Priestmann families.[10] By 1864 the cemetery occupied around 20 acres (8.1 ha), and contained over 10,000 interments.[11]

The main gates were demolished in the early 20th century, and built over.[12] The Hull General Cemetery went into receivership in the 1970s,[13][14] and maintenance of the cemetery was taken over by Hull City Council.[15] The final interment was in 1972, excluding the Quaker burial ground which had its last burial in 1974.[10] The overgrown cemetery was cleared after being taken over by the council in 1972.[15] The main gates, and all the chapels had been demolished by 1983.[16]

The Hull General Cemetery Company sought liquidation via the courts which it achieved in 1972 leaving the site without ownership. Eventually, after questions asked in Parliament the site was sold to Hull City Council for a nominal sum of £1 in 1974. At the time the local press was calling the site an ‘eyesore’ and demanding that it was cleaned up. What the aims of the council were when it acquired the land initially is open to question and it could be argued the local authority was reacting to events rather than having a strategic goal for the site.

However, within a short space of time the local authority made clear that the cemetery should be re-developed. There had been earlier demonstrations of cemetery ‘re-development’ in the city when Trippet Street, Division Road and the Drypool graveyards in the early 1960s and 70’s suffered this process. Redevelopment in this sense meant that the vast majority of headstones would be removed and the cemetery landscaped. This took the form of harrowing and grass seeding the ground so that it could be mown.

Public opposition to this plan for Hull General Cemetery, including such names as Philip Larkin and John Betjeman, was overruled and the wholesale destruction of irreparable historical artefacts took place. The whole process took about 18 months. However, because of Hull General Cemetery’s conspicuous role in Victorian Hull, a number of headstones, principally of more notable members of the public, were allowed to remain. Also, as an indication of how ‘bad’ the cemetery had become until the council stepped in, a number of rows of headstones were left in situ. These are the rows next to and surrounding the Quaker plot. By 1979 the site had been ‘developed’.

At first the council maintained the grounds. Grass cutting took place on a regular basis and paths were re-laid every year with sand and gravel. The council maintained the trees. The cemetery resembled a park with headstones dotted around. Children played there, families picnicked and dogs were walked. Apart from the headstones, the cemetery may well have been, to a casual observer, either West Park or Pearson Park.

Unfortunately, over time, with the council suffering significant funding cuts, the maintenance of the cemetery fell by the wayside and it began to acquire a neglected feel. The dumping of rubbish began to happen more regularly, paths became quagmires; sycamore saplings began to destroy the remaining stones whilst ivy swamped them. The entire cemetery was quickly becoming a place to avoid rather than to visit.[17]

With the formation of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery in 2018 unpaid volunteers began to address the neglect of the Cemetery and thoughtfully, carefully and sensitively began to reclaim the cemetery and began encouraging the diversity of flora and wildlife and also to encourage local residents to enjoy the diversity the Cemetery has to offer. As a result the Hull General Cemetery woke from its slumber in 2018 and started to come alive and the undesirables left to leave it an oasis of tranquillity almost in the very heart of the city. The hard work of the Friends of Hull General Cemetery has brought enjoyment and relaxation to so many people ... many of whom have lived near to but avoided the cemetery because of the what it had deteriorated to but now look at it with loving eyes. Wildlife has started to return to the cemetery and The Friends of Hull General Cemetery are mindful to of the need to strike a balance between the needs of the flora and fauna and also the needs of the public to enjoy been able to escape an inner city environment and step into an 'ancient' woodland.

To this end the original objectives of Friends of Hull General Cemetery (to be achieved by working in close consultation with the land owners, Hull City Council) are as follows…

• Landscape and Woodland Management: To employ sustainable, multi-objective woodland management to preserve and improve the important function of the mature, broadleaved woodland on the site in the urban landscape.
• Social History: To conserve the burial monuments and associated features in their woodland setting and to encourage their interpretation and appreciation.
• Education: To encourage the educational use of the area, including its use as a local nature-site and its use to engage the local community in the Hull Biodiversity Action Plan process.
• Access, Recreation and Inclusion: To ensure that the open, public-access to the site is maintained, that it is safe and welcoming to everyone and wherein the formal path network is well managed and accessible to all.
• Biodiversity: To conserve and enhance the flora and fauna at the site, their habitats and diversity, including protected species.
• Community Involvement: To enable the engagement of the local community in the active management of the site.
• Safety and Public Amenity: To ensure the site is maintained in a safe condition and manner.
• Implementation, Funding and Partnerships: To set out a programme of implementation for the practical and administrative management of the proposed project which identifies responsibilities, costs and potential means of funding the management of the site, including possible community and voluntary sector partners to work with the City Council. Community involvement will be central to the development and implementation of the plan.
• Involvement of local businesses: To provide assistance, both financial and practical help with tools, equipment and materials.
• CWGC: Identify, locate and record all Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) graves within the cemetery.
• Photographic Record Project: Record all of the remaining headstones in the cemetery.
• Litter: Remove litter and fly-tipped material and provide litter bins throughout the cemetery which will be regularly emptied by the volunteers.
• Ivy: Remove ivy and invasive plants from around headstones to prevent damage by same. Care to be taken not to damage stones or interfere with nesting birds.
• Pathways: Tidy and re-establish cemetery pathways, and maintain where possible.[18]

Hull General Cemetery is one of the greatest historical resources that the city of Hull has. That it has been abused, neglected and damaged by its custodians is not in doubt but it still breathes charm and exudes magic. Walking there, within 100 yards of a major thoroughfare, one can forget the modern world.

The Friends of Hull General Cemetery are actively working to create an oasis for the community in the heart of the city. The Friends of Hull General Cemetery Facebook group[19] was formed to promote and celebrate the unique historical and environmental attributes of the cemetery. It is the ‘Friends’ intention to try and turn this long-overgrown and disused burial ground into a place which can once more be enjoyed by all in the local neighbourhood. The 'Friends' hope to achieve this over time by clearing-up the graves and headstones, by encouraging the diversity of flora and wildlife, by promoting historical research, and most importantly of all by getting and keeping local people and organisations involved in its upkeep.

The goals of the 'Friends' could never be achievable without the input of time, energy and ideas by its members and volunteers who throughout the years (and whatever the weather) make themselves available to help in the upkeep and ongoing improvements of the cemetery and its overall environment.

Plain graves in the Quaker burial section of the General Cemetery (2008)

• Monument to the victims of the 1849 cholera epidemic, erected through private contributions. Around 700 victims were buried in the cemetery.[20][21]
• William Clowes, d.1851, Methodist.[22][23]
• Joseph Beaumont, d.1855, Weslyan preacher.[24]
• Count de Werdinsky, d.1856, supposed displaced [[Poland|Polish]} nobleman, probable serial fraudster and criminal.[25][26]
• Cast Iron monument in the style of an Eleanor Cross (listed structure, c. 1860s).[27]
• Isaac Reckitt, d.1862, Quaker, founder of Reckitt and Sons.[10]
• Henry Blundell, d.1865, founder of the paint company Blundell Spence and Company.[28]
• Monument to John Gravill, d. c. 1866, captain of the ill-fated whaling ship Diana.[29][30]
• Thomas Wilson, d.1869, shipping magnate.[31]
• Thomas Earle, d.1873, sculptor.[31]
• Henry Redmore, d.1887, artist.[15]
• Monument to John Rylands (d.1888).[32] (buried in Southern Cemetery, Manchester.)
• James Reckitt, d.1922, Quaker, philanthropist, also of Reckitt and Sons.[10]
• William Dent Priestman, d.1936, Quaker, oil engineer pioneer, founder of Priestman Brothers
• Family and wife of Albert Kaye Rollit, mayor of Hull, politician and lawyer.[33]

Far western end of Western Cemetery (2007)

5 acres (2.0 ha) of land had been set aside by the Hull General Cemetery for use of the board of health (1859), and in 1862 the board acquired the land, opening a new cemetery adjacent west of the old General Cemetery, known as the Western Cemetery.[3][15][map 5] A chapel was later added for Anglican rites,[map 6] and a third in 1863 for the use of non-conformists.[map 7][6][note 3] By 1892 the Western Cemetery occupied 27.5 acres (11.1 ha).[34]

In c. 1889 the cemetery was expanded westwards, with additional land on the opposite side of Chanterlands Avenue,[35][map 8] a further mortuary chapel was built in the extension.[map 9] As of 1995 all the cemetery's chapels had been demolished.[16][36]

As of 2018 the Western Cemetery is in still use.[37]

• A monument to those killed in the R38 Airship disaster over the Humber Estuary.[38]
• Memorials to Captain George Henry Smith, and to William Richard Leggert, both killed in the Dogger Bank incident.[39][40]
• John Cunningham, Victoria Cross recipient, 1916

• The cemetery contains the war graves of 493 Commonwealth service personnel, 393 from the First World War and 100 from the Second World War.