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Came across some rarely seen Victorian/Edwardian images of Hull in a copy of Iain Rutherford’s 1982 book Hull As It Was so I thought I’d share some. Starting with Whitefriargate in 1869, complete with specially-built gateway to mark the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The Royal couple were in Hull to officially open Albert Dock. This incredible pic was taken two years earlier in 1867 showing construction work on the dock entrance.
Mother and child in a court off High Street. An 1884 report by the Hull Sanitary Association described “fifty houses under the shadow of the Town Hall, which are a disgrace to civilisation. It is a colony distinct from the Hull we know.”
In contrast, the Town Hall was spectacular. Designed by Cuthbert Broderick, it was built in 1866 and was replaced on the same site by the even grander Guildhall in 1912. The original tower feature still stands in Pearson Park.
Another incredible image, this time from 1877 showing the newly-opened Botanic Gardens off Spring Bank. You can just see the home of curator Mr J.C. Niven to the left behind some trees.
Watmough’s grocer’s shop at the corner of West Street and Prospect Street circa 1900. The place to go for tea by the look of it.
The junction of Spring Bank and Beverley Road circa 1900. The paint works of Blundell, Spence and Co. loom on the far left, the Zoological Hotel is advertising Worthington’s ale in the centre of the pic.
Further up Spring Bank, looking towards the Botanic railway crossing and Princes Avenue. On the right is the Ebenezer Primitive Methodist Chapel. To get your bearings, the site is now occupied by the Thrifty van hire depot.
The Rank windmill on Holderness Road wasn’t always black. No date on this pic when it lacked sails and was covered in advertising.
Again no date but who cares when there’s a parade of elephants crossing Monument Bridge?
A firehose sabotaged by striking dockers following a timber fire at Victoria Dock in 1893. Police were drafted into Hull from London and other parts of the country during the six week strike.
More news from the docks in 1895 when three vessels sank in St Andrews Dock when a dam burst at the end of the dock. The Hull News ceased publication in 1929.
More top hats than a Rees-Mogg family reunion as Hull’s good and great gather to mark the laying of the city’s first tramrail in Porter Street in 1898.
An early photograph of the west bank of the River Hull taken in 1854. The warehouse to the left of Lofthouse’s Wharf still stands today.
A group of children pose for a picture on Beverley Road circa 1905. They’re on their way to school in Lambert Street. Behind them in the Hull and Barnsley Railway Bridge.
More kids, this time pupils from Middleton Street school in 1911 - the year of a mass strike by schoolchildren in Hull and other towns.
Taken in 1899, this shows what is now the Maritime Museum to the left and the Wilberforce Monument to the right. The streets inbetween would eventually be demolished to make way for Queen Victoria Square.
On the sporting front, here’s a great pic from 1897 showing Hull Kingston Rovers taking what I presume is a half-time break at Craven Park against unidentified opposition.
Finally, a heartbreaking photograph taken in September 1914. It shows
new recruits to the 7th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment marching up Walton Street. They had to wait two more months to receive their uniforms. In early 1915 they were sent to the Somme.
new recruits to the 7th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment marching up Walton Street. They had to wait two more months to receive their uniforms. In early 1915 they were sent to the Somme.
