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.[5][6] In 1859 the foundation stone for the cemetery's chapel was laid, by the mayor, Martin Samuelson.[7][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.[8][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.[9][10]

In 1854 an act allowed incorporation of the company, and allowed it to expand.[5][9][note 4] Intramural burial were abolished in Hull after 1856/7.[11] 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.[12] By 1864 the cemetery occupied around 20 acres (8.1 ha), and contained over 10,000 interments.[13]

The main gates were demolished in the early 20th century, and built over.[14] The Hull General Cemetery went into receivership in the 1970s,[15][16] and maintenance of the cemetery was taken over by Hull City Council.[17] The final interment was in 1972, excluding the Quaker burial ground which had its last burial in 1974.[12] The overgrown cemetery was cleared after being taken over by the council in 1972.[17] The main gates, and all the chapels had been demolished by 1983.[18]

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.

Public opposition to a plan for renovating Hull General Cemetery, backed by notable persons such as Philip Larkin and John Betjeman, was overruled. The whole process took about 18 months. Due to 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.

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 to 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.

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, Wesleyan preacher.[24]
• Count de Werdinsky, d. 1856, supposed displaced 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.[12]
• 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.[17]
• Monument to John Rylands (d. 1888).[32] (buried in Southern Cemetery, Manchester.)
• James Reckitt, d. 1922, Quaker, philanthropist, also of Reckitt and Sons.[12]
• 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.[5][17][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][8][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.[18][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.