A look back on a historic institution
LOOKING back at one of Hull’s best known and most historic institutions and the school it created, as Trinity House Academy prepares to move next year from its George Street home to the Endeavour building on Beverley Road with an increase in students and admitting girls for the first time in its 234-year history.
It may have had a Royal charter, but 651 years ago Hull did not have much else going for it.
About 2,000 people lived there, goods were bought and sold in a marketplace and traders paid tolls for paving the streets.
But there was a Royal mint and a brickyard. Visitors could come and go through five gates, the main one being Beverley Gate at the end of what is now Whitefriargate.
The town had a mayor and places of worship included two main churches, Holy Trinity and St Mary’s.
Religion played a major part in life for most people and, reflecting this, on June 4, 1369, 49 men and women formed a guild, pledging to help each other in times of poverty and sickness. Members were to be present in church on the day of Holy Trinity and to carry the guild’s candles. Rules were strict and those not attending without reasonable cause faced a fine of one pound of wax.
When a member died others were bound to attend the funeral, four tapers were kept burning and 30 masses said for the soul after the burial.
Small beginnings, but they were the start of what became Trinity House, a Hull institution which today plays an important role not only in the city’s history, but also in its modern life by maintaining the ancient traditions and artefacts of the guild and a charity that supports seafarers and their families.
Originally known as The Guild of the Holy Trinity, it became known as Trinity House in 1581 and today also owns an impressive property portfolio, which includes shops and offices in Whitefriargate, Princes Dock Street and Posterngate.
The historic links are retained through the impressive building in Trinity House Lane, which stands on the same site as the original headquarters that were erected in 1461 and, over the centuries, has seen the organisation be a power in maritime development and charitable interests, supporting seamen and their families.
And in education, too, Trinity House has made its mark on Hull’s development.
It was in 1466 that reference was first made to a school, but another 319 years would pass before a committee was set up to teach children “the art of navigation, arithmetic and writing.”
Mr Brown, the schoolmaster was paid £12 a year to teach 12 children.
The next major development came on February 2, 1787, when Hull Trinity House Marine School was opened “for clothing and educating a certain number of boys for service”. Religion played a big part in school life, which included Sunday lessons.
Increasing requests for admission to the school led to a decision in 1841 that a new and bigger school should be built near Trinity House on a site leading to Princes Dock Street, which incorporated the area to be known as Zebedee’s Yard, in memory of 19th Century headmaster Zebedee Caping, who held the post for 50 years.
In 2008, the school was awarded specialist school status and four years later became an academy, moving to George Street and maintaining the links with Hull Trinity House.
Some notes of school life in days gone by…
*The first mention of a school connected to Trinity House was in an account book of 1466-8. It said that Robert Gylott was paid 21pence “for tyling in the schoolmaster’s chamber for three and a half days.”
*In the school’s early years pupils spent seven hours a day at school during the summer and six in the winter. There was no summer holiday, but they were given a week off at Christmas.
*Boys admitted had to be between 10 and 11 years-old and had to be able to read before being accepted. Three of the original 36 entrants did not complete the course.
*In 1843, boys entering the school were examined by the surgeon “to ascertain they were not labouring under any bodily infirmity.”
*Reasons for absence recorded many years ago included lack of shoes, picking shrimps, running round town with the Press Gang, and being “at home with the mangle.”
*One-time pupil Abraham Burnhill served on HMS Africa at the Battle of Trafalgar and told of his experiences in a letter to his school.
*Keeping smart was a rule to be obeyed and a hairdresser visited the school regularly and charged 2d for a haircut.
*In the 1850s the school’s senior section comprised two “divisions”. Entry qualifications included “writing in a legible hand 100 words from dictation with not more than five errors for first division and not more than 10 mistakes in the second.
*The “Dinner Day, a school tradition dating to 1786, began when boys deliberately took the largest pieces of fruit after a meal. To stop this the school brought in the rule that after dinner each boy takes two oranges from a basket.
*There were naughty boys who faced expulsion for their exploits. Among them was one spotted at the menagerie riding in a carriage drawn by two zebras. Questioned about where the money had come from for this he admitted stealing and being abetted by two school mates from a pawnbroker. All were expelled. Corporal punishment was administered for less serious offences.
*Tradition still forms an important part of life in Trinity House Academy including three Sunday Services to Holy Trinity Church each year, annual prize giving awards and the annual sports gala.