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1. Dr John Alderson
This statue was produced to commemorate one of Hull’s foremost medical practitioners and placed in front of the old infirmary in Prospect Street (where the Prospect Centre now stands). When the new infirmary was built on Anlaby Road the statue was transferred there.
Richard Westmacott jnr
1833
Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road
Grade II listed structure
Erected by public subscription.
Cost £300
White marble on ashlar base.
John Alderson, 1758-1829
Alderson was one of the leading figures in medicine and other aspects of intellectual life in Hull and the East Riding in the early nineteenth century. He was born in Lowestoft in 1758, the second son of James and Judith Alderson. His father, who was a dissenting Minister, died when John was only two years old. Alderson first came to Hull in 1780 as a lieutenant and surgeon in the West Norfolk Militia. He trained as a surgeon under his brother and studied medicine at Edinburgh before he began to practise in Whitby.
John Alderson met and married Sarah Scott of Beverley and they had eleven children of whom six died in infancy. In 1787 the Aldersons came to live in Hull where John established a medical practice and in 1795 was elected physician at Hull General Infirmary. Tragedy struck the family in 1805 when Sarah and three of the daughters all died within a few months of each other. A short time later Alderson moved to 4 Charlotte Street, one of Hull’s most fashionable areas.
His practice grew and he gave his services to the Infirmary free of charge, for example vaccinating poor people against smallpox. He also lectured in physiology. Alderson was Honorary Physician at Hull Infirmary for forty years and founded the Hull and East Riding School of Medicine and Anatomy but unfortunately did not live to see it open. His son, James, gave the initial lecture at the school. James and two of his brothers took up medicine and James was later knighted.
In addition to his work in medicine John Alderson was also active in many other areas of local life. He was President of the Hull Subscription Library (1801) and of the Literary and Philosophical Society (1822); he founded the Sculcoates Refuge for the Insane (1814) and the Mechanics’ Institute (1825). In addition he wrote several books and monographs: An Essay on Nature and Origin of the Contagion of Fever (1788), An Essay on the Rhus Toxicodendron or Sumach and its Efficacy in Paralysis (1782), An Essay on Apparitions accounted for Independently of Preternatural Agency (1823), On the Improvement of Soil (1802) and tracts on Orthographical Exercise.
In 1813 Alderson was elected a Freeman of Kingston upon Hull. When his funeral took place at St Mary’s church, Lowgate in 1829 fifteen thousand people were reported to have turned out to offer their respects. Although the medical school he founded closed in 1869 the entrance is preserved in an apartment block on the west side of Kingston Square. There is a second statue in the City Hall which depicts him in a Roman toga and originally stood in the Mechanics’ Institute, a portrait in Wilberforce House and a marble monument to him in Holy Trinity church (north transept).
The entrance to the Hull and East Riding School of Medicine and Anatomy founded by John Alderson, now a grade two listed structure and preserved as part of Kingston Court. (The school was originally in Charles Street and moved to this site in 1833.)
2. James Stuart, 1837-1922
W Aumonier & Sons, London
1923 (erected 1925)
Holderness Road
Portland stone
Grade II listed structure
Erected by Thomas Ferens
Inscription
JAMES STUART JP BORN 1836
DIED 1922
A CITIZEN OF HULL WHO BY HIS INTEREST AND DEVOTION TO THE WELFARE OF THE CITY WON THE REGARD AND ESTEEM OF ALL THOSE WHO KNEW HIM.
I ALSO REMEMBER THAT I HAD A FATHER TO CONVINCE ME THAT AS I BEGAN A MATURE LIFE I WAS A CITIZEN OF A NATION GOVERNED BY DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND THAT IT WAS MY DUTY AS IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY MANACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY AND OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOMETHING IN THE TOWN IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD AND THE NATION TO PROMOTE THE WELL BEING OF ITS INHABITANTS JAMES STUART 1906.
ERECTD BY THE RT HON THOS R FERENS AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS MEMORY.
James Stuart is probably the least known of the people featured yet he achieved great respect and esteem from his fellow citizens in Victoria and Edwardian Hull. His statue overlooks Holderness Road close to the Garden Village estate. He is depicted in an oratorical pose.
Stuart was born in Preston, Lancashire but by 1851 his family had moved to Hull where his father preached at the George Street Baptist Chapel. He became a seed merchant and established the seed crushing firm of Stuart & Grigson which later became part of BOCM. His father instilled in James the idea of always being prepared to help others and he became a local councillor and President of the East Hull Liberal Association. He took a keen interest in education and played a sgnificant role in improving education in Hull.
In 1893 when he was Chairman of the Watch Committee a dockers’ strike took place in Hull. Stuart atempted to negotiate between the dockers and the employers but could not prevent violence from breaking out on both sides. He regarded the outbreaks of violence as a personal failure and resigned from politics but maintasined his philanthropic appraoch. In 1894 he was made an Honoray Freeman of Kingston upon Hull in recognition of his the work he had carried out to improve the welfare and standards of living for people in the town.
With his wife Sarah he had four children Anne, Amy, William and George, and they lived in Beverley (1871), Cottingham, (1891) and Bridlington where he died in 1922.
David Whitfield, Singer and Entertainer
Graham Ibbetson
Bronze
7 feet high
2012
Kingston Square
Erected by subscription from members of the David Whitfield Appreciation Society. Cost £50,000
David Whitfield, 1925-1980 David Whitfield was a singer and entertainer of the 1950s and 60s. His statue stands opposite the entrance to the New Theatre.
He was born in Hull and sang in his local church choir as a boy. In the Second World War Whitfield served as a cyclist messenger, in Hull, at the age of sixteen before joining the Royal Navy and serving as a gunner. He was involved in the D-
Day landings aboard HMS Belfast and the ship (which is now a floating museum on the Thames) still has a photograph of him on the wall of the wireless room. Whilst in the Navy he entertained his fellow sailors by singing to them as often as possible.
On leaving the Navy after the war Whitfield worked as a labourer and sang in the working men’s clubs of Hull. He appeared on the Radio Luxembourg show “Opportunity Knocks” and became an instant success. During his career he sang all over the world and enjoyed a great success in the United States where he was the first British artist to sell a million copies of the same disc. Among David Whitfield’s biggest hits were “Bridge of Sighs”, “Cara Mia”, “I’ll find you” (the theme song to the film Sea Wife) and “William Tell” (the theme to the television series the Adventures of William Tell). His song “Answer Me, Oh Lord” was later reworded and recorded as “Answer Me, My Love”).
David Whitfield was a great success throughout the fifties and sixties and was still recording in 1977 but tragedy struck on a tour of Australia in 1980 when he died after suffering a brain haemorrhage. As well as the statue opposite the New Theatre where he performed there is also a street named after him in his home town. There are also a rose and a star named after him and his face appeared on a Royal Mail first class stamp. The David Whitfield Appreciation Society also runs a small museum dedicated to his memory.
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