Dwarf shows & a ‘receptacle for every wretchedness’: The colourful history of Parliament Street

‘HULL’S MOST COMPLETE GEORGIAN STREET’: Parliament Street, looking towards Whitefriargate

Now & Then, a column by Angus Young

The long and varied history of Parliament Street

The recent arrival of Cock of the Walk has added another chapter to the story of a Hull street which started 230 years ago.

During the move into the ground floor of 1 Parliament Street, owner of the bespoke tailors Gill Long also made a surprise find – two striking black and white photographic portraits of an unknown man and woman.

She explained: “Apart from the carpets, just about the only things in the rooms when we got the keys were two enormous safes. When we looked behind one of them we found the two photographs.

“They appear to be from either Victorian or Edwardian  but there are no details to show who they are or if they had a connection to the building.”

The mystery only adds to the street’s history, which dates back to September 1794 when a notice was published in the weekly Hull Advertiser newspaper stating that an application was to be submitted to the next session of Parliament for an Act for “opening and making a new Street…and also for building of a row of Houses on each side on intended Street, with suitable convenience.”

So began a process known as a Tontine investment scheme, with private subscribers being sought to fund the acquisition of existing properties for demolition followed by the construction of a new street from Whitefriargate to Quay Street and ultimately The Dock – later known as Queen’s Dock – which had opened  in 1778.

A further notice published two weeks later aimed to attract potential subscribers. It said: “The erection of a new Street extending from Whitefriargate to the Dock side, as proposed to be done by Tontine subscription, would be in every point of view, one of the most eligible improvements which this town has undergone for several years.

“Beside the advantage of opening a spacious and elegant communication between two places very much frequented, it would be a means of removing from one of the most beautiful Streets in the town, a place which is, at present, a receptacle for every wretchedness”

FORMER RESIDENTS?: Two unidentified portraits found behind a safe in 1 Parliament Street

This dim view of the immediate neighbourhood reflected a densely-populated area of squalid tenement housing only accessible via narrow alleyways, including the evocatively-named Mug House Entry and White Dog Entry, as well as the nearby Charity Hall workhouse with accommodation for just over 200 people.

The notice added: “The houses on the new Street, on account of their contiguity with the Dock, would be a very desirable situation for people in business, and would no doubt be taken with great avidity.”

A week later a list of new subscribers appeared in the Advertiser, among them Hull’s MP William Wilberforce, and by the following May the necessary legislation to create the street had been passed.

However, the increasing cost of the acquisition of properties for clearance raised doubts over the scheme’s viability and progress slowed.

As a result, an initial idea to build a large ornamental archway at one end of the street – possibly proposed to hide views of the less attractive Quay Street – was ultimately shelved.

‘UNRIVALLED IN THE KNOWN WORLD’: An advert for a show featuring dwarfs Thomas Allen and Lady Morgan

In August 1796 the first building plots in what was now known as Parliament Street were sold at auction, but it would be another two years before the first newly-built houses were offered for sale following a protracted process of acquisition by agreement, compulsory purchase, compensation payments and, in some cases, eviction.

Building plots continued to be sold by auction over the next few years. One sale in 1799 involving five lots at the southern end of the street also included “a quantity of old bricks lying on the ground” presumably from the recently demolished nearby slums. By the following year the street’s first residents were starting to settle in and it seems several also opened businesses there.

In November 1800 a milliner called Mrs Bevill was advertising her premises in Parliament Street, having recently returned from London where she had “selected with the greatest care and attention, a complete assortment of the most fashionable millinery for the present season”.

The advert also announced her new partnership with dressmaker Johanna Pinkerton as well as a vacancy for an apprentice.

‘MOST ELIGIBLE IMPROVEMENTS’: A view of the much lauded Parliament Street

While many of the new houses were advertised as perfect homes for “genteel families”, at least one property was used as a place of what was then regarded as a form of entertainment

In October 1801 in what was billed as an “elegant travelling house in Parliament Street”, visitors able to afford the one shilling admission charge (the fee for servants was sixpence) could see “Two of the most unparalleled Prodigies of Nature ever exhibited to Public view. Of all the wonderful productions of Human Nature in miniature, none ever met with such a general approbation and esteem.”

The stars of the show were dwarfs Thomas Allen and Lady Morgan (the latter advertised as “only weighing eighteen pounds”) who earned their living by touring the country together.

In Parliament Street, they could be seen from 10am to 8pm every day except Sundays with the apparent blessing of Hull’s Mayor who reportedly gave his personal permission for the event.

An accompanying advert for the show in the Hull Advertiser noted the pair “stand unrivalled in the known world, and are daily honoured with the inspection of persons of high rank and great abilities, who, charmed with the sight of so extraordinary a couple, behold them with a pleasure which words seem wanting to express”.

ECHO OF HISTORY: The new home of Cock of the Walk tailors in Parliament Street

Other newspaper advertising reveals that at least one of the new houses was used as licensed premises. A property sale in 1809 lists the entire stock of a porter and ale merchant based in Parliament Street, suggesting some of the rooms were used for customers to sample his products with plenty of storage space in the building’s “excellent vaults”.

As for the other houses, many featured lodging rooms and for most of the 19th century it remained a fashionable place to live.

The conversion of homes into offices started in the early 20th century. The longest-surviving commercial firm, Sanderson Solicitors, moved into Number 17 in 1908.

Today Parliament Street survives virtually intact and remains the most complete Georgian street in Hull.

After a century of being the heart of the city’s legal sector, it is also witnessing something of a return to its original roots.

Cock of the Walk is following in milliner Mrs Bevill’s footsteps, Number 10 is now home to an Escape Room, a more up-to-date form of entertainment compared to spending half an hour with Thomas Allen and Lady Morgan, and there’s also a trend toward converting some of the office space back into flats, bringing residents back into the street.