Classic-Hull: from West to East (...Yorkshire)

We’ve been exploring the Crofts collections in our previous posts (what it is and who Crofts was).  In the last post we discovered that Arthur Crofts lived in Bradford, so in this one we’re going to explore how the collection came to Hull.

Model of oil cake making equipment

Arthur Edward Hastings Crofts was born ‘down south’ in 1849.  The Crofts family had moved up to Hull by 1861, probably due to a change in the father’s work.  He had been a merchant in the south, in Hull he became a ‘corn and cake baker’.  He would have worked in one of the Oil and Cake Mills in the city which were part of the oil seed-crushing industry.

By 1871 Arthur was working as an insurance clerk in Hull and married Jane Lickiss Wells (who was also from Hull) in 1873.  By 1881 the couple had moved to Bradford, where Arthur was a cashier for a timber merchant.  He then worked his way up to timber merchant manager (by 1891) and timber merchant employer (by 1901).

Glass armlet from Mount Carmel, Israel from J.L. Crofts

He passed away in 1912 and probate was granted to his wife Jane, so the collection probably passed to her.  In the Hull Museums’ Director’s notes, the curator (Thomas Sheppard) mentions that Arthur sold some of the glassware in his collection to his brother, William Hastings Crofts.  However, there’s no exact date for this.

After her husband’s death, Jane moves back to Hull and in 1925 she also passed away.  She passed without a will, so her property (including the collection) passed to her brother.  He auctioned off her property at a sale in Hull.

Arthur’s brother, William Hastings Crofts, bought the collection (or some of it) at this auction sale.  We know this because some of the object labels say ‘J.L. Crofts sale’ and it is confirmed by an article Thomas Sheppard (curator of Hull Museums) wrote, where he mentions they were bought from J.L. Crofts.

William Hastings Crofts died in 1935 and the collection is sent for valuation by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London with the hope that Hull Museums might get a Grant in Aid to buy it.  However, in the end the executors of William H. Crofts’ will decided to gift the collection to Hull.

(c) Hull and East Riding Museum: Hull Museums

But why give such a generous gift?  Well, William H. Crofts and Thomas Sheppard were both active members of the Hull Geological Society (the society published an obituary for W.H. Crofts) so would have known each other well, possibly talking about the collection.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find any images of Arthur E.H. Crofts.  However, we are very lucky that Hull Museums have some photographs of Hull Geological Society outings which show William H. Crofts and Thomas Sheppard!

In our next post, we’ll explore some highlights from the Crofts collection.  So keep your eyes open for that one.

(c) Hull and East Riding Museum: Hull Museums