MR. ELLERTHORPE'S GENERAL CHARACTER, DEATH, ETC.
In physical stature, Mr. Ellerthorpe was about five feet seven inches
high, and weighed about ten stones. His build was somewhat slender for a
sailor. He stood erect. His countenance was hard and ruddy, and
indicated long exposure to weather. His ordinary expression was
indicative of kindness, blended with great firmness. When spinning his
yarns, or describing his exploits, his eye kindled, and his face, lit up
with smiles, was expressive of intense sympathy.
To his wife (who has just followed him to the skies, July, 1880,) he
proved himself a kind and provident husband, _i.e._ _houseband_, as
Trench renders the word. Even during his wicked and drunken career he
never forgot his matrimonial vow, to 'love, honour, and cherish' the
partner of his life; and hence, he never but once took any portion of
his regular wages to spend in drink, and the sum he then took was about
fifteen shillings.
Of fourteen children, but four survive their parents, two sons and two
daughters. The father strove hard to give them what is beyond all
price--a good education. His eldest son, (who has long been on the
Metropolitan newspaper staff,) when a boy displayed a strong instinctive
love of learning, and when, on one occasion, his father urged him to
devote less time to his books, and to form the companionship of a a
certain youth, he replied, 'No. He spends as much money in cigars as
would buy a library, and consumes as much time in smoking them as would
enable him to learn half a dozen dead languages.'
[Sidenote: HERO'S GENERAL CHARACTER.]
Mr. Ellerthorpe proved himself a good servant, discharging his duties
faithfully and honourably. During fourteen years he occupied the
responsible position of foreman of the Humber Dock Gates, Hull. And when
it is borne in mind that Hull is the third port in the kingdom, and that
it is annually visited by 30,000 seamen in connection with its foreign
and coasting traffic, and that, in the same time, about 20,000 small
vessels, connected with the inland navigation, enter and leave the port,
it will be seen that the duties of our friend were numerous and
important. But the force and transparency of his character, his
undoubted honesty, his indefatigable industry, and his unwearied
attention to the duties of his office, won for him the confidence and
respect of his employers, the esteem of his fellow workers, and the good
opinion of the merchants of the port. Dale Brown, Esq., says:--
Dock Office, Hull,
_Sept. 11th, 1867_.
Sir,--I have known Mr. John Ellerthorpe as an active, energetic,
Christian man, for upwards of eighteen years, and during the past
six years he has been under my immediate control.
His wonderful daring and success in saving the lives of drowning
persons, have now become matters of history, and have been fully
recognised by the late Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, the Royal
Humane Society, and the local officials in Hull, by whom he is best
known and valued.
I am, Sir, yours very obediently,
DALE BROWN, _Supt. Dock Master_.
Rev. Henry Woodcock.
The following appeared in the Hull newspapers, November the 9th, 1864.
[Sidenote: PRESENTATION TO THE HERO.]
'Presentation to the 'Hero of the Humber.'--On the 6th of November,
1861, a public presentation of a gold watch and a purse containing
upwards of 100 guineas, was made to Mr. John Ellerthorpe, of Hull,
known thenceforth as the 'Hero of the Humber,' on account of his
having saved twenty-nine persons from drowning. To commemorate that
interesting event, as well as to add another to Mr. Ellerthorpe's
well earned honours, a few friends met last Evening at Mr.
Rawlinson's, 'Sykes Head,' Wellington Street. After a well-served
supper, Mr. Councillor Symons, who, in the absence of Mr. Alderman
Fountain, presided, called upon Mr. John Corbitt (of the Air and
Calder Company), who presented to Mr. Ellerthorpe a purse
containing twenty-three and a half guineas, subscribed by the
leading shipping firms of Hull.
'Mr. Corbitt said:--The subscription was proposed by Mr. W. Dyson,
sen. (Bannister, Dyson, & Co.), and has been most warmly and
heartily taken up by all the leading firms, who were most ready and
forward to mark their sense of the obligations of the shipping
interest to Mr. Ellerthorpe's assiduous attention to duty, obliging
disposition, and untiring activity at his post night and day
(Applause). All present knew how valuable those services were, and
how much the dispatch of business depended upon them. It had been a
pleasing duty to himself to receive the subscriptions, they were
tendered in such a willing and hearty spirit (Cheers). Mr. Corbitt
then presented to Mr. Ellerthorpe the purse, which contained the
following inscription:--
[Illustration]
THIS PURSE,
CONTAINING 23-1/2 Guineas,
_Subscribed by Trading Merchants of Hull_,
Was presented by Mr. J. Corbitt to
MR. JOHN ELLERTHORPE,
For his unwearied zeal and attention to the requirements of the
Trade of the Port by Penning Vessels in and out of the Humber Dock.
Nov. 8th, 1864.
'Mr. Ellerthorpe suitably acknowledged the presentation, and
thanked Mr. Corbitt and the subscribers for their kindness. As for
himself, he had certainly striven to secure the interests of the
port, but he had only done his duty, as he hoped he ever should be
able to do, without the prospect of any such reward as that. It,
however, gave him unfeigned pleasure to find that anything he had
done could be so highly appreciated. He hoped to live to advance
the interests of the town and of commerce.--Several loyal and
complimentary toasts followed, and the proceedings throughout were
of a most pleasant and agreeable character.'
[Sidenote: HIS DECLINING HEALTH.]
To the eye of a stranger, our friend's cheerful countenance and erect
form, during the last few years of his life, indicated a robust state of
health, giving the promise of a green old age. Such, however, was not
the case. His employment as Foreman of the Humber Dock Gates, was very
arduous, exposing him to all kinds of weather, day and night, according
to the tides, and he found it telling seriously upon his health. His
frequent plunges into the water, in storm and in calm, at midnight as
well as at midday, in times of chilling frost as well as in times of
warmth, sometimes top-coated and booted, and at other times undressed,
also helped to sap his naturally strong frame.
[Sidenote: HIS LAST AFFLICTION.]
In a private note he remarked, 'It is with difficulty I can talk, at
times, and my breathing is so bad, that I am now unable to address the
Band of Hope children. The other night, and after I had been in bed
about three hours, I was seized with an attack of shortness of breath
which lasted four hours, and I thought I should have died in the
struggle. But it pleased the Lord to restore me, and since then I have
felt a little better. I now suffer greatly from excitement, and need to
be kept still and quiet, but my present situation does not allow me much
quiet. In fact, I am afraid, at times, that I shall be forced to leave
it, for I think, and so does Dr. Gibson, that the watching, night after
night, let the weather be as it may, is too much for me. But I leave
myself in the hands of God, knowing that he will never leave me nor
forsake me.'
Dr. Gibson, his medical attendant, wrote the writer thus:--
Hull, _26th Sept., 1867_.
Dear Sir,--I received your letter this morning, respecting John
Ellerthorpe, a man well known for many years past, and greatly
esteemed by the people of Hull, on account of his great daring, and
humane and gallant conduct in saving such a large number of human
lives from drowning.
As his medical attendant, I regret to say, that his frequent
plunges into the water, at all seasons of the year, and long
exposure in wet clothes, have seriously injured his health and
constitution.
After the 'Hero's' death the same gentleman wrote:--'Mr. Ellerthorpe had
generously attempted to save the lives of others at the expense of
abridging his own life.'
Mr. Ellerthorpe knew the great source of religious strength and
salvation, and trusting entirely in the merits of Jesus Christ, he found
a satisfying sense of God's saving presence and power to the very last.
He would often say, 'my feet are on the Rock of Ages. I cannot sink
under such a prop, as bears the world and all things up.' His
affliction, water on the chest, and an enlargement of the heart brought
on by his frequent plunges into the water, and exposure to wet and cold,
was protracted and very severe. He found great difficulty in breathing
and had comparatively little rest, day or night, for five months. Dr.
Gibson said to him on one occasion, 'Mr. Ellerthorpe, you cannot live
long unless I could take out your present heart and give you a new one.'
'Ah,' said he, with the utmost composure, 'that you cannot do.' Often
after a night of restlessness and suffering he would say to his dear
wife:--'Well, I have lived another night,' to which she would reply, 'O
yes, and I hope you will live many more yet.' 'No,' he would say, 'I
shall not live many more; I feel I am going, but it is all right.'
[Sidenote: HIS TRIUMPHANT DEATH.]
During his last illness he had, as was to be expected, many visitors,
but he loved those best who talked most about Jesus. He seemed pained
and disappointed when the conversation was about the things of earth,
but he was delighted and carried away when it was about the things of
heaven. When his medical adviser gave strict orders that visitors should
not be allowed to see him, his pale face and lack-lustre eyes grew
bright, and he imploringly said, 'Do let those come who can pray and
talk about Jesus and heaven.'
The ministers of his own denomination, the Revs. G. Lamb, T. Ratcliffe,
T. Newsome, J. Hodgson, F. Rudd and others often visited him, and would
have done so much more frequently, but for the nature of his complaint
and the orders of his medical attendant. Mr. John Sissons, his first
class leader, Mr. Harrison, his devoted companion and fellow labourer in
the work of God, and others of his lay brethren, frequently visited him,
and all testify to the happy state of soul in which they found him. The
Rev. J. Hodgson, in one of his visits, found him in great pain, but
breathing out his soul to God in short ejaculatory prayers. His old
passion for the conversion of souls was strong in death. Mr. Hodgson
told him of some good missionary meetings they had just been holding.
'And how many souls had you saved?' was the ready inquiry. 'You will
soon be at home,' said Mr. Harrison, during his last visit, to which he
replied, 'Yes, I shall, my lad.' During the Rev. T. Newsome's visit Mr.
Ellerthorpe expressed himself as wonderfully happy and anxiously waiting
the coming of his Lord. Toplady's well known verse was repeated by the
preacher:--
'And when I'm to die,
To Jesus I'll cry;
For Jesus hath loved me,
I cannot tell why;
But this I can find,
We two are so joined,
He'll not reign in glory
And leave me behind.'
'Ah,' said the dying man, now rich in holiness and ready for the skies,
'THAT IS IT.' He soon afterwards expired in the full triumph of faith,
on July 15th, 1868.