Gild of Freemen of the City of York

The Open Day at Bedern Hall was a great success with over a hundred new Freemen attending. For many this was the first time they had been in the Hall, most had never seen the silver etc. It was also a time for some people to discover how far back their families went as Freemen, thanks to the micro fiche files. Those who had lunch will join me in saying it was of more than adequate proportions and tasted as good as it looked. Ron Lee’s talk during the afternoon was well attended and enjoyed. Many thanks to all those who helped during the course of the day.

MURDER AT BEDERN HALL 31 January

Those who attended this evening were not disappointed. The medieval dinner was superb. When first put out in front of the diners it appeared we would all be asking for more; however it was soon discovered by the guests that their eyes were bigger than their stomachs and many of them failed to finish!

As for the murder of the Lords daughter; what can be said except Cadfael himself would have been proud of the mystery. With a little guidance from Friar John the Private Secretary (Ron Lee, who organised the event), the guests were given certain clues to look at and various witnesses were called upon to give evidence.

Over the course of the next two hours the mystery was eventually solved. One guest was completely correct and won the first prize with two coming very close and receiving a prize each. The murderer was exposed as the exceptionally good looking minstrel (the editor of Gild News) whom it was discovered was actually a mercenary.

May 1999

Letter to the editor from Australia

This comes from George Stephenson in Oxford Falls NSW, Australia.

Dear Sir,

May I congratulate you on the development of the content and layout of the Gild newsletter to its present very readable form (previously only a piece of A4 with a few booking forms attached). The inclusion of individual member’s reminiscences and family histories add a more personal. Almost tangible, quality, which, for those far away like myself, make memories of the city much more vivid.

Perhaps one of the Gilds local historian members could be prevailed upon to develop a series of articles for the newsletter on the history and development of the various districts or parishes of York for the edification of those members like myself who can claim only a passing knowledge of the rich background of York. Tom Gibson’s article (January 1999) was an excellent start, although for some it might be difficult to accept that any Australian could be other than remotely interested in a bar with no drink, however ancient it might prove to be.

Bill Britton’s letter also caught my eye. Our family too has a long connection with Guildhall starting with my gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather John Simpson (trunk maker) who was admitted into the freedom in 1760 and started an unbroken line of freemen in various trades for two centuries until the death of my grandfather Ted Simpson (watch maker and jeweller) in 1961. Four of his six grandchildren (three of them here in Australia) have since resumed the tradition. Bill may be interested to learn we are related to the Britton’s, via the Wood and Todd families, through William Brittain (or Britton), born about 1753, who married Diana Chapman probably in the late 1780’s. If Bill has more information on this family connection, I should be very happy to hear from him.

Yours sincerely

George Stephenson.

Letter From Spain

This comes from Peter and Jose Young, Girona, Spain.

Dear Mr Hobman

For some time now, I have been reading your Newsletter with interest, and congratulate you on the consistently high standard you achieve (somewhat preferred to the old A4 piece of paper we received in the past). Believing that my own wife’s story might be worth the telling I have prepared a light-hearted history of her adventures and seasoned it with a touch of humour. I trust your readers will not be offended by this approach.

Yours sincerely

P G Young.

There’s a long trail a winding

It’s a long way from Clifton to Catalonia and it took Jose Kilvington more than sixty years to make the journey. She then took another ten to condense her story into five hundred words, which is all this Newsletter allows.

Born at Clifton in 1928, the daughter of Fred W. Kilvington (Freeman, joiner and undertaker), she was a sister to Albert and John and cousin to Ben Kilvington of Stonegate.

Jose comes from a long line of York characters, as shown by the first entries in the family records. These tell of John de Kilvington, keeper of Pickering Castle in 1322 and Walter de Kilvington, who, after the battle of Boroughbridge in the same year, took custody of some manors as surety for a fine (for rebellion against the King).

John was a favourite name in the Kilvington family, for one John Kilvington was Chamberlain to the Mayor in 1632 and another, Sheriff of York in 1643. A third purchased the villages of Ravenswath and Applegarth in 1755 – and a lucky forth was left £7,000 in the will of an uncle, who was Admiral of the Blue in the Mediterranean (Admiral Medley 1747). More closely, Jose is a descendent of George Kilvington (1838 – 1887), who set up a wire working business at no. 13 Stonegate (in those days it was no. 10). His son Benjamin (1887 – 1923) who was Jose’s grandfather followed him in this endeavour.

Today Jose is retired to a hillside villa in Catalonia, from where she looks directly down to the beach, and of course the Mediterranean. She busies her self by tending the roses, bougainvilleas and lemon trees that flourish in her extensive gardens: entertaining friends, and battling with the most enormous jigsaw puzzles. And at seventy plus, these harmless pursuits are quite enough to keep her happy.

But it was not always so. Jose joined the Women’s Royal Navy Service in 1946 and served as a Leading Wren ‘till 1951. At Portsmouth she met and married a young Marine, and with him bred two children and set up a business in West Cornwall.

This grew from two huts and a swamp, which they bought for three hundred pounds (with a mahogany wardrobe thrown in), into what is now the famous Poldark Mine. Today that mine is a major tourist attraction and visited yearly, by more than two hundred thousand people.

Jose’s journey to Catalonia has been a long one than, and a hard one too, and now she deserves her rest – but she still looks forward to the arrival of the Gild’s Newsletters, and when she has them, resumes her efforts to reduce her stories to less than five hundred words. (498 words!)

Isn’t it strange what some Freemen will get up to when the roses are pruned, the lemons gathered, and the secateurs put away for the winter?

Peter G Young.

back to archive