Early Scarborough fishermen - Scarboroughs maritime history

John Yorke was a 15th century Scarborough fisherman. He was prosperous enough to make a will, at a time when most folk didn't. His widow Alice proved the will in 1468. The document was brief. He asked to be buried inside St Mary's Parish Church, perhaps in what was to be known as "the fisherman's aisle". His best gown went to the church as the necessary funeral gift. John gave ten shillings to the Friars in the town and four pounds for a chaplain to pray for his soul. His house was tenanted from William Whale, a burgess whose ancestors had been mariners here a hundred years earlier. Alice kept the tenancy.

Sixty four years later, in 1532, another fisherman made the journey up the hill for burial in the same Parish Church. He paid his church dues, including two shillings for any tithes he had forgotten to pay in his lifetime. His widow Joan received most of what he had to leave, but his individual bequests were rather different. The friars weren't mentioned and within a few years would be abolished. No one was asked to pray for his soul. Instead, he gave daughter Alice six silver spoons,. Daughters Ellen and Kateryne each received a bed. Daughter Joan inherited a piece of silver He had helped them make good marriages. The sons Richard and Robert each received one quarter share of a ship called the "Bartholomew". He had made them ship owners. This was success.



OTHER ARTICLES
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• Havens on the North Yorkshire coast. An article on scarboroughs maritime history by John Rushton
• Fighting the Scots in Scarborough Waters in the early 16th century. John Rushton
• Strange customs amongst the Scarborough shipbuilders
• Church Tithes in the early fishing history of scarborough
• Harwood Brierleys description of Scarborough harbour at the opening of the 20th century
• Thomas Hinderwell - history of Scarboroughs fisheries
• A scarborough Merchant - An article on scarboroughs maritime history by John Rushton
• Thomas Crimlisk - First of the Crimlisks
• The Borough of Scarborough formed in the 12th Century
• Tunny fishing in Scarborough in the 1930's
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• The history of the Scarborough fishing industry
• Robin Hood's Bay - The Storm family website
• Scarborough ships in the baltic - an article by John Rushton
• Scarborough sailing ship - a man overboard
• Funny stories from the age of sailing ships in Scarborough

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