PRESENTATION MEETING IN HULL.
The long-looked-for presentation took place in the Music Hall, Jarratt Street, Hull, on Wednesday evening, November the 6th, 1861. Upwards of four hundred persons sat down to tea, and the local papers state that greater enthusiasm was, perhaps, never witnessed than during this remarkable meeting. The room was gaily decorated with bannarets, and suspended over the chair was a large flag, bearing the following motto:—
'LONG LIVE ELLERTHORPE, THE HERO OF THE HUMBER!'
Grace having been chanted and justice done to the sumptuous tea, the public meeting began. Mr. John Symons occupied the chair, and he was surrounded on the platform by a large number of ministers, gentlemen, merchants, mechanics, and working men.
CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS.
The Chairman said:—It was a common custom of persons not novices situated similarly to himself, to preface their remarks by saying that some person of higher local distinction ought to occupy the honourable position as chairman, and that was his request to the committee. But as such a person was not secured, he felt proud of the position he occupied amongst them. He little thought that the movement would have proved so successful when he embarked in it, for with but little effort we have received the free-will offerings of £170. Of course printing, advertising, and other incidental expenses were incurred, and cannot be dispensed with in order to succeed in similar objects. The Royal Humane Society had awarded to Ellerthorpe an especial vote of thanks; the Board of Trade, through Sir Emmerson Tennant, had struck a silver medal in his honour; and last, but not least, the popular Premier of England had forwarded from the royal bounty the handsome donation of £20. Thus the movement so humbly began, resembled the 'little spring in the mountain rock,' which became a brook, a torrent, a wide rolling river. By narrating the lives saved by Ellerthorpe's unprecedented bravery, they had struck a chord in the innermost recesses of the heart of the benevolent portion of the people. He was surprised to find that no one had recognised Ellerthorpe's heroism before. During a period of forty years he had saved the lives of upwards of thirty persons. But however tardily it may appear to some, ultimately, eternal justice will assert itself. John Ellerthorpe never required, never expected any public recognition of his services. The only praise sought by him was—
'What nothing earthly gives or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy.'
in being the means of saving so many lives from premature death by drowning. Never let it be said the days of chivalry were over in England while we have such a nobleman as a Lord Beauclerc[3] of Scarborough, and a commoner called Ellerthorpe at Hull. He believed with those who say that the men who dares the 'tempests' wrath,' and the 'billows' madden'd play' on the errand of saving life, to be as great heroes as those who 'seek for bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth.' He would rather be a bearer of thirty blessings than the hero of one hundred fights. No true history of Hull could be written which did not contain the record of Ellerthorpe's name, and the glorious deeds he had performed. Nor could he conclude without expressing the heartfelt hope that the 'Hero of the Humber' might long live to enjoy the splendid gifts about to be presented to him, and when disease shall overtake him in his declining days, may the contents of that purse procure for him the means whereby his pillow of affliction may be smoothed and softened.