Catherine Hinds CHAMBERS

Catherine was baptized on 20th April 1829 at the Anglican chapel in Barlby, where her parents were living. Her father was Robert Chambers (1789 - 1858), a sailor at the time, and her mother Harriet (various spellings) née Dunhill.  Her parents had been married by licence at Selby Abbey on 22nd December 1816. 

Catherine was a middle child of at least 8 siblings.  The “Hines/Hinds” middle name doesn’t appear in the copy of the baptismal record, but it is on the death registration (GRO June 1844, Goole, v 23, p177). 

The dock at Goole was completed and opened to the public on the 20th July, 1826.  The following year Goole was constituted a Port for Foreign Trade and on 6th April, 1828, the business of the port commenced.  After serving as master on ships (e.g. the 164 ton brig “Stapler” which, according to humberpilots.co.uk, was the first vessel to be loaded outward from Goole to Hamburg), Robert settled with his family in Hook. He was now  commodore of the small fleet of pilot vessels guiding ships up from Hull Roads to the Ouse and through the locks to the Aire and Calder Navigation - a skilled job, and well paid. The Goole pilots weren’t members of Hull Trinity House, but were recruited from local masters and mates experienced on the Ouse with its tides and currents. (Humber Pilotage Act 1832).  Vessels navigating the waters between Goole and Spurn had to swap pilots in midstream. 

We have a snapshot of the family in the 1841 census (HO107/1307/16), when they are living in Hook . Robert gives his profession as pilot master, and his wife Harriet and younger children (Eliza(beth ), 14, Catherine, 12, Harriot, 10, Robert, 7 and Charlotte 8, are present. All born within the county of Yorkshire. 

*Catherine died, according to the inscription on her grave, on May 24th 1844, aged 15. However, this seems to be an error on the part of the stonemason as, according to her burial record (Doncaster Archives, Yorkshire Burials, P39-1-C2, Pg.53), Catherine was buried at Hook on 27th April 1844 - her name on the burial record is given as Catherine Hine Chamber.  Presumably her death therefore occurred on 24th April 1844, not May.  

Catherine’s middle name, recorded as Hinds, Hines or Hine, remains a mystery.  Was this the maiden name of an ancestor maybe?

The remaining family seems to be missing from the 1851 census. Either they were all at sea, which is unlikely or, just as unlikely, the company house they lived in on the docks in Goole  was not accessible to the enumerators…or there’s a page missing from the census. 

Robert died on 27th February 1858, aged 68 years.  His wife, Harriet, died on 18th February 1875, aged 79 years.  At the time of Robert's death, the family were living at the Dock Master's House in Goole. Both Robert and his widow, Harriet, were buried and memorialised in Goole St Johns.  Sadly, all the headstones in Goole were removed in 1964.    (J. I.)