Zachariah Pearson

Zachariah Charles Pearson
Born	1821
Died	1891

Zachariah Pearson (1821-1891) was an English shipowner, best known today for the gift of land to Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, which was used to establish the City's first public park, later known as Pearson Park.

He was bankrupted in the 1860s owing to the loss of ships which were attempting to trade with the Confederate states during the United States civil war, in an ill-fated effort to buy cotton in order to reopen Hull's cotton mills.

Pearson was born, to Zachariah and Elizabeth, in the Sutton area of east Hull. At 12, he stowed away on a ship, but was returned home until he was 16, when he enlisted as a cabin boy. By the age of 21 he was captain, four years later acquiring his own ship, and going on to build a successful shipping business. As a member of Trinity House, he was a keen advocate of the marine trade and commercial business of Hull, and one of the leading shipowners to initiate a dock improvement scheme. He was frequently invited to Whitehall to advise the Board of Trade. He played a key role in social welfare in the city, including financial contributions to the conversion of a bank building in Salthouse Lane into a Sailors’ Home in 1860 and the opening of the Hull Temporary Home for Fallen Women in Nile street in 1861. He chaired the Restoration Committee for Holy Trinity Church and built Beverley Road Wesleyan Chapel.

Pearson held the offices of Sheriff of Kingston upon Hull in 1858, and Mayor (Chief Magistrate and Officer) in 1859 and 1861. See List of Sheriffs of Kingston upon Hull and List of Mayors of Kingston upon Hull.

During his first term as Mayor he was instrumental in organising the construction of Hull's first purpose built town Hall (begun in 1862 and opened in 1866, to a design of Cuthbert Brodrick). His was the Council that broke the deadlock of providing Hull with a clean water supply, and in 1862 he ‘turned the first sod' at Stone Ferry where the reservoir would store the artesian water piped in from the west of Hull.

In 1860 Pearson gifted 27 acres (11 ha) of the 37 acres (15 ha) of land he had acquired near Beverley Road to the Hull Board of Health, for the establishment of a public park (now named Pearson Park), keeping the remainder of the land for building development; and paid £300 for the construction of an access road. In this way, he aimed to provide relaxation space and clean air for the workers to breathe, and a desirable residential location for Hull’s businessmen and merchants to remain in the town and continue to contribute towards its success. The plan was to reimburse the Council’s expenditure in laying out the park from the sale of the villa plots around the periphery of the park. Pearson handed over the Deed to the Park at a ‘Colossal Fete’ in August 1862.

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