During 2023 the Georgian Society for East Yorkshire made grants from the Margaret Dibb Bequest towards the restoration of monuments in St Mary’s Church, Lowgate, Hull and St Mary’s Church, Cottingham, to two of the most influential residents of Georgian Hull. The monument in St Mary Lowgate commemorates members of four generations of the Pease family of Hull and Hesslewood, the first being Joseph Pease (1688-1778), the great entrepreneur of the port in the 18th century. Thomas Thompson (1754-1828) who is commemorated by the restored monument in St Mary’s, Cottingham, was a clerk in the merchant house of Wilberforce and Smith, before coming a partner in the banking firm based in Wilberforce House. A merchant and philanthropist who became the first Methodist MP.