The first siege of Hull was an early armed confrontation of the English Civil War, demonstrating Parliament's resolve to deny Charles I a strategic arsenal.
Key Facts
- Date of siege lift
- After 27 July 1642
- Royalist army size
- 4,000 men
- Royalist commander
- Earl of Lindsey
- Parliamentary garrison commander
- Sir John Meldrum
- Key sally outcome
- Royalist magazine west of Hull destroyed
- Hull governor
- Sir John Hotham
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Charles I sought control of a large arsenal stored at Kingston upon Hull to strengthen his position against Parliament. After being rebuffed in April 1642, he received intelligence in July that governor Sir John Hotham might surrender the town if confronted by a sufficiently large Royalist force, allowing Hotham to claim his honour was intact.
Charles marched on Hull with 4,000 men in July 1642, but Parliament had reinforced the town by sea and dispatched Sir John Meldrum to command the garrison. Hotham again refused the King's demands. The Earl of Lindsey commanded an ineffective Royalist siege while the King withdrew to York, and Meldrum conducted several offensive sallies against the besieging force.
On 27 July 1642, a Parliamentarian sally destroyed a Royalist magazine west of Hull, prompting Lindsey to lift the siege and withdraw to York. The failure denied Charles the arsenal and demonstrated Parliament's capacity to hold a key strategic town, reinforcing the trajectory toward full-scale civil war.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Earl of Lindsey, King Charles I.
Side B
1 belligerent
Sir John Meldrum, Sir John Hotham.