Second Siege of Hull

After his victory over the Fairfaxes at Adwalton Moor, the Earl of Newcastle advanced southwards into Lincolnshire with his main northern army. He captured Gainsborough and Lincoln and appeared to be in a strong position to strike deeper into the territory of the Eastern Association, and from there to threaten London itself. However, the absence of Newcastle's army from Yorkshire enabled the Fairfaxes to fortify themselves strongly at Hull. By August 1643, Sir Thomas Fairfax had established a forward base at Beverley and was leading cavalry raids on Royalist positions, culminating in an attack on Stamford Bridge near York that prompted Lord Newcastle to abandon his march south and return with his army into Yorkshire.

Early in September 1643, Newcastle's troops occupied the towns and villages around Hull and began constructing earthworks and gun emplacements to besiege the town. The bombardment of Hull began on 2 September but was largely ineffective because the Royalist siege works were too far from the town walls. The main Royalist fort was captured and destroyed in a Parliamentarian raid during the first week of the siege. On 14 September, Lord Fairfax ordered the sluices to be opened the banks of the River Humber to be broken to flood the surrounding land, as had happened during the first siege of Hull in 1642.

Parliamentarian warships patrolled the Humber estuary, allowing supplies to be shipped in. On 22 September, Colonel Cromwell crossed from the Lincolnshire side with muskets and gunpowder for the defenders, joining the Fairfaxes in prayers and fasting before returning to Lincolnshire. Four days later, Sir Thomas Fairfax ferried his cavalry and dragoons across the Humber to join forces with the Eastern Association, leaving the defence of the city in the hands of Lord Fairfax, who was reinforced with 500 soldiers commanded by Sir John Meldrum. On 9 October, the Royalists attempted to storm the defences. Although outlying fortifications were captured, the Royalists could not consolidate the attack and were driven back. Two days later, Meldrum led an attack on the Royalist gun emplacements. The Parliamentarian force of about 1,500 men was composed of soldiers from the garrison, sailors from the warships and citizens from the town. Meldrum attacked in two divisions, one led by Colonel Lambert, the other by Thomas Rainsborough, captain of the Lion. The raiders overran the Royalist gun emplacements and succeeded in hauling off several great siege cannon.

On 12 October, the Earl of Newcastle abandoned the siege of Hull and fell back to York. The failure of the siege, in combination with the Parliamentarian victory at Winceby in Lincolnshire, ended Royalist hopes of an advance towards London by the Earl of Newcastle's northern army.