The imminent arrival of the King at Kingston upon Hull was announced with the arrival in the town, on Friday 22^nd April 1642, of the king's eight year old son the future James II, together with his nephew Karl Ludwig the exiled Elector Palatine. They were escorted by the Lords Newport and Willoughby de Eresby, Sir Thomas Glenham and fifty men all of whom were welcomed into the town by Henry Barnard the Mayor, the sheriff John Rogers and several of his Aldermen. The party made it known they intended to stay for one night before meeting with the king on the road from York on the morrow. The following morning a message arrived by way of Sir Lewis Dyve that it was the king's intention to dine within the town that day. Hotham, mindful of his instructions from Parliament, decided to convene an immediate meeting of the key men within the town. Included was the Mayor Henry Barnard, Sir Peregrine Pelham one of the town's more outspoken M.P's and Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Legard a senior officer of the garrison, which Parliament had recently seen fit to reinforce by 1,000 men. He was the eldest son of Robert Legard the aged landowner from the nearby village of Anlaby.

There is a tradition in Hull that the decision to exclude the king from the town was taken within the walls of the building currently a public house known by the sign of Ye Olde White Hart in a room called the Plotting Chamber. There is however no evidence, documentary or otherwise to support this conjecture. Indeed it is doubtful that the building was even standing at the time in question. (It seems more likely that the "Plot" if there ever was one concerned the "Glorious Revolution" and the removal of James II as king and the possible landing and welcoming of William of Orange within the town, in 1688.) This is not the place to discuss the arguments concerning the history of one of Hull's more famous pubs, but it must be stated that there is more than enough evidence to cast doubt upon the traditionally held beliefs.

The fateful decision agreed, a messenger was sent unto the king who was found upon the road from Beverley not far distant from the town walls. Immediately the gates were barred and locked and the newly installed drawbridges were raised against the man who had insisted upon their construction.

Saturday the 23^rd of April 1642 dawned dull with sporadic rain and drizzle. Just before noon the presence of His Majesty King Charles was announced, at the Beverley Gate of Kingston upon Hull, by the Richmond and Chester Heralds. Accompanying the king were the Earls of Lindsay and Montrose, Prince Rupert and many other nobles and Yorkshire gentry. The military column of richly dressed cavaliers together with file after file of pike-men and musketeers stretched back almost to Beverley itself so great were their number. Through an intermediary, possibly one of the Heralds, the king demanded rightful entry to the town, and the munitions, which were the property of the Crown. Sir John Hotham, backed up by another of the prolific Legard family, Peregrine Pelham and several of the more radical Aldermen all of whom had taken a position upon the crenellated ramparts of the stopped up Beverley gatehouse, procrastinated. They suggested, politely it is assumed, that the king's escort was far too large for the stated purpose and refused the king admission in accordance with the strict instructions from Parliament. Hotham however, suggested a compromise whereby the king might enter on the condition that his escort was restricted to a mere twelve attendants. Probably advised that such conditions would compromise the safety of the king the suggestion was rejected and a counter proposal was made for the number of attendants to be increased to thirty. Hotham, Pelham and the others high above considered such a number might be enough to rally royal support within the town which could subsequently be lost to the Parliamentary cause. With those worries in mind access was once more denied the king. The verbal altercations continued until by five of the clock in the afternoon with the king still waiting, the two Heralds were instructed to proclaim Sir John Hotham guilty of High Treason, whereupon the royal party turned away from Hull and the king returned to York by way of Beverley. Richmond and Chester Heralds remained in Beverley overnight with orders to offer Sir John one final chance to alter his stance. It was not accepted.

Meanwhile, urgent messages had been sent by Sir John to Parliament informing them of the situation and his declared treason. Parliament acted with great speed to revoke the charge in a document dated 26^th April 1642 which stated :

There followed what can only be described as a propaganda campaign during which hiatus Parliament were able to use the time to remove the vast bulk of the Hull arsenal, it filling four ships. The small convoy arrived in London and the munitions discharged for storage in the capital on the 30^th of May. It was ensured that sufficient was left in the town for its defence but the manifest of the arms removed included 49 pieces of brass ordnance : 40 (gun) carriages with shod wheels : 7,238 muskets : 3,729 swords : 1,658 pikes : 300 pairs of pistols : 1,967 other pistols : 906 barrels of (gun) powder : 755 carbines with firelocks & 1,540 carbines with snaphance : 105 grenadoes : 31 barrels of musket bullets : 1,170 great canon shot : and 1,498 of other shot. Thus was removed one of the reasons for the king's interest in the town which was replaced by the need to re-establish Royal authority. The other, its strategic position remained and Charles desperately needed the port facilities for the safe return of his queen and the help which she was promising him. The time interval was also utilised to foment several plots and subversions attempted against Hull and Sir John Hotham in particular by the Royalists, all were apparently thwarted.

It was on the 3^rd of July that the king returned to the vicinity of Hull and set up his court in Beverley, once more hoping that by his presence the town would surrender. This manouvre was boldly announced in a paper, broadcast around the town called "Horrible Newes fom Hull ; Wherein is declared how the king's Majesty, attended by the Prince and 400 horsemen, and 700 footmen are gone to besiege Hull ...... Also His Majesty's Resolution to take up Armes against all those that shall oppose him........ July 11. London, Printed for J. H. and T. Rider, 1642." The area of Holderness to the east of the town was largely Royalist in its loyalties so a consignment of arms and munitions onboard the ship Providence (300 tons) was enabled to offload her cargo at Keyingham Creek after a protracted chase by the Parliamentary vessel Mayflower off the mouth of the Humber. It is of interest that Keyingham is presently several miles from the nearest navigable waterway, the area of land called Sunk Island having been accreted since the 17^th century. One of the methods employed by the king to subvert the determination of Hull in the form of John Hotham was to send to him by devious means a messenger who was the Lord Digby. He imparted exaggerated information of the number of troops with the king and offered a final chance for Hotham to change his mind. It was an ill fated meeting which Hotham would later regret. It appeared to Digby that Hotham had agreed to a token defence of the town before throwing open the gates to the king in submission, whereupon he (Hotham) would be granted both a Pardon and monetary reward. So it was that king Charles, accompanied by the Earl Lindsey and a force comprising of 1,000 horse and 3,000 foot, once more approached the walls and gates of Hull. This apparently small army, though in fact relatively large for the time, was both ill equipped and ill prepared for confrontation. One of the very first actions of the Earl was to commandeer the manor house of the Legard family at Anlaby. It seems certain that the local people, well aware of the forthcoming events, had taken their leave and left for places somewhat more secure. The agreed first shot was fired but the agreed surrender never happened. Sir John had had another change of heart and resolved to defend rather than surrender Hull. The town had indeed strengthened its defences by adding half moon earthwork batteries to the three west facing gates, artillery, including a brass basilisk 17 feet long was mounted upon the repaired walls and the Hessle and Myton gates had been stopped up with huge amounts of earth making then virtually un-breachable. Hotham informed Parliament of the latest developments whilst asking for further reinforcements. The response came in the form of Sir John Meldrum with 1,500 men in the armed vessels Unicorn and Rainbow. It took some time though before their arrival. The defence of the town was completed on the 6^th of July when the sluices were opened and the Humber banks broken which resulted in the flooding of the land for about two miles around the town. This was followed on the 10^th by a raiding party from the Royalist camp which was sent to intimidate the inhabitants of the town by burning down the windmills outside the walls and to present a show of strength. As a tactic it was a singular failure because after they came under fire from the walls the force fled with undignified haste. The town's people moral was greatly enhanced by this minor victory which served only to harden their resolve. Thus opened the first military action of the English Civil War. It must be said that at the time it must have seemed as a purely local incident caused by one vexatious town governor.