HULL (officially KINGSTON-UPON-HULL), a city and county of a city, municipal, county and parliamentary borough and sea port in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, at the junction of the river Hull with the Humber, 22 m. from the open sea, and 181 m. N. of London by the L.N.E. railway. Pop. The city area is 9,042 acres. The town stands on a level plain so low as to render embankments necessary to prevent inundations. The older portion is completely enclosed by the Hull on the east, the Humber on the south, and by docks on the north and west. Here are a few old houses and also narrow streets typical of the mediaeval mercantile town, though modern improvements have destroyed some of them.
The first mention of Hull occurs under the name of Wyke-upon Hull in a charter of 116o, by which Maud, daughter of Hugh Camin, granted it to the monks of Meaux, who in 1278 received licence to hold a market here every Thursday, and a fair on the :eve, day and morrow of Holy Trinity and 12' following days. Shortly afterwards, Edward I., seeing its value as a port, obtained the town from the monks in exchange for other lands in Lincoln shire, and changed its name to Kingston-upon-Hull. To induce people to settle here, he gave the town a charter in 1299. This made the town a free borough, and provided that the king would send his justices to deliver the prison when necessary; and it granted two weekly markets on Tuesday and Friday, and a fair on the eve of St. Augustine, lasting 3o days.
While inspecting former charters, Edward III., in 1381, granted the burgesses the right to hold the borough with fairs, markets and free customs at a fee-farm of £ 70, and power to choose a mayor and four bailiffs each year. So that they might obtain a supply of fresh water, Hessle, North Ferriby and other places were granted to the burgesses of Hull in 1440, and the county of the town of Kingston-upon-Hull was created, and included these places. In 1541 the town was visited by Henry VIII., who ordered a castle and other places of defence to be built. Edward VI. granted the manor to the burgesses in 1552, but the town was not incorporated until 1576. A new charter was granted by James II. in 1688. During the Civil Wars, although the ma jority of the inhabitants were Royalists, Hull was garrisoned by the Parliamentarians, and Charles I. was refused admission by the governor, Sir John Hotham. In 1643 it was besieged for six weeks, and the new governor, Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Baron Fairfax, obliged the Royalist army to retreat by opening the sluices and flooding the surrounding country.
Holy Trinity church is one of the largest English parish churches, with the transepts and choir in Decorated style. The choir is largely of brick, and thus affords an unusually early example of the use of this material in English ecclesiastical architecture. The nave is a fine example of Perpendicular style. The church of St. Mary, Lowgate, was founded in the 14th century, but is almost wholly a reconstruction. A Friends' meeting-house was built in 1919, a synagogue in 1914 and a large Wesleyan Methodist hall in 1910. The principal public buildings are the town hall in Low gate, and the Royal Institution, containing a library and museum, and accommodating the Literary and Philosophical Society. The Grammar school was founded in 1486. One of its masters was Joseph Milner (1744-97), author of a history of the church, and among its students were Andrew Marvell, the poet (1621-78) and William Wilberforce (1759-1833). The latter is commemo rated by a column and statue near the dock offices, and by the preservation of the house of his birth in High street. This house belongs to the corporation, and was opened in 1906 as the Wilber force and Historical museum. The city hall and municipal art gal leries were opened in 1910, and the Guildhall enlarged in 1915.
With its Grammar school, the Hull and East Riding college, Hymer's college, the Trinity House Marine school (established in 1716), the Humber Industrial school ship, "Southampton," and technical and art schools, Hull is the educational centre for the whole of East Riding. The need for a centre for higher education was recognized by the Rt. Hon. T. R. Ferens, in 1925, when he gave £250,000 towards the establishment of a university college. He had previously given land on the Cottingham road, on the out skirts of the city, as a site for a new technical college, but this has been used for the new University college buildings which were opened in 1928. Charities and benevolent foundations are nu merous. Trinity House, a charity for seamen of the merchant service, was founded by the Trinity House Guild (instituted in 1369) and the present building was erected in 1753. It contains a noteworthy collection of paintings and a museum, much of which was destroyed by fire in 1924. The Charterhouse belongs to a foundation for the support of the old and feeble, established in 2384 by Sir Michael de la Pole, afterwards earl of Suffolk. The infirmary was founded in 1782. In a home for incurables was built and in 1914 a new poor law hospital.
The original harbour occupied that part of the river Hull which faced the old town, but in 1774 an Act was passed for forming a dock on the site of the old fortifications on the right bank of the Hull. This afterwards became known as Queen's dock, and with Prince's and Humber docks, it completes the circle round the old town. The small railway dock opens from Humber dock. East of the Hull lie the Victoria dock and extensive timber ponds, and west of the Humber dock basin and parallel to the Humber, lies Albert dock. Others are the Alexandra, St. Andrew's and fish docks. The port was enlarged in 1914 by the open ing of the King George's dock, with a large grain silo and fine equipment, covering an area of 53 ac., and with provision for future extension to 85 acres. The docks are owned by the L.N.E. railway and cover a water area of 236 ac., with Io m. of quays. The ports of Hull and Goole have been administratively combined since 1888 under the Humber Conservancy Board. Hull has be come one of the largest ports of Great Britain, having shipping commerce with all parts of the world. It is one of the principal ports for the manufactures of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and has direct communication by canal and rail with the coalfields of the West Riding. Large quantities of grain are imported from Russia and America, and timber is imported from Norway and Sweden. Iron, fish, butter and fruit are other important imports.
Hull was an early seat of the whale "fisheries," and sea fishing is still extensively prosecuted. There are some 30o steam trawlers in the fishing fleet, which did valuable service during the World War. The extensive and varied traffic of Hull was much affected by the war, as the city was in the area of the North sea opera tions, but the volume of trade had almost recovered in 1928. The numerous industries include iron-founding, shipbuilding and en gineering, and the manufacture of chemicals, vegetable oil, colours, cement, paper, starch, soap and cotton goods; there are also tan neries and breweries. Passenger steamship services run from Hull to the principal Norwegian and Swedish ports. A ferry serves New Holland on the Lincolnshire shore.
Hull was represented in the parliament of 1295, and has sent members ever since, save that in 1384 the burgesses were ex empted from returning any member on account of the expenses which they were incurring through fortifying their town. The parliamentary borough returned two members in 1885, three in 1913, and now the borough is divided into four divisions—east, central, north-west and south-west, each of which returns one member. Hull became the seat of a suffragan bishop in the diocese of York in 1891. This was a revival, as the office was in existence from 1534 till the death of Edward VI. The county borough was created in 1888.