This volume grew out of my doctoral thesis examining parliamentarian allegiance in Yorkshire during the first civil war. The Hotham family archive proved to be a particularly rich primary source for this work, but the prominent role of the Hothams in empowering and then sabotaging the parliamentary war effort demands wider recognition. It is hoped that publishing their papers will restore the Hothams within their local context and secure their place in the national narrative of the outbreak of civil war. Highlighting the Hothams’ kinship networks, their military resources, and their place within the parliamentarian coalition, this project combines all of their known papers, scattered across numerous archives, into one accessible volume. At the core of their family archive at Hull are the papers for Sir John Hotham's defence at his trial. Many of these are copies of the original letters, held by the Bodleian Library, that appear to have formed the papers for his prosecution. The neat handwriting of both Hothams has aided transcription but several of the trial papers in the family archive are frustratingly damaged and fragmented. Painstaking effort has been made with the palaeography but the full meaning of several items remains obscure.

The Hotham family   3

Hull and the East Riding in 1642   7

The Hothams at war   11

Arrest and trial   21

Provenance   32

Editorial decisions and practice   34

The Hotham family's collection of printed material relating to the civil war and interregnum period is now held in the Hull History Centre. Early English Books Online has been used to identify these tracts with Thomason numbers (in bold), which have been given in preference, although Wing numbers have been cited if the tract is not listed in Thomason. The length of each tract in pages is also given. The collection is listed under 82 items but contains over 400 pamphlets and ordinances; the ordering and numbering here retains those of the archive catalogue. Items 80 to 82 were deposited in the East Riding Record Office on 7 April 1972. A great deal of the collection consists of the paper war that preceded and accompanied the outbreak of war in 1642. This was probably gathered and preserved by the Hothams, anxious to justify their defiance of the king, and to monitor their reputations in print. Items 76 to 79 are four bound volumes of acts and ordinances of the interregnum parliaments, between them containing over 250 items. These may have been collected and bound by or for Durand Hotham to inform his employment as an East Riding justice of the peace during the interregnum. A handful of post-Restoration tracts are appended at the end. For a detailed discussion of this collection, see A.L. Capern, ‘The Hotham family and its papers’, Archives, 23 (1998), pp. 102–103.

Garrison warfare was a far more characteristic action of the civil wars than set-piece battles, with more soldiers employed in garrisons than in the field armies. Yet historians have neglected these garrison histories because they appear less dramatic and more mundane than battlefield engagements. This is partly due, as Ian Atherton has recently pointed out in his study of royalist Lichfield, to few garrison accounts having survived, with even fewer in print. Therefore the voluminous accounts for the major garrisons of Hull and Beverley held in The National Archives deliver a rare insight into garrison life. A garrison was planted at Hull in 1639 as the town was the key arsenal for equipping and supplying the royal army during the Bishops' Wars. What became the civil war garrison was established on 23 January 1642, when John Hotham marched several companies of the East Riding trained bands from his father's trained band regiment into Hull. Five days later, he was able to supplement them with companies of Hull's own militia.

After the King's failed siege of Hull in July 1642 he left a small garrison in Beverley, but this was soon ejected by forces under Colonel Francis Boynton. Thereafter Beverley remained in parliamentarian hands until August 1643. It became an important fundraising centre for the East Riding parliamentarians and a large garrison was established there in March 1643. The garrison accounts begin on 20 March and this date is corroborated by records from the Committee of Indemnity that demonstrate the garrison's inception as between Lady Day and Easter. This committee's records also show that Sir Edward Rodes of Great Houghton was appointed the garrison's commander-in-chief. According to Sir John Hotham, the corporation of Beverley had agreed to quarter the garrison provided the town was reimbursed by an assessment collected across the East Riding. The accounts cease a week before the arrest of Sir Edward Rodes and the unsuccessful attack on Beverley by royalist forces sent by Sir Hugh Cholmley on 29 June 1643.