Just had a look about King Billy, But what is his link with Hull? Why do we have a statue of him? Sorry if this has been asked.
Hull was a puritan/protestant/parliament stronghold during the English Civil War which started with us closing the gates to King Charles. Struggles between royalists and parliament and Protestants and Catholics continued to the end of the century. In 1688 there was another rebellion against King Charles son King James called the Glorious Revolution in which William of Orange took the crown from James II. Hull being a staunchly Protestant town the people took the town from the Catholic Governor in support of King Billy which was celebrated for years afterwards as Town Taking Day and the King Billy statue erected. Hull's strong links with Protestant Holland played a part and the Dutch Prince of Orange was hailed as 'our great deliverer' which is written on the plinth. FTP
Catholics supported the absolute power of the Sovereign and had support from the Tories. Protestants wanted the Monarch's power curtailed via Parliament and had support from the Whigs. The Whigs got their way and the country has never had a Catholic as Head of State since.
You forgot to mention that William of Orange was married to James II's daughter, Mary, which was key to the 'revolution'
Another key part I was told on a history walk was that at the time, King James was determined to ban all trade with The Netherlands - a huge part of Hull's economy, impports, exports and riches was due to to trade with The Netherlands, so anti-James tensions were already high in Hull. It was also said that although William of Oranje's invasion was in the South, Hull played a part in helping him overturn King James by sending intelligence, ammunition and other such things to aid the Dutch.
This is a great thread now I can tell my wife I have not been wasting all day looking at City Transfer Gossip!
One for the Hull history "buffs". Which of the Hull statues was removed for the duration of WW2 to save it from war damage and to where was it taken?
dunno where it was taken, but the only 1 that I'm aware has been moved is that big statue that's outside Hull College (William Wilberforce isn't it?)
The sculptor of King Billy committed suicide when he realized he'd left off the stirrups (King William is depicted as a Roman Emperor, who didn't wear stirrups). TRUE! please log in to view this image
I imagine quite a few were moved. I believe Andrew Marvell was moved into storage from the crossroads were George St/Bond St meet and was relocated to Trinity Sq. There is a picture of Andrew Marvell being surrounded by bomb damage before it was moved.
When you look at what was around at that crossroads and what replaced the bombed buildings in that area, there is no wonder it moved into new historic surroundings.
There wer two parallel streets which met at the statue, which was on a plinth. I can't recall if the road ran behind it, to join the two street ends, but I think so. Have a look at these - the one on the left, row 5: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=b...DL0AWAxoBA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoATgK&biw=1280&bih=685