Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The city is unique in the UK in having had a municipally owned telephone system from 1902, sporting cream, not red, telephone boxes. Founded late in the 12th century, Hull was an early theatre of battle in the English Civil Wars. Its 18th-century Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, played a key role in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. Renamed Kings-town upon Hull by King Edward I in 1299, Hull has also been a market town, military supply port, trading hub, fishing and whaling centre, and industrial metropolis.
