In 1648, the English city of Colchester was under the control of a group known as the Royalists, who wished for King Charles I to be able to rule the country without Parliament. So, you might be asking, what was Humpy Dumpty? Well, if you believe several historians, Humpty Dumpty was actually the nickname of a cannon used during the English Civil War of 1642–1649. For that, you can thank the 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll which contained illustrations of Humpty Dumpty as an egg, a portrayal which continued throughout popular culture ever since. Interestingly, you’re probably picturing an egg as the main character, in spite of the fact that the lyrics don’t describe Humpty at all. But when the top of the church tower was hit by enemies, the cannon tumbled to the ground and fell apart. The fall that Humpty took was only fatal because he had ascended to such heights. The cannon was placed there as a defensive measure during Colchester’s siege in 1648. Answer (1 of 14): Humpty Dumpty is a meditation on the fleeting nature of power and the risk that comes with any position of authority. It’s not a complicated story: The titular Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall and falls off, spilling his innards while “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” fail to put him back together again. During the English Civil War, history says, a one-eyed gunner named Thompson managed to get a cannon colloquially called ‘Humpty Dumpty’, to the top of the tower of St Mary at the Walls church and wreak untold destruction on the forces below, before return cannon fire dislodged the pair of them. It says that Humpty Dumpty was a nickname given to a massive cannon, propped up on one of the walls of the town’s church, in Colchester, England. The nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”-with its simplistic lyrics and surrealistic imagery-has been a classic among children throughout the world since 1870. Tellingly, the lyrics of the nursery rhyme never describe Humpty Dumpty as an egg either. During a vicious battle in 1648, the cannon fell from a battlement and was unable to be recovered (i.e., put back together again). However, historical evidence actually suggests that Humpty Dumpty was actually a cannon used by the Royalists during the English Civil War. You might think that the main character of the classic children’s nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” is an egg. “Humpty had always sat on walls, it was his way.” -Jasper Fforde, “The Big Over Easy” In A Nutshell
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