On 2nd July 1644 some 42,000 men from five armies gathered in the fields that surround us. What followed would be the largest battle of the Civil Wars which engulfed England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland between 1642 and 1651.
How did they come to be here?
I could talk about generals and the more famous units like Cromwell’s Ironsides, Prince Rupert’s Blewcoats and Newcastle’s Whitecoats. However, I intend to use one lesser known regiment from each of the five armies and their experiences to give another context to the story of Marston Moor.
In January 1644 the infantry, referred to at the time as foot, regiment of the Earl of Crawford-Lindsay which had been raised in Fife, crossed the border into England as part of a large Scots Army. This was the result of an agreement with the Scots known as ‘The Solemn League and Covenant’. They were to enter the war on the Parliamentarian side in return for the extension of the Covenant to England. The English Parliamentarians had negotiated Scottish involvement as their position the end of the 1643 campaigning season did not look favourable. This was particularly so in the North. Here the Marquess Of Newcastle had restricted the Parliamentarian Northern Association under Lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas to Hull or pushed them over the border into Lancashire.
In response to the incursion of the Scots the Marquess Of Newcastle rushed with his main field army to secure Newcastle, leaving the security of Yorkshire in the hands of the local Royalists. One of the regiments he took with him was Sir Richard Hutton’s Foot, a Yorkshire regiment with its officers primarily from the York area.
It is interesting to note that in a battle fought in March at Hylton in County Durham it is possible that Crawford-Lindsey’s and Hutton’s engaged each other.
Meanwhile in Yorkshire the absence of Newcastle and his troops gave the Fairfax’s chance to regroup and build up their strength. One of the cavalry regiments which no doubt did so was Sir Hugh Bethell’s which had been with Sir Thomas Fairfax when he won his victory at Nantwich in January 1644. As one of Fairfax’s longer standing regiments it is likely that it was one of those with which he stormed Selby in the April of that year, effectively destroying the Army of those Yorkshire Royalists Newcastle had left behind to secure the County.
The news of this defeat caused the Marquess Of Newcastle to disengage from the Scots and move south to secure York. They followed up with the result that York became besieged.
One of the more unusual names associated with Marston Moor is that of Bartholomew Vermuyden a Dutch officer who commanded a cavalry regiment in the Eastern Association that was recruited in Norfolk. It arrived at York with the rest of the Association in early June. York was now fully besieged.
One of the oldest regiments at Marston Moor was that of Robert Broughton, possibly raised as early as 1640 for service in Ireland. By 1644 it had returned to England and was with Prince Rupert’s Army at Shrewsbury. When King Charles directed Rupert to move to relieve York, Broughton’s went with him.
The eventual approach of Rupert’s Army led to the Allies breaking the siege and coming together on Marston Moor on 30th June as they expected this to be the best position to interdict his approach to York. However, he stole a march on them and approached from the other side of the river Ouse. Consequently one the morning of 2nd July the Allies decided to retire to Tadcaster.
This could have been a fatal mistake as Rupert had taken a bridge of boats at Poppleton and he appeared on the Moor whilst they were strung out. Fortunately for them, their rearguard was on the higher ground on the south side of the battlefield, preventing him from finding out just how vulnerable they were. This rearguard was provided by Sir Thomas Fairfax’s cavalry and would have included Bethell’s regiment.
The rest of the day was spent bringing the armies together and deploying them. Bethell’s were on the Allied right, in the first line of Fairfax’s cavalry. This would be almost opposite us towards the Cromwell’s Plump. Nearby was Crawford-Lindey’s at the extreme right of the first line of allied infantry. Vermuyden’s were on the Allied far left, part of the Eastern Association cavalry, in the second line which their colonel commanded.
On the Royalist side, Robert Broughton’s Foot regiment stood in the centre of their front line. The late arrival of Newcastle’s infantry from York around 4pm meant that this front line of the Royalist infantry was composed exclusively of Rupert’s troops. As a result, Sir Richard Hutton’s regiment would have found itself in the second or even the third line.
This late arrival led Rupert to decide that there would be no action that day and so the Royalists stood down. On the other side, despite the late hour the decision was taken to attack. At around 7:30 they advanced at pace, quickly approaching the Royalist lines. On the right wing Fairfax’s cavalry had some initial success, but their second line was beaten, not least due to the fact their their approach opened them up to musket fire on their left flank. This came from the Royalist infantry in the front line, primarily Henry Tillier’s regiment who stood at the left end of the line. Bethell’s was one of the regiments badly handled and subsequently thrown back by a Royalist countercharge. Bethell himself lost an eye and his horse was taken and used by Sir Philip Monkton, a royalist cavalry officer whose own had been killed.
Whilst the Royalists infantry had been caught unawares and their front line pushed back and possibly broken in places, this gave time for Newcastle’s infantry to form up and counterattack. Hutton’s may well have been involved in this, along with two small bodies of horse which caused serious problems for the front line infantry of Fairfax and the Scots, some of whom broke and ran. Not so, Crawford-Lindsey’s who, along with Maitland’s regiment, stood their ground. Despite possibly being attacked on three sides by a combination of horse and foot, they held until support from other Scots infantry regiments could come up.
Whilst this was going on the decisive part of the battle was taking place on the Allied left/Royalist right over towards Tockwith. Here the Eastern Association infantry had pushed that of the Royalist front line back. As for their cavalry, after stiff fight they too had been victorious, driving off the Royalist Horse. Vermuyden’s, despite being in the second line must have been involved in this as more than one charge had been needed.
Unlike the victorious Royalist cavalry of the other flank Cromwell and his officers, including Vermuyden, kept their men in check and launched a flank attack onto the Royalist infantry. To cut a long story short, this collapsed the Royalist line from its right in short order. Accounts talk of the attack meeting little resistance except from Newcastle’s Whitecoats and a battalion of Greencoats. As many will know the Whitecoats died almost to a man and Hutton’s might well have been embroiled in this. Certainly, the number of casualties reported indicates a significant part of Newcastle’s infantry was involved and not just his own regiment. That being said, Hutton himself survived, suggesting that, at least in part, they were not.
As for the Greencoats, this could have been Broughton’s but given their position at the end of the line is more likely that most of them would have been Tillier’s, particularly given Henry Tillier himself was captured.
The returning cavalry of the Royalist left wing found a very different situation to the one they left and they in turn were broken and fled toward York, bringing the battle to an end.
Marston Moor Talk Given at Monument on the 2024 Memorial March by Simon Wright
Preface
Part of the Annual Marston Moor Memorial march is a short talk entitled “The Story of Marston Moor”. When called upon to do this I try to pick a different theme on each occasion. The following is last year’s effort (2024). It is not intended to be a definitive, academic account, rather an attempt to reflect the experiences of some of the lesser figures involved. The main source for this was the Civil War Petitions website (www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk) along with Henry Westby’s Account book which can be found in Sheffield Archives.
The Talk
Anyone familiar with the Battle of Marston Moor will know the names of the senior commanders involved and the background as to why the battle was fought on 2nd July 1644 in the fields around the monument. For those who do not, a quick recap:
Situation at the end of 1643
By the end of 1643, it was looking like the victory of King Charles I and his Royalist forces was more than likely. In the North and Yorkshire in particular, the army of William Cavendish, the Marquess of Newcastle was dominant. The troops of the Parliamentarian Northern Association under Lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas were either penned in Hull or over the border in Lancashire.
Entry of the Scots
This all changed following the entry of the Scots into the war in late 1643. The intervention of their large army commanded by the Earl of Leven and David Leslie meant that Newcastle had to take the greater part of his field army northwards to meet the threat, leaving the defence of Yorkshire and York in particular, in the hands of the local Royalists.
Impact of Selby
The Fairfaxes saw this as an opportunity and, to cut a long story short, brought their forces together and inflicted a serious defeat on the Royalists under Sir John Belasyse at Selby on 11th April.
The news of this defeat led Newcastle to abandon the fight against the Scots and hurry south to secure York, arriving there on 16th April. By the 3rd of June York is completely surrounded, not only by the forces of the Fairfaxes and the Scots, but also by the Army of the Eastern Association, which had moved north from its operations around Newark. This army was commanded by The Earl of Manchester with Oliver Cromwell commanding the cavalry and Lawrence Crawford the Foot.
Rupert Marches
The news of this led King Charles to direct his nephew, Prince Rupert, to march with his army to relieve the city. Cutting long story short again, the approach of Rupert led the Allied army, as the combined besieging forces are known, to decide to break off the siege on the 30th June and concentrate on Marston or Hessay Moor as it was known at the time. This duly happened on the following day.
The morning of the battle
Come the morning of 2nd the Allies had started to withdraw southwards and were strung out with their lead troops almost in Tadcaster. In the meantime Prince Rupert had seized a bridge of boats at Poppleton and his Army started to appear on the moor. In turn this led to the Allies urgently issuing a recall.
The bulk of the 2nd July was therefore spent by both sides gathering their forces on the moor. This was completed by 4.00pm with the late arrival of the Marquess of Newcastle’s infantry and the final regiments of the Scots coming into line.
Royalist decision
The lateness led Rupert and Newcastle to the conclusion that nothing would happen until the next day and so stand their men down. This decision was not shared by the Allies!
Focussing on individuals
Traditional battle narratives tend to focus on generals and the overall picture. But what of the experience of lesser officers and the ordinary rank and file?
One of the first, if not the first, casualty was Roger Houghton, who was probably a captain in the Royalist Sir Thomas Tydlesley’s regiment. At about 2pm the Allies opened an artillery barrage to cover the return to the field of their troops. It was this that killed him and may well have killed and injured others in his regiment such as John Hilton from Wheelton and Thomas Preston of Forton both Lancashire, along with a Henry Bradley. That being said these casualties may have come later as result of the general Allied assault which came simultaneously with sudden summer thunderstorm at around 5pm.
The Battle commences
There is some indication that Cromwell on the Allied left was the first to move in response to Royalist artillery fire. Certainly, after the battle he reported the death of his nephew Valentine Walton who lost his leg from a cannon shot.
Whatever the sequence of events as they were stood down the Royalists were taken by surprise and on their right their first line of Horse was quickly swept away. The troops Prince Rupert led up in his unsuccessful attempt to rectify the situation included the Prince’s own Horse regiment. Serving under him was one Rowland Harrison of Whitby who was a long standing Royalist having enlisted with the Prince when King Charles raised his standard Nottingham. Thereafter he fought at Powick Bridge, Edgehill, Brentford later was captured at Cirencester. Despite this he was either released or escaped in time to be back with his regiment at the battle and was one of those who managed to get away apparently unscathed. Unfortunately, one Edmund Sudell in Molyneux’s regiment which was also part of Rupert’s manoeuvre, was not as lucky, as his wounds led to him being blinded.
Across the whole of the line the Allied forces attacked. In the centre, they in turn were counterattacked by at least some of Newcastle’s infantry and also a small contingent of cavalry including Newcastle himself. Involved in all this were George Hancocke of Mountagu’s regiment and John Donge of Overton’s regiment. The latter was seriously injured, losing the use of his left hand which caused problems in later life as he was brick layer by trade.
The cavalry on the Allied left was commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax. Despite his personal success, most of his regiments were very badly handled. We know that Thomas Hughson, a Trooper in Sir William Fairfax’s lost his life as did Edward Birberb, Henry Green and Richard Elliot of Henry Westby’s company. Hughson was a shoemaker by trade.
Collapse of the Royalist centre
After his defeat of Rupert Cromwell managed to keep his cavalry under command for the greater part, unlike the victorious Royalist Horse on their left wing which careened off in pursuit of their beaten opponents and to raid the Allied baggage. So when Sir Thomas Fairfax appeared on his wing having ridden through the Royalist Army after taking his field sign from his hat, he was in the position to be able to be able to start rolling up the Royalist army.
Various people and regiments were caught up in this. Many will have been killed but others were wounded and captured. Examples are Robert ap Edward from Wales, Hugh Lewis, James Richardson, John Roberts, Peter Jones and William Stoakes who all arrived on the field with Prince Rupert. Newcastle’s infantry was also hard hit. Again we know the names of some of these: James Stockton, Thomas Cowpland, Thomas Edwards, Edward Bagshaw, Francis Petty and Robert Rowell to name but a few.
Quite quickly, Marston Moor being a short battle compared to others in the Civil Wars, the Royalist Army infantry disintegrated and the returning cavalry of their right wing found the battle lost.
The Last Stand
That being said there were two units who stood their ground. One was probably the green coats of Henry Tillier’s regiment with Tillier himself being captured. The other was the Whitecoats of Newcastle’s own regiment under their colonel Posthumous Kirton. These died almost to a man, with only 30 being taken prisoner and that against their will. It is just possible that one of these was James Moore of Letwell. In January 1699 at nearly 80 he petitioned for relief. The start of his petition reads:
“That your Worships’ poor petitioner, being taken by the commission of array from Letwell aforesaid for the use of his Majesty’s service, King Charles the First, of blessed memory, under the command of his Grace, William Duke of Newcastle. In which said service, at a battle fought upon Marston Moor, he received many wounds in his head, especially one by a pistol shot, which bullet doth sit in his neck, which is very apparent to be seen and is both painful and very troublesome to him, being very near eighty years of age.”
He was granted 40s a year.
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Petition of Frances Hughson (daughter of Thomas Hughson) of Macclesfield, Cheshire, 23 April 1655
From the Civil War Petitions website (www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk). Their site reads as follows for copyright: “All document images are copyright of the holding archive and reproduced by permission under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC licence. They may not be reproduced without the consent of the archive”. And “Images may be used only for non-commercial purposes, such as research, private study or education. For the avoidance of doubt commercial use includes but is not limited to direct resale of images and to monetising the images directly or indirectly through applications and websites such as pay-per-view download or subscription services. Applications for any other use should be made to Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, Duke Street, Chester CH1 1RL.”
The petition of James Moore of Letwell, West Riding of Yorkshire, 17 January 1699
Source and copyright is as above, but this time the owner is West Yorkshire Archive Service, West Yorkshire History Centre, 127 Kirkgate, Wakefield WF1 1JG.
Henry Westby’s Diary, Page showing those of his soldiers killed at Hessay (Marston) Moor 2nd July 1644.
Source of this is “Sources for the Study of the English Civil War (1642 – 1651)” produced by Sheffield Libraries, Archives and Information.
The copyright statement therein reads: “Images can be copied for private or educational use without permission from us, though we ask that the following acknowledgement is included ‘[document reference number] from the collections of Sheffield Libraries Archives and Information’. Please contact us if you wish to publish, exhibit or broadcast any of the information within this Guide.”
Hiding In Plain Sight – Possible Unconsidered Evidence As To What Happened At Marston Moor?
One of the books on the shelf above where I work at home is called “Fuller’s Worthies”. This is subset of a larger work called “Worthies Of England” by Thomas Fuller. Published in 1662, this is subtitled “The history of the worthies of England who for parts and learning have been eminent in the several counties: together with an historical narrative of the native commodities and rarities in each county”. In modern terms it is a combination of a dictionary of biography and a gazetteer with chapters for different counties. There is even an addendum in Volume 3 for the counties of Wales.
It was only recently that I picked this up and looked more closely I realised that there are sections on the battles that were fought in some counties. For Yorkshire only one battle is described: Marston Moor. The entry is a quite an extended one, running to two pages in my copy. Most relevant to us, it contains specific references to Newcastle’s infantry.
The first of these reads:
“Some causelessly complain of the marquis of Newcastle, that he drew not his men soon enough (according to his orders) out of York, to the prince’s seasonable succour. Such consider not that soldiers newly relieved from a nine weeks siege will a little indulge themselves. Nor is it in the power of a general to make them at such times to march at a minute’s warning, but that such a minute will be more than an hour in the length thereof.”
As we know from other sources that Newcastle’s infantry did not appear on the Moor until well into the afternoon. This was in part due to the ‘indulgence’ being looting the abandoned siege lines. There is even a reference to them appearing in new footwear acquired in the process. The quotation also shows the realities of military manoeuvring: things take time!
The next quotation is much more specific:
“The marquis of Newcastle’s Whitecoats (who were said to bring their winding sheet about them into the field), after thrice firing, fell to it with the but ends of their muskets, and were invincible ; till mowed down by Cromwell s cuirassiers, with Job’s servants, they were all almost slain, few escaping to bring the tidings of their overthrow.”
This clearly ties in with Newcastle’s infantry launching a counterattack, particularly when David Blackmore’s conclusions in ‘Destructive and Formidable’ (Frontline Books, 2014) are taken into account. These are that volley firing was a sign of intent to attack, normally two firings, where as firing by files is primarily a defensive act.
Back to the account, it indicates a number of possibilities:
- at least for their part of the Royalist line the surprise at the assault by the Allies was not as complete as some would have us believe.
- Unlike others the Royalist Army, Newcastle’s were not unloaded even if they were stood down.
- They had sufficient time to fall in and load. In turn this may be a result of the ditch and hedge line which the Royalists were using as their front was sufficient enough an obstacle to give them time to do so. Certainly contemporary accounts indicate it was much stronger in front of the Whitecoats than at the other end of the line where Cromwell’s cavalry swept forward almost unhindered by the terrain.
Despite having read many books, articles and accounts of Marston Moor, I cannot recollect any of them using Fuller as a source. So this begs the question: just how accurate is his account particularly as he refers to Cromwell’s cavalry as being cuirassiers?
To deal with the last first, Fuller was published in 1662. By the 18th Century a cuirassier simply wore a back and breast plate for armour. It may be that this is simply an early use of the term to describe such a cavalryman. It may also be down to hyperbole on Fuller’s part to help explain the Allied victory, bearing in mind Thomas Fuller himself was a Royalist, serving in the Civil Wars as a chaplain to Sir Ralph Hopton and actively fighting in the defence of Basing House. Consequently, he was not a mere commentator but was inured in things military.
Further indication as to his reliability comes in his preamble to his account of the Battle Of Edgehill. This reads:
“and I confess myself not to have received any particular intelligence thereof. I will therefore crave leave to transcribe what followeth out of a short but worthy work of my honoured friend, confident of the authentical truth thereof.”
There is no such statement made about Marston Moor which indicates to me that he had received specific information which he believed was reliable. Moreover, the lack of a disclaimer lime the above could well indicate that he had access to more than one source.
Anyone for three volleys?
Fuller’s Worthies can be found online at: https://archive.org/details/worthiesengland01fulluoft, https://archive.org/details/worthiesengland02fulluoft, and https://archive.org/details/worthiesengland03fulluoft
Upcoming Event: ‘Holly Holy Day 2019’, Nantwich – 26th January 2019
Holly Holy Day in Nantwich, the pre-season unfriendly as it is sometimes called, is the first battle of the year. It give us a chance to meet with fellow members of the Newcastle’s Foote and friends from other Sealed Knot regiments.
The Battle on Mill Island will be hard fought and probably muddy…
Organisers – Battle of Nantwich | Holly Holy Day
Sponsors – Nantwich Town Council – Holly Holy Day
June 2018: What we’ve been up to and what’s coming up.
Last weekend, a number of the regiment headed to Pontefract Park again to take part in Wakefield Armed Forces Day. After the success of the event last year, we were very excited to be going back and setting up camp again.
Continue reading “June 2018: What we’ve been up to and what’s coming up.”
William Cavendish, The Marquess of Newcastle
We thought it was about time to introduce you to the man at the top, William Cavendish, Marquess of Newcastle and take a look at the life and career of the man who’s regiment we make up.
Continue reading “William Cavendish, The Marquess of Newcastle”
Colours of the English Civil War
As you’ve probably worked out, we don’t do a great deal of fighting over the winter. To keep our blog ticking over, we’re going to write about a range of topics including wider 17th Century history, more information about the members of our regiment and other interesting things we think you might like.
To kick this off, Simon Wright from our Regiment has written all about the colours of the English Civil War. The colours were one of the most prized possession of a regiment and were carried onto the field by the Ensign, a junior officer of the regiment.
Erbert’s Edgehill
In our final post for our series on Edgehill, Anne has once again written a great piece for our blog. This time though, Anne decided to take a look at things from a different angle and used her creative writing skills to write a piece on what it might have been like to be there that day…
Here’s Erbert’s story…
#375Edgehill: The Battle of Edgehill, 23rd October 1642
375 years ago today, the Battle of Edgehill took place just outside of Kineton, Warwickshire. It was the first of many pitched battles of the English Civil Wars that took place between 1642 and 1651.
Regimental Member Anne has written a follow up to her piece about the road to rebellion that was published a couple of days ago and has written all about what happened 375 years ago.
Continue reading “#375Edgehill: The Battle of Edgehill, 23rd October 1642”
The Road to Rebellion: Why did England go to war with itself?
In just a couple of days time, it will be the 375th Anniversary of the Battle of Edgehill. This was the first pitched battle of the English Civil Wars that took place across the British Isles from 1642 to 1651.
Although Edgehill is often considered the start of the wars, there was obviously a series of events that led the country to go to war with itself. Regimental member Anne has written the following piece exploring what happened in the run up to the first battle.
Continue reading “The Road to Rebellion: Why did England go to war with itself?”