Background
Cheriton campaign; key locations
In summer 1643, a Royalist army led by Lord Hopton invaded Hampshire and Sussex, whose Wealden iron industry was Parliament's main source of armaments. Despite initial success, by early January 1644 a series of defeats led Charles I to order a retreat into Wiltshire. When Hopton argued for remaining in Hampshire, Charles sent him a detachment from the Royalist field army in Oxford led by the Earl of Forth.
By the end of February, Sir William Waller's "Army of the Southern Association" based in Arundel had been increased to over 8,000. Parliament ordered him to slip past Hopton and retake South West England, lost to the Royalists after defeat at Roundway Down the previous summer. When one of his commanders, Sir Richard Grenville, deserted to Hopton in early March with this information, Forth and Hopton determined to seize New Alresford, placing themselves between Waller and London.
Advancing from their base at Winchester, they reached the town late on 27 March, just ahead of the Parliamentarian cavalry under Sir William Balfour. The next day they advanced cautiously south towards Cheriton; as night fell, a reconnaissance patrol under Sir George Lisle occupied an outpost near Cheriton Wood and reported the Parliamentarians were retreating.
Battle
The Parliamentarians had been outmanoeuvred up to this point, and had indeed begun to retreat, but overnight Waller changed his mind and ordered an advance. As dawn broke, the City of London Brigade occupied Cheriton Wood. Hopton had moved to Lisle's outpost, and realised that it would have to be hastily withdrawn. The Royalists retreated to a ridge north of the wood, as Waller advanced.
Hopton was determined to recapture Cheriton Wood, and sent forward 1,000 "commanded" musketeers under Colonel Appleyard, supported by a battery of guns. There was some hot fighting, but the Parliamentarians abandoned the wood. Forth and Hopton intended to stand on the defensive at this point, but an impetuous infantry commander, Sir Henry Bard, launched his regiment of foot against the Parliamentarian left wing horse. Bard's regiment was overwhelmed and destroyed by a charge from Sir Arthur Haselrig's heavily armoured London lobsters. The Royalist cavalry on the right wing tried to support him, but were forced to make disjointed attacks along narrow lanes and were defeated in turn.
Hopton sent the Royalist horse from the left wing under Sir Edward Stawell to make a better prepared attack, but they were also defeated. Haselrig now attacked the Royalist foot moving up in support, and drove them back. The Parliamentarians also attacked the Royalist left, which had been denuded of its horse, and regained Cheriton Wood. The Royalists fell back to their ridge, but Hopton and Forth realised they could not withstand another attack and as evening fell, they retreated to Basing House.
Aftermath
Bard was wounded and captured, while other Royalist casualties included senior commanders Lord John Stewart, Sir John Smith, Sir Edward Stowell; and Henry Sandys, who died of his wounds on 6 April. Defeat ended Royalist plans of retaking Sussex and Kent and allowed the Parliamentarian armies of Essex and Waller to concentrate against Oxford. Sir Edward Walker, secretary of the Royalist War Council, later commented "defeat necessitated his Majesty to alter the scheme of his affairs and replace an offensive with defensive war".
After lengthy debate, it was decided to merge the remnants of Hopton's army into the Oxford army at a review held at Aldbourne during April 1644. The infantry was formed into a single brigade under Sir Bernard Astley, with the cavalry divided between Sir Humphrey Bennet and Lord Wilmot. Although they partially restored the situation later in 1644 by gaining victories at Cropredy Bridge and Lostwithiel, the Royalists never resumed their offensive in southern England. In his "History of the Rebellion", Royalist advisor Clarendon wrote defeat had a disastrous impact on their prospects.
The Battle of Lostwithiel took place over a 13-day period from 21 August to 2 September 1644, around the town of Lostwithiel and along the River Fowey valley in Cornwall during the First English Civil War. A Royalist army led by Charles I of England defeated a Parliamentarian force commanded by the Earl of Essex.
The Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July 1643 at Roundway Down near Devizes, in Wiltshire during the First English Civil War. Despite being outnumbered and exhausted after riding overnight from Oxford, a Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Army of the West under Sir William Waller.
The First English Civil War battle of Lansdowne, or Lansdown, was fought on 5 July 1643, at Lansdowne Hill, near Bath, Somerset, England. Although the Royalists under Lord Hopton forced the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller to retreat from their hilltop position, they suffered so many casualties themselves and were left so disordered and short of ammunition that an injured Hopton was forced to retire.
Sir William Waller JP was an English soldier and politician, who commanded Parliamentarian armies during the First English Civil War. Elected MP for Andover to the Long Parliament in 1640, Waller relinquished his military positions under the Self-denying Ordinance in 1645. Although deeply religious and a devout Puritan, he belonged to the moderate Presbyterian faction, who opposed the involvement of the New Model Army in politics post 1646. As a result, he was one of the Eleven Members excluded by the army in July 1647, then again by Pride's Purge in December 1648 for refusing to support the Trial of Charles I, and his subsequent execution in January 1649.
Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton was an English politician, military officer and peer. During the First English Civil War, he served as Royalist commander in the West Country, and was made Baron Hopton of Stratton in 1643.
The Battle of Cropredy Bridge was fought on Saturday 29 June 1644 near Banbury, Oxfordshire during the First English Civil War. In the engagement, Sir William Waller and the Parliamentarian army failed to capture King Charles.
The Battle of Alton, of the First English Civil War, took place on 13 December 1643 in the town of Alton, Hampshire, England. There, Parliamentary forces serving under Sir William Waller led a successful surprise attack on a winter garrison of Royalist infantry and cavalry serving under the Earl of Crawford. The Battle of Alton was the first decisive defeat of Sir Ralph Hopton, leader of Royalist forces in the south, and the event had a significant psychological effect on him as commander. More important to Hopton was the loss of men, however, as he was already short-handed in much-needed infantry. The successful Parliamentarians were able, after their victory, to attack and successfully besiege Arundel, a larger and more formidable Royalist outpost to the south-east of Alton.
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point between 1639 and 1653, while around 4% of the total population died from war-related causes. These figures illustrate the widespread impact of the conflict on society, and the bitterness it engendered as a result.
Sir Michael Livesey, 1st Baronet, also spelt Livesay, was a Puritan activist and Member of Parliament who served in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was one of the regicides who approved the Execution of Charles I in January 1649.
Sir Richard Browne was a merchant and MP from London who became a Major general in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A moderate Presbyterian, after victory in the First English Civil War Browne supported a negotiated settlement in which Charles I retained his throne. As a result, he fell out with radicals such as Oliver Cromwell, and was excluded from Parliament by Pride's Purge in December 1648.
The London Lobsters, were a cavalry unit raised in 1642 and led by Sir Arthur Haselrig, a Parliamentarian who fought in the First English Civil War. The unit was one of very few units raised as cuirassiers, equipped in suits of plate armour reaching from head to knee. It had a somewhat chequered career in combat, but was credited with being one of very few Parliamentarian cavalry units able to stand up to the mounted charge of the Cavaliers in the early years of the war.
The Battle of Sourton Down took place on 25 April 1643, near Sourton, in Devon, during the First English Civil War. A Parliamentarian force under James Chudleigh defeated a Royalist army under Sir Ralph Hopton. Casualties on both sides were light, and the result had little impact on the strategic position in the West Country.
Cornwall played a significant role in the English Civil War, being a Royalist enclave in the generally Parliamentarian south-west.
The Battle of Stratton, also known as the Battle of Stamford Hill, took place on 16 May 1643, at Stratton in Cornwall, during the First English Civil War. In the battle the Royalists destroyed Parliament's field army in Devon and Cornwall.
William Ogle, 1st Viscount Ogle was an English soldier from Northumberland who settled in Hampshire and was Member of Parliament for Winchester from 1640 to 1643. He served in a number of wars and was Royalist governor of Winchester from 1643 to 1645.
The siege of Plymouth took place during the First English Civil War, when Royalist forces besieged Plymouth, in Devon, held by a Parliamentary garrison.
Sir Humphrey Bennet (1605–1667) was a Hampshire landowner who fought for the Royalists in the First English Civil War, in which he rose to the command of a cavalry brigade. He went into exile in 1645, returned home in 1646 and was active in a number of Royalist conspiracies during The Protectorate.
The siege of Arundel took place during the First English Civil War, from 19 December 1643 to 6 January 1644, when a Royalist garrison surrendered to a Parliamentarian army under Sir William Waller.
The Battle of Bramber Bridge was a minor skirmish that took place on 13 December 1643, during the First English Civil War. A Royalist detachment from Arundel attempted to secure the bridge over the River Adur at Bramber in West Sussex, but found a Parliamentarian force already in possession.
The siege of Exeter (1642) or First Siege of Exeter took place during the First English Civil War from late December 1642 to early January 1643 when Royalists led by Sir Ralph Hopton attempted to capture the port of Exeter from the Parliamentarians.
