The Clubmen of Dorset and Wiltshire were a paramilitary unit formed in late 1644 or early 1645, during the English Civil War, in the Dorset and Wiltshire region. As with other groups of Clubmen, they were formed for the purpose of self-protection from the deprivations of both the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, with their goal being the cessation of all hostilities. [1]
By late summer of 1644, Royalist commanders were facing significant difficulties supplying and quartering their troops in the face of indifference and hostility from the local population. This local response was due to the arrival of Prince Rupert's troops from the north; while the local population had previously reluctant supported local garrisons, they were hostile to these strangers. This response was then exacerbated by the defeats suffered by the Royalists in the summer and the autumn of that year, as it triggered a further withdrawal of support from the local population who sought to bring about a quick end to the war and its deprivations. [2]
Meanwhile, in the Midlands, local gentry proposed the forming of a "Western Association", an army in the form of a posse that could be levied to maintain order and ward off Parliamentarian attacks. This plan, having aroused little interest among the Western Gentry, was eventually dropped, with a likely cause being the changed military situation in favour of the Royalists in the region. However, it had aroused interest in the Marches, and a request to form an association there was issued. [3]
This presented a danger to the Royalists; it would be funded through sources, such as sequestered estates, that previously funded their army, and it would enable the formation of a large body of men that could be turned against them. However, on 15 February 1644, Charles I granted the association permission to form, with Ronald Hutton theorizing that he considered the dangers of refusing it permission to form to be greater than the dangers of granting such permission, though some control over it was attempted by requiring the officers to be drawn from the Royalist Army. [4]
The authorized associations provided both the model and the impetus for the Clubmen, who formed, primarily in Dorset, Wiltshire, and Somerset, [5] without authorization in the first outbreak of militant neutralism since 1643, [6] and with the intent of preventing their homes from being battlegrounds, [7] as well as in reaction to the demands of the Associations for universal conscription and higher taxation, neither of which the peasantry were in a position to bear. [8]
Despite the apparent broad nature of the Clubmen, in practice the groups operated in a decentralized manner; independently and on a local level. This is particularly seen with the Clubmen of Langport, who disassociated themselves from the Clubmen of Shepton Mallet and Wells (all three places in Somerset), despite all being within the region of Dorset and Wiltshire. [9]
In mid-1645, with the First English Civil War drawing to a close, Parliamentarian Forces arrived in the West. The reaction to this varied by location, with some sub-groups such as the Langport Clubmen assisting them, but the broader Dorset-Wiltshire Clubmen rose up against them. The proposed reasons for this vary, with some, such as David Underdown arguing that this is related to geography; the Clubmen who were most friendly to the Royalists were from the "Chalk", the larger settlements in the region, while those most friendly to the Parliamentarians were from the "Cheese", the smaller farming settlements. [10] Others, such as Ronald Hutton propose an alternative; that the difference is due to differing wartime experience, with the areas that had only experienced deprivation by the Royalists being most friendly to the Parliamentarians, while those who had experienced deprivation by both sides were in turn opposed to both. [11]
In response, Colonel Charles Fleetwood was sent to disperse 1000 Clubmen in Shaftesbury, Dorset on 2 August 1645. Oliver Cromwell, meanwhile, moved against a larger group on Hambledon Hill, where 60 Clubmen were killed and 400 captured, though Cromwell wrote to Fairfax on 4 August that he had "I believe killed not twelve of them, but cut very many, 'and put them all to flight.' We have taken about 300" http://www.olivercromwell.org/Letters_and_speeches/letters/Letter_25.pdf . These actions, in concert with the end of the war, ended the operations of the Clubmen. [12]
Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, 13 September 1604 – 7 April 1661, was an English religious Independent, author, and landowner from Cheshire. He was Member of Parliament for Cheshire at various times between 1628 and 1653, and during the First English Civil War, commander of Parliamentarian forces in the North Midlands.
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.
Clubmen were bands of local defence vigilantes during the English Civil War (1642–1651) who tried to protect their localities against the excesses of the armies of both sides in the war. They sought to join together to prevent their wives and daughters being raped by soldiers of both sides, themselves being forcibly conscripted to fight by one side or the other, their crops and property being damaged or seized by the armies and their lives threatened or intimidated by soldiers, battle followers, looters, deserters or refugees. As their name suggests, they were mostly armed with cudgels, flails, scythes and sickles fastened to long poles. They were otherwise unarmed.
The Battle of Langport took place on 10 July 1645 during the First English Civil War, near Langport in Somerset. Following its success at Naseby in June, the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax destroyed the last Royalist field army, led by Lord Goring. Parliamentarian victory allowed them to besiege the Royalist port of Bristol, which surrendered in September.
Sir Allen Apsley was an English landowner who was a Royalist soldier and administrator during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Following the 1660 Stuart Restoration, he took part in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, and sat as MP for Thetford from 1661 to 1679. One biographer describes him as having an "ability to maintain friendly contact with figures across a wide range of affiliations, which helped to make him a successful political fixer".
Major General Rowland Laugharne was a member of the Welsh gentry, and a prominent soldier during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, in which he fought on both sides.
Montgomery Castle is a stone-built castle looking over the town of Montgomery in Powys, Mid Wales. It is one of many Norman castles on the border between Wales and England.
Sir Edward Harley was an English politician from Herefordshire. A devout Puritan who fought for Parliament in the First English Civil War, Harley belonged to the moderate Presbyterian faction, which opposed the involvement of the New Model Army in the peace negotiations that followed victory in 1646. Elected MP for Herefordshire in 1646, he was one of the Eleven Members forced into temporary exile by the army in 1647.
Cornwall played a significant role in the English Civil War, being a Royalist enclave in the generally Parliamentarian south-west.
Major General Thomas Mytton, also spelt Mitton,, was a lawyer from Oswestry who served in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and as MP for Shropshire in the First Protectorate Parliament.
Anthony Nicholl was an English politician, friend and associate of Parliamentary leaders John Pym and John Hampden.
Sir John Stawell or Stowell, 29 August 1600 – 21 February 1662, was MP for Somerset at various times from 1625 to 1662, and one of the leading Royalists in the West Country during the First English Civil War.
George Twisleton, 1618 to 12 May 1667, was a member of the landed gentry from Yorkshire and colonel in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Under the Commonwealth of England, he sat as MP for Anglesey from 1654 to 1659.
The siege of Chester occurred over a 16-month period between September 1644 and February 1646 during the First English Civil War. In the engagement, Sir William Brereton and the Parliamentarians were ultimately successful in taking possession of the city and Royalist garrison commanded by Lord Byron.
Colonel Sir Gilbert Gerard was a Royalist officer during the English Civil War.
The Battle of Stourbridge Heath was a skirmish that took place during the First English Civil War, in which a Parliamentarian contingent under the command of Colonel "Tinker" Fox was defeated by a larger Royalist force under the command of Sir Gilbert Gerard, Governor of Worcester.
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 Tiverton took place in October 1645 during the First English Civil War, when a Royalist garrison surrendered to a detachment of the New Model Army.
The Siege of Bridgwater took place in July 1645, during the First English Civil War, when a Royalist garrison surrendered to a Parliamentarian force under Sir Thomas Fairfax.
The siege of Hereford took place in 1645 during the English Civil War when the city of Hereford and its English Royalist garrison was besieged by a Scottish Covenanter army under the command of the Earl of Leven. The Covenanters were allied to the English Parliamentarian cause and moved to take the Royalist stronghold in the wake of their victory at the Battle of Naseby. After a month-long siege the approach of Royalist reinforcements and news of Montrose's victories against the Coventanters in Scotland forced Leven to abandon the siege and retreat. However, in December of the same year the city was taken in a surprise attack by Colonel John Birch and remained in Parliamentarian hands for the remainder of the conflict.