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The Battle of Turnham Green 1642
The English Civil War had only started on 22 August 1642. It had many complex causes and both sides were unprepared for a proper conflict. To establish the importance of the Battle of Turnham Green it is useful to know of the events leading up to it. The Battle of Turnham Green marked the point of no return in the course of the war. After this battle there was to be no going back, the dispute would have to be settled by Civil War. If anything it is best remembered as being possibly the most decisive non-battle in English history.
The March On London
In spite of Prince Rupert's advice to move south and take London as fast as possible, King Charles was reluctant to fight the Parliamentary army. So before coming to battle at Edgehill, he lead his army away from London, the force marching west to take the following towns:
During this time the two armies skirted around the Midlands without giving battle. The first blood in the English Civil War was spilled at Powick Bridge on 22 September 1642, when two patrols met and skirmished. Then in October the King marched south from Shrewsbury. By 22 October, the King's army had reached Edgcott and the Parliamentary army led by Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex had reached Kineton. Between them stood the area known as Edgehill.
After the battle Edgehill 23 October 1642, King Charles army took the town of Banbury on 27 October. The Royalist forces ransacked the town, taking everything they could carry and vandalising the rest.
On the way to London, Rupert's forces had already captured the following towns:
On 4 November, Prince Rupert attempted and failed to take either Kingston-upon-Thames or Windsor1 but his forces had gone on to pillage the Surrey towns of Egham and Staines before receiving these orders from the King. Lord Essex, the Parliamentary Commander at Edgehill, was by this time back in London organising the defence of London.
The Pillaging of Brentford
On 11 November the King, keen to regain the initiative after the inconclusive Battle at Edgehill, and having seen peace talks at Reading fail, moved his army forward to Colnbrook (about four miles to the North East of Windsor). There he received a delegation from Parliament to attempt a settlement and an end to the war. Knowing this he gave orders to Prince Rupert to capture Brentford as a precursor to taking London itself.
The following morning, 12 November, Prince Rupert's Cavalry rode into Brentford, under cover of the mist from the River Thames. Opposing Rupert's troops were two regiments of Parliamentary Cavalry under the command of Denzil Holles and Lord Brooke. Many ran away as Rupert's Cavalry approached, but Holles's men fought well before being forced to retreat, and as happened at Edgehill, Colonel John Hampden's troopers provided a covering screen in the rear as Parliamentary forces withdrew from the town. Even so, as they fled, a large number of Holles's men drowned trying to escape across the Thames. Parliamentary forces lost 500 captured and 15 cannon, and on the Thames a barge was blown up. However, as at Edgehill, instead of solidifying their position, Rupert's men started to ransack the town, stripping it of everything they could carry off and smashing and burning the rest, their actions witnessed by many civilians. Stories of what had happened brought home to Londoners the fact that even civilians would be caught up in the fighting in this conflict. The Parliamentary delegation who were still with the King had been prepared to agree a truce, but when the news of the attack on Brentford arrived the House of Commons recalled the delegation and mobilised the forces of London.
The Turn Towards London
As exaggerated reports reached London about the conduct of the Royalist forces at Edgehill, they provided an incentive for Londoners to defend the city. The population turned out in thousands, many of them women, all volunteering to help with the defences, raising massive earthworks. The events at Brentford had galvanised people into action. They were no longer helpless victims to be robbed or ravished. They were now a determined, 'citizens' army', ready to dig and fight.
The Royalist forces had further problems as some commanders wanted to open peace talks rather than attack London. This vacillation caused enough of a delay to allow Essex to slip past the Royalist force and reinforce London. On 13 November, Essex's army under Colonel Skippon left London with the Parliamentarian army of more than 24,000 men and blocked the King's advance upon London at Turnham Green2 at a point where the Great West Road left London. A smaller force of 3,000 held the river crossing above the city of London at Kingston.
When the King's Army eventually moved on towards London, they were met at the village of Turnham Green by possibly the most unusual army ever to take the field during the war. Essex's Army and the London Trained Bands3 formed its core, and they were joined by thousands of civilians ready to defend the road to London, a large mass of humanity standing impassively as the Royalist Army lined up to the west.
The Earl of Essex and Sir Phillip Skippon4, who eventually sat on the Council of State, rode through this citizens' army exhorting them to pray and then fight heartily, although it was a Sunday. The Royalist Army, about 12,000 in number, short of supplies and food, had to watch the Parliamentary Forces being fed at lunchtime, which would have been unsettling for the hungry soldiers, and local conditions, narrow fields between hedgerows, meant that Rupert's Cavalry could not be deployed.
There was some exchange of fire with both sides advancing on each other. Essex was unsure of his inexperienced foot regiments and the huge crowd of sight-seers were unsettling his forces. The Royalists were short of men, food and ammunition and had to be cautious. In the afternoon there were a few rounds of artillery fire exchanged and Rupert's cavalry tested the resolve of some advancing Parliamentary foot. There were casualties but no official numbers were recorded. Unofficially the Royalist losses were put at 800 and Parliament 120; this is high considering the lack of any real fighting.
If fighting had started, it is certain that there would have been high casualties in the street fighting which would have followed. It is surprising that the option proposed by Prince Rupert of attacking London from the east, via loyal Kent, was not taken.
The Royalist army then numbered 12,000 and was now severely short of ammunition, while the Parliamentary army was 24,000 plus a large number of the population of London. The King realised that he could not order the killing of so many, 'ordinary', citizens and retain popular support. Turnham Green became a, 'stand-off', in which neither side wanted to make the first move. It was all over by the evening. The King ordered his men to withdraw to the west, and the vast citizens' army started to make its way back into London. Although there had been no fighting this was a decisive moment in the war. London remained in the hands of Parliament; the King had lost his best (and, as it proved, last) chance of taking the capital and its port. He had had to retire westward, first towards Hounslow and then towards Reading. Prince Rupert was put in command of the rearguard covering the King's retreat. However, Essex's army did not leave London and follow the King's retreat.
Events After Turnham Green
The King took his Army into winter quarters distributing his army in Oxford, Reading, Wallingford, Abingdon and other nearby towns. Later he returned to his city of Oxford, which he made his capital and headquarters for the rest of the war.
As the King fell back towards Oxford, Essex strengthened his position by taking Maidenhead, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor, which was to remain the headquarters of the Parliamentary Forces for the rest of the War. The great Battle of Turnham Green never occurred, and the King would never recover his capital city. And the failure to heed Rupert's advice to rapidly reoccupy London before Essex possibly cost the King the war.
A change that this battle brought about was dissatisfaction with the way Essex handled the battle, leading to the bill called the Self Denying Ordinance in 1645 that rid the army of officers from both the House of Parliament. The bill also allowed the establishment of the New Model Army, perhaps the most important change of all.
Turnham Green Today
There is a public park at Turnham Green today and Chiswick old Town Hall is situated opposite. There is little to mark the events of 1642, or the Civil War. It is a quiet peaceful suburb of London with approximately 400 pubs within 3 miles (sounds nice).
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