The Battle of Ormskirk was fought on 20 August 1644 during the

First English Civil War 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. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

. It was a decisive victory for the Parliamentarian force commanded by Major-General Sir

John Meldrum Sir John Meldrum ( – died 1645) was a soldier of Scottish origin who spent 36 years in the service of the Stuart kings of Scotland and England, James VI and I and Charles I. In 1636, Meldrum was granted by letters-patent from the king licenc ...

over the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

force commanded by

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Background

After their defeat at the

Battle of Marston Moor The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639 – 1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters und ...

on 2 July 1644, the remaining Royalist cavalry army abandoned the city of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

to its fate and retreated over the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

went to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, and it was agreed that Richard, Lord Molyneux and Sir

Thomas Tyldesley Sir Thomas Tyldesley (1612 – 25 August 1651) was a supporter of Charles I and a Royalist commander during the English Civil War. Life Thomas Tyldesley was born on 3 September 1612 at Woodplumpton, the eldest of the six children of Edward Tylde ...

would venture north into

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

on a recruitment sweep. While there, they were joined by Royalist stragglers including Lord Byron, Lord Goring, and Sir

Marmaduke Langdale Marmaduke Langdale, 1st Baron Langdale ( – 5 August 1661) was an English landowner and soldier who fought with the Royalists during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An only child who inherited large estates, he served in the 1620 to 1622 Palati ...

until they numbered a force of some 2,500 horse. However, they were tracked and harried by a force of Lancastrian infantry and horse under the command of Sir John Meldrum who finally caught up with the Cavaliers on Aughton Moor (or Aughton Moss), on the hill to the south-west of

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

in Lancashire on 20 August 1644.

Battle

The Cavaliers, forced to make a stand, stood in

battalia Battalia may refer to: * Battalia (formation), battle array for both an army and components of an army * Battalia (moth), a genus of moths belonging to the subfamily Tortricinae of the family Tortricidae See also * ''Battalia'' (1673), a musical p ...

upon the Moor. The Roundhead infantry advanced and fired a volley upon which the Cavaliers retreated in disorder, and were then routed by a charge from the Parliamentarian horse. About three hundred Royalist prisoners were taken. The Royalist commanders Byron and Molyneux were forced to leave their horses and hide in a cornfield. Had it not been late in the evening there would probably have been a greater victory for Meldrum; as it was, the scattered fragments of the defeated party made their escape into

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. Byron attributed the defeat to the poor performance of Molyneux's regiment: The ''Perfect Diurnal'', a contemporary Parliamentarian newspaper, said of the battle: Another account from a letter in ''Perfect Occurrences'', dated

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

four days after, had the following: The letter is followed by "A List of the names of such persons of Quality as were taken near Ormskirk":

Citations

References

* * * *

Background

Battle

Citations

References

Further reading