Battle of Brentford (1642)
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The Battle of Brentford was fought in 1642 between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces. The Royalist cavalry was victorious over the Roundheads, but later had to retreat.
| First English Civil War |
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| Powick Bridge - Edgehill - Aylesbury - Brentford - Hopton Heath - Chalgrove Field - Bradock Down - Boldon Hill - Lansdowne - Roundway Down - Sourton Down - Adwalton Moor - Gainsborough - Hull - Winceby - Reading - Gloucester - 1st Newbury - Alton - Cheriton - Nantwich - Newark - York - Cropredy Bridge - Marston Moor - 1st & 2nd Lostwithiel - 2nd Newbury - Taunton - Naseby - Langport - Rowton Heath |
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[edit] Prelude
On 24 October, the day After the Battle of Edgehill, the army of the Earl of Essex retired, leaving Charles I to claim victory and to reap its results. Banbury and Oxford were reoccupied by the Royalists, and by 28 October, Charles was marching down the Thames valley on London. Negotiations were reopened, and a peace party rapidly formed itself in London and Westminster. Yet, field fortifications sprang up around London.
[edit] Battle
When Prince Rupert stormed and sacked Brentford on 12 November, the trained bands moved out at once and took up a position at Turnham Green, barring the King's advance.
[edit] Aftermath
John Hampden, with something of the fire and energy of his cousin, Oliver Cromwell, urged Essex to turn both flanks of the Royal army via Acton and Kingston; experienced professional soldiers, however, urged him not to trust the London men to hold their ground, while the rest manoeuvred. Hampden's advice was undoubtedly premature. A Battle of Worcester was not within the power of the Parliamentarians of 1642. In Napoleon's words: "one only manoeuvres around a fixed point", and the city levies at that time were certainly not, vis-à-vis Rupert's cavalry, a fixed point.
As a matter of fact, after a slight cannonade at Turnham Green on the 13 October, Essex's two-to-one numerical superiority of itself compelled the King to retire to Reading. Turnham Green has justly been called the "Valmy of the English Civil War"; for like the Battle of Valmy it was a victory without having to come to battle, and the tide of Royalist invasion of the south east having reached this far, ebbed and never returned.
The Battle took place near the little village of Turnham Green
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "GREAT REBELLION", a publication now in the public domain.
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