Who won the Second Battle of Newbury?
Nobody won outright. On 27 October 1644 Parliament's armies, about twice as strong as Charles I's, attacked the Royalist line north of Newbury from two sides and took Speen, but failed to storm Shaw House. That night the king slipped away. For Parliament the escape was the real defeat: the quarrel it caused among its generals led to the Self-denying Ordinance and the New Model Army.1
Newbury in Berkshire saw two battles of the English Civil War in little more than a year. The first was fought in 1643. The second, fought on 27 October 1644 just north of the town, around the village of Speen and the manor of Shaw House, is remembered less for what happened on the field than for what Parliament failed to do after it. The date is given in the Old Style calendar that England used until 1752.2
Background: the autumn of 1644
In July 1644 the Royalists lost the north of England at Marston Moor. In September, though, Parliament's army under the Earl of Essex was beaten at Lostwithiel in Cornwall. Charles I marched east to relieve three Royalist garrisons under siege, at Banbury, Basing House and Donnington Castle, which overlooks Newbury. Parliament's three armies, those of Essex, the Earl of Manchester and Sir William Waller, joined at Basingstoke, about 19,000 men in all, about twice the king's 10,000; the BCW Project counts almost 17,500 against around 9,000. Essex fell ill, and command passed to Manchester.3
A strong position and a bold plan
The king stood on the defensive north of Newbury. His line ran from Shaw House, a fortified mansion whose defenders the BCW Project places under Colonel George Lisle, to Speen, where his nephew Prince Maurice built earthworks for his guns. The rivers Kennet and Lambourn covered the position, and the guns of Donnington Castle overlooked it.4
Rather than attack head-on, the Parliamentary commanders split their army. Waller, with Cromwell and Sir William Balfour leading the cavalry, took about 12,000 men on a long night march to the north, round the castle, to strike Speen from the west. Manchester stayed east of Shaw House with about 7,000 foot, to attack when he heard Waller's signal.5
27 October: Speen and Shaw House
The plan went wrong from the start. Manchester's men made an early, unsuccessful attack on Shaw House that was meant only as a diversion. Waller's march took so long that he did not attack until about two in the afternoon. When he did, his infantry stormed Speen and captured Prince Maurice's guns.6
For a moment the king himself was in danger. Balfour's horse nearly surrounded him, until the royal Life Guards charged and drove them back. Cromwell's cavalry was defeated, and the king's infantry pushed Waller's foot back. Manchester never heard Waller's signal. Newbury Today says he delayed his main attack on Shaw House, claiming the noise of the guns was too loud. When he finally attacked, around four o'clock, the defenders of Shaw House beat him off, and darkness ended the fighting. P. H. Ditchfield's Bygone Berkshire (1896), reprinted by Royal Berkshire History, says one division of Cromwell's horse lost 500 men around Shaw House.7
The king's escape
Charles had held his ground, but he was outnumbered and partly surrounded, and he knew his army could not survive another day. That night it marched away, leaving the wounded, the artillery and some of the king's most precious possessions, including his crown and the Great Seal, in Donnington Castle. Parliament made no serious pursuit, and the army reached safety at Oxford.8
The next day Waller drew up before the battered castle and threatened that not one stone would be left upon another. Its governor, Sir John Boys, is said to have replied that he was not bound to repair it. On 9 November Charles came back with fresh troops, relieved the castle and took away his guns, while the Parliamentary commanders argued: Cromwell wanted to attack, Manchester preferred caution.9
Casualties
No reliable totals survive for either side. Newbury Today says both armies suffered heavy losses, and the British Civil Wars project calls the battle a draw.10
Why Newbury mattered: from a quarrel to the New Model Army
For Parliament, a victory with twice the enemy's numbers had slipped away. Cromwell blamed Manchester, and their quarrel went to Parliament. In April 1645 the Self-denying Ordinance barred members of Parliament from military command, which removed Essex, Manchester and Waller. Their armies were merged into the New Model Army, which won the war for Parliament.11 › Battle of Worcester, 1651
Donnington Castle held out until April 1646, after a siege of twenty months. Most of it was then pulled down, and only the gatehouse still stands on the hill above Newbury.12
