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Towneley. There is little doubt that some 1,200 men gathered 
to the standard of the rebels between the 9th and 12th. Little 
effort, however, was made to get this force, now numbering near 
4,000 men, into fighting order. ‘The gentlemen soldiers seem to 
have had a good time of it, for, says the diary of Peter Clarke, 
««The ladys in this towne, Preston, are so beautiful and so richly 
attired that the gentlemen soldiers, from Wednesday till Saturday, 
minded nothing but courting and feasting.’ For the story of 
Preston fight, I must refer you to Dr. Hibbert-Ware. It will be 
sufficient to say that the Government forces, under General 
Wills, arrived before Preston on the morning of the 12th of 
November. Acting under the instructions of the Duke of Mazrl- 
borough, not to give the rebels time, Wills had pushed on from 
Chester to Manchester, where he found it necessary to not only 
seize some suspected persons, but also to leave a regiment of 
dragoons. He was met at Wigan by Sir Henry Houghton, who 
had great influence with the local Presbyterians, and on the 11th 
a note was sent to certain ministers to raise all the force possible 
of their able young men, arm them as best they could, and meet 
next morning at Cuerden Green. The response this met with 
from Parsons Woods and Walker is well known, but it seems 
not to have come to the knowledge of Dr. Hibbert-Ware that 
even a greater service was rendered by the Rey. John Turner, of 
Preston. The following extract is from a note to ‘‘ The Life and 
Times of the Rev. James Woods, commonly called ‘ General ’ 
Woods, a discourse commemorative of the centenary of his 
death, delivered at the Presbyterian Chapel, Chowbent, by the 
Rev. Franklin Baker, M.A., February 20th, 1859,” p. 25, quoted 
from the Rev. W. Wood’s Memoirs of Rev. W. Turner, of Wakefield. 
«The Rev. John Turner, at that time Protestant Dissenting 
minister there [at Preston], was, upon the breaking out of the 
first rebellion, eminently serviceable to the cause of the reigning 
family. Firmly attached to the principles of the revolution and 
the succession of the crown in the House of Hanover, he left 
his wife and infant child, and with many of the younger part of 
his congregation joined the army under General Wills; by whom 
they were with great propriety, on account of their knowledge 
of the country, employed as scouts; to procure information and 
to observe the motions of the rebels. In one of these nocturnal 
excursions Mr. Turner had the good fortune to fall in with, and, 
being of a strong athletic constitution, to take prisoner and bring 
safe back with him to the camp, a confidential servant of one 
of the principal Roman Catholic gentry, who was going from 
his master with some important intelligence to the rebels. For 
this service he had the public thanks of General Wills.”’ 
Marlborough, with a wonderful foresight, had indicated this 
place as the point where the enemy would be met, and, obeying 
il 
