POLITICAL HISTORY 



the earl's advance,'^ but it was not until i December that Newcastle, with some 8,000 men, 

 crossed the Tees at Pierce Bridge, after a sharp fight in which the superiority of the Royalist 

 artillery proved decisive/' 



A little while before Newcastle's arrival the Fairfaxes, after successfully repelling an attack on 

 Bradford, had taken up their quarters at Tadcaster with about a thousand men. To guard the 

 lines of communication with the West Riding, the chief source of the Parliamentary supplies, Sir 

 Thomas Fairfax was sent to Wetherby with 300 foot and 40 horse. Discipline was slack and no 

 proper guards had been set, ' for in the beginning of the war men were as impatient of duty as 

 ignorant of it,' and early one morning 800 Royalists were at the gates of the town before their 

 advance was discovered. Sir Thomas happened to have just mounted with the intention of riding 

 over to his father at Tadcaster ; he galloped up to his men's quarters, and taking two Serjeants and 

 two pikemen, the only men under arms, faced the enemy. Sir Thomas Glemham, the Royalist 

 commander, with several other officers charged the gallant little band, but after a sharp encounter, 

 in which Major Carr ™ was slain, drew off. By this time the Parliamentary troops had got under 

 arms and were coming up, so the Royalists retired.*^ With the advent of the Earl of Newcastle, 

 to whom the Earl of Cumberland had reluctantly yielded up the command,"^ matters took a turn 

 less favourable to the Parliamentary forces. Sir Edward Loftus with all the Richmondshire troops, 

 and Sir Henry Anderson with the men of Cleveland and the North Riding, to the number of one 

 thousand, abandoned the struggle ; Sir Hugh Cholmley drew off his 700 men from Stamford 

 Bridge *^ to garrison Scarborough, and Colonel Boynton with another 800 was sent to strengthen Hull. 

 The forces left with Fairfax amounted to twenty-one companies of foot, seven troops of horse, and 

 one of dragoons, and of these two companies of foot were stationed at Selby, one at Cawood, and 

 the rest partly at Wetherby under Captain Hotham and partly at Tadcaster under Lord Fairfax.^ 

 Two days after his arrival in York, on 6 December, Newcastle marched out to attack Tadcaster. 

 Fairfax called Hotham to his aid and took up a position outside the town ; but the Royalists, who 

 had a great superiority in numbers, forced him back into the town and even occupied some of the 

 houses, from which, however, they were driven out by Major-General GifFord. Fortunately for 

 Fair&x a strong party of horse who had been sent to take him in the rear went astray, and after 

 seven hours' desperate fighting the Royalists drew oflF. Taking advantage of the darkness the 

 Parliamentary forces withdrew to Selby, leaving Newcastle a clear passage to Pontefract.^" Over- 

 estimating the effect of their victory, the Royalists kept no watch on their opponents, and just a 

 week after the fight at Tadcaster, when the cavaliers quartered at Sherburn were feasting. Sir 

 Thomas Fairfax swooped down upon them, capturing a number of prisoners and carrying off their 

 best horses.** Sir Thomas then took a small force to the support of Bradford. Here he lay 

 between hostile forces of 1,500 men in Leeds and 1,200 in Wakefield ; but Sir William Savile, who 

 had already suffered a check in an attempt to take Bradford, knew the Puritan sympathies of those 

 two towns, and did not dare to deplete his garrisons. In the middle of January 1 643 Sir Thomas 

 obtained his father's consent to 'raise the country,'*' and with a force of 1,200 men from Brad- 

 ford and the neighbouring constabularies marched against Leeds on 23 January. After two hours' 

 hot fighting the town was carried. Sir William Savile and some of his officers escaping by swimming 

 the river.** As a result not only did a quantity of ammunition fall into the hands of Fairfax, but 

 Wakefield was evacuated by the Royalists, and the Earl of Newcastle retired from Pontefract to 

 York.*' 



Meanwhile Sir Hugh Cholmley, acting from Scarborough, had defeated the Earl of Newport 

 at Malton and, leaving a garrison there under Captain Bushell, had marched to Guisborough and 

 destroyed a Royalist force there, capturing Colonel Slingsby and over a hundred prisoners.'" But 

 lack of money began to make itself seriously felt on the Parliamentary side,'^ Sir Hugh Cholmley's 

 troops met with a sharp reverse at Yarm Bridge on i February," and three weeks later, on the 22nd, 

 the queen landed with a considerable reinforcement of ammunition and money at Bridlington. 

 Early next morning four ships of the Parliamentary fleet arrived and opened fire on the queen's 

 ships, many of the shot falling, by accident or design, on the house where the queen herself was 

 lodged. She was compelled to leave her lodging and seek refuge with her ladies behind some 

 rising ground, but displayed her usual courage, even insisting upon returning to rescue her lap-dog.'' 



'^ Hist. MSS. Cm. Rep. xiii, App. i, 68. '» Rushworth, Mm. ii (3), 77. 



^ If this is the Thomas Carr who was buried in York Minster (ror/J/. Arch. Joum. \, 231), the skirmish 

 at Wetherby must have taken place in the middle of November. 



" Torks. Arch. Joum. viii, 208 ; Slingsby, Diary, 83. " Slingsby, op. cit. 84. 



=^ Hist. MSS. Cm. Rep. x, App. vi, 90. " Rushworth, Mem. ii (3), 91. 



^' Torks. Arch. Joum. viii, 208 ; Slingsby, op. cit. 85. " Slingsby op. cit. 87. 



" Torks. Arch. Joum. i, 96. «' Ibid, viii, 210. «' Ibid. 



'" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. i, 90. " Ibid. 90, 102 ; Rushworth, Mem. ii (3), 125. 



" Life of Newcastle (ed. Firth), 34. '' Ibid. 35 ; Slingsby, Diary, 89. 



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