Some Notes on the Raising and Origins of Colonel John Okey’s

Regiment of Dragoons, March to June, 1645

by Stephen Ede-Borrett

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SOME NOTES ON THE RAISING AND ORIGINS OF COLONEL JOHN OKEY'S REGIMENT OF DRAGOONS, MARCH TO JUNE, 1645

Stephen Ede-Borrett

In their seminal The Regimental History of Cromwell's Army 1 Charles Firth and Godfrey Davies gave no indication as to the origins of the 's only Regi- ment of Dragoons, commanded by Colonel John Okey. Considering that work's detailed discussion of the origins of most of the regiments of the New Model, this omission is remarkable, although it may derive from the way that the book was compiled from Firth's notes.2 The purpose of this essay therefore, is to provide for Okey's Regiment the sort of information that Firth and Davies gave for most of the rest of theJSAHR New Model Army.Sample Page

The Creation of The New Model Regiment of Dragoons The first mention of the strength of the projected 'New Model Army' on 30 December 1644 gave it an establishment of 16,000 foot, 8,000 horse and 1,500 dragoons.3 However, this was soon revised, and the establishment voted through the House of Commons on 1 1 January 1645 reduced the figures to a more realistic 14,000 foot, 6,000 horse and 1,000 dragoons. In relation to the latter it was specific- ally stated 'That there shall be raised, for this Army, a Thousand Dragoons, to be in Ten Companies.'4 The preliminary list of Colonels for the New Army was passed by the House of Commons on 21 January 1645, although this did not include a Colonel for the Dragoons, nor indeed any mention of a Dragoon Regiment as such. This non- regimenting of dragoon companies was not unusual, and it is probable that during the English Civil Wars more dragoons served in independent companies, or as part of Regiments of Horse, than actually served in established and formalised Regi- ments of Dragoons. For example, the only dragoons known to have been part of the Earl of 's Army in 1644, 5 the company of Captain James Abercromy, was an

1 1940, 2 volumes. Okey's Dragoons are covered on pp. 291-306. 2 After Sir Charles Firth died in February 1937 the work, already in hand, was finished and brought to publication by Godfrey Davies from Firth's notes. 3 Calendar of State Papers, Domestic > 1644-1645 , p. 205. Cited in The Rise of the New Model Army , Mark Kishlansky, 1979, p. 36. 4 Journals of the House of Commons, Volume 4 1644-1646 , 1802, pp. 16-17. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=23293. The raising of the Army itself is well covered in Chapter 2 of The Rise of the New Model Army. Mark Kishlansky, Cambridge 1979, Chapters 1 and 2 of The New Model Army in England , Ireland and Scotland : Ian Gentles, Oxford 1992 and Cromwell's Soldiers: The Moulding of the New Model Army 1644-1645 : Barry Denton, London (?) 2004. 5 The Army of the Earl of Essex was theoretically Parliament's main 'National Army' from 1 642 until 1645.

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Independent Company.6 It is also known that the Parliamentary Horse at Naseby that were not part of the New Model Army, 'The Associated Horse', included inte- gral dragoon companies.7 It is likely, therefore, that in the original establishment of the New Model Army it was intended that the ten companies of dragoons would either be attached one to each of the Regiments of Horse,8 or would serve separately as single, un-regimented companies. The creation of a Regiment of Dragoons in the New Model Army can be attributed to Sir . On 1 March 1645, Fairfax wrote to the House of Commons concerning the Army, and amongst his proposals was that the Dragoon companies be formed into a Regiment. The Commons debated the letter that same day and referred the matter back to Fairfax for farther consideration,9 but he must have stood by his resolution, for two days later the Commons 'Resolved, &c. That the Dragooners shall be formed into a Regiment. The Colonel and Officers of the Dragoons JSAHRwere all reported; Sample and approved.'10 Page

The Origins of the Officers of the New Model Army Dragoons 's Regiment of Dragoons of the Earl of Manchester's Army of the appears to have provided the nucleus of the new regiment and supplied it with its Major and three of its Captains, as well as their companies. It also provided the soldiers of the Colonel's company, but not the new regiment's Colonel.11 By comparison only one Captain can, with certainty, be traced who served in James Holborne's Regiment of Dragoons of Sir 's Army,12 namely Captain William Turpin. Waller's army did, however, provide several other officers, including the Colonel, though none of them had previously served as dra- goons. These were Okey, Farre and Skirmager and, possibly, Woggan.13 As we have seen, the 1 644 establishment of the Horse of Essex's Army had included only one Company of Dragoons, Captain James Abercomy's.14 This company had been almost

6 Although it sometimes stated as being attached to the Earl of Essex' Regiment of Horse this is probably a confusion with Captain Jeremiah Abercromy's Company of Dragoons which was part of the Regiment but which appears to have been converted to full Horse around May 1644. 1 Naseby: The Decisive Campaign , Glenn Foard, Guildford 1995, p. 208. The Regiment was the Midland Association unit of Colonel John Fiennes. 8 Initially the Army was only to have ten Regiment of Horse, each of 600 men. The eleventh Regi- ment, Rossiter's, was not part of the first establishment. 9 Journals of the House of Commons , Volume 4 1644-1646 , London 1802, pp. 65-66. 10 Journals of The House of Commons, Volume 4 1644-1646 , London 1802, pp. 66-7. http://www.british-history.ac. uk/report.asp?compid=23336. 11 In an regiment each Field Officer was also a company commander and com- panies were titled from the officer who commanded them. 12 This Regiment had been Sir William Waller's Own Regiment of Dragoons until c. July 1644 when its colonelcy had been passed to major General James Holborne. 13 The Regimental History of CromwelVs Army , volume 7, C. H. Firth & G. Davies, London 1940, p. 291. The source for this statement however is Ludlow whose published memoirs are now known to be notoriously unreliable. Laurence Spring's The Regiments of Sir William Waller's Southern Association^ London 2007, lists no officer of this name as ever serving under Waller. 14 Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army during the Great Civil War , Richard Symons (C. E. Long Ed.), London 1859, p. 73.

This content downloaded from 78.148.54.132 on Tue, 29 Jun 2021 12:35:57 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 208 ARMY HISTORICAL RESEARCH wiped out in the operations covering the final phase of the escape of Balfour's Horse from the Royalist encirclement at Lostwithiel.15 Thus Essex's Army had neither officers nor soldiers to contribute to the New Model dragoons.16 It is clear that the majority of the officers of Okey's new Regiment came from the old Armies and this can be demonstrated from the two contemporary lists of the Regiment's 'original' officers. The first list is that passed by the House of Lords on 18 March 1645, 17 in agreement with the proposals of the House of Commons. The second is that given by Joshua Sprigge at the back of his book Anglia Rediviva™. These two lists differ considerably as shown by a comparison of Tables 1 and 2. Between this original list and the later, Sprigge, list a 50% change in officer personnel is evident. Most of the changes appear to have been made in order to introduce officers experienced in the Dragoon branch.

TABLE 1. The JSAHROńgins of the Officers Sample of Okey's Regiment Page (Journals of the House of Lords List) Rank Name Pre New Model Army of previous Rank and Regiment service 19 Col John Okey Maj, Haselrige's Horse20 W Maj William Gwilliams Capt, Waller's Horse21 W Capt John Farmer22 Unknown23 Capt Butler Unknown24 Capt Christopher Mercer Capt, Lilburne's Dragoons25 EA Capt Daniel Abbots Capt, Lilburne's Dragoons26 EA Capt Larken Unknown Capt Ralph Farre Lt, Haselrige's Horse27 W Capt Bulkham Unknown Capt Tobias Bridge Capt, Lilburne's Dragoons28 EA

15 Lostwithiel 1644: The Campaign and the Battle , Stephen Ede-Borrett, 2004, pp. 38-39 and 109-111. 16 Although see the notes on Captain John Farmer below. 17 Journals of the House of Lords, volume vii, London 1802, pp. 277-279. This is probably identi- cal to that passed by the Commons on 3rd March. 18 Anglia Rediviva , Joshua Sprigge, London 1647, p. 331. 19 W = Sir William Waller's Army. EA = The Earl of Manchester's Army of the Eastern Association. 20 The Regimental History of Cromwell 's Army , volume 1 , C. H. Firth & G. Davies, London 1940, p. 291. The source for this statement however is Ludlow whose published memoirs are now known to be notoriously unreliable. 21 Cropredy Bridge 1644 , Margaret Toynbee and Peter Young, Kineton 1970, p. 80. 22 Later Major of Morgan's Regiment of Dragoons. 23 From 30 October 1643 to 3 June 1644 a Captain John Farmer served in Sir William Balfour's Regiment of Horse of the Earl of Essex's Army. Whether this is the same man is unclear, as is any service from June 1644 to April 1645. 24 There had been a Captain Nathan Butler in the Dragoons serving with Waller's Army throughout 1644, including at the Battles of Cropredy Bridge (29th June) and Newbury (27th Octo- ber), whether this is the same man is unknown. 25 The Regiments of the Eastern Association , Lawrence Spring, 1998, p. 58. 26 Naseby 1645: The Campaign and the Battle , Peter Young, London 1985, p. 195. 27 With thanks to Laurence Spring for this information. 28 The Regiments of the Eastern Association , Lawrence Spring, Bristol 1998, p. 57.

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TABLE 2. The Origins of the Officers of Okey's Regiment (Anglia Rediviva List) Rank Name Pre New Model Army of previous Rank and Regiment service 29 Col John Okey Maj, Haselrige's Horse30 W Maj Nicholas Moore Either Capt, Lilburne's Dragoons EA Or (just possibly) Capt, Holborne's Dragoons31 W Capt John Farmer32 Unknown33 Capt Christopher Mercer Capt, Lilburne's Dragoons34 EA Capt Daniel Abbots Capt, Lilburne's Dragoons35 EA Capt Ralph Farre Lt, Haselrige's Horse36 W Capt Tobias Bridge Capt, Lilburne's Dragoons37 EA Capt Edward Woggan38 Unidentified. Speculatively suggested as an officer of Haselrige's Horse39 W Capt HaroldJSAHR Skirmager Sample Capt Waller's Page Foot W Capt William Turpin Capt Holborne's Dragoons40 W 'since Capt. Neale' Almost certainly William Neale who had been Lilburne's Captain-Lieutenant41 EA

It should be noted that neither original listing of these officers mentions Chris- tian names. Where given above these have been added from other sources. Sprigge's list, therefore, indicates that at least half of Okey's officers, and most probably their men, came from Manchester's Eastern Association Army.42 Nevertheless in the

29 W = Sir William Waller's Army. EA = The Earl of Manchester's Army of the Eastern Association. 30 The Regimental History of Cromwell3 s Army > volume 7, C. H. Firth & G. Davies, London 1940, p. 29 1 . The source for this statement however is Ludlow whose published memoirs are now known to be notoriously unreliable. 31 A Captain by the name of 'Nicholas Moore' is listed in both Regiments in late 1644 and so Okey's major could have been either man. For various reasons, however, the officer from Lilburne's Regiment seems to be the more likely of the two and this is certainly the option adopted in Colonel John Okey , 1606-1662 , H. G. Tibbutt, Bedford 1954, p. 6n. 32 Later Major of Morgan's Regiment of Dragoons. 33 From 30 October 1643 to 3 June 1644 a Captain John Farmer served in Sir William Balfour's Regiment of Horse of the Earl of Essex's Army. Whether this is the same man is unclear, as is any ser- vice from June 1644 to April 1645. 34 The Regiments of the Eastern Association, Lawrence Spring, Bristol 1998, p. 58. 35 Naseby 1645: The Campaign and the Battle , Peter Young, London 1985, p. 195. 36 With thanks to Laurence Spring for this information. 37 The Regiments of the Eastern Association , Lawrence Spring, Bristol 1998, p. 57. 38 Christian Name added from signature on pay warrant. SP28/33/V/581. 39 Speculative suggestion made by Major General Sir Frederick Maurice in his biography of Wogan. The Adventures of Edward Wogan , London 1945, pp 32-33. However, as noted in Note 12 there is no evidence of an officer named Edward Wogan or Woggan serving in any of Sir William Waller's Regi- ments. Wogan was only 19 at the time of this commission. 40 Cropredy Bńdge 1644 , Margaret Toynbee & Peter Young, Kineton 1970, p. 92. 41 The Captain-Lieutenant commanded the Colonel's own Company of a Regiment although paid only as a Lieutenant (the Colonel drew the pay as the Company's Captain) he was traditionally sup- posed always to be promoted to the first vacant captaincy within the Regiment. 42 See below for the strength of these companies at this time.

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Autumn of 1644 Waller's Army reportedly had at least two Regiments of Dragoons, those of Waller and of Holborne43 and it might be assumed that these would have been capable of providing the remaining officers. This does not appear to be the case, however, although the origins and previous service of Captain John Farmer are obscure and he may have come from Waller's dragoon branch. It seems clear therefore that the core of Okey's Regiment was the five com- panies of Robert Lilburne's Regiment of Dragoons from Manchester's Army which entered the New Model en bloc. What is not clear is whether the subalterns of Okey's Regiment derived from the same source, but information on them appears not to have survived.

The Origins of the Rank and File Brigadier Peter Young in his study of the stated of Okey's Regi- ment c. . . itJSAHR is quite possible Samplethat the three old Page armies found sufficient dragoons to make it up to strength without further recruiting.'44 This may well have been what Firth and Davies had believed when they wrote their work several decades earlier, although the origins of much of the manpower of Okey's Regiment are obscure. A Company's establishment in Okey's Regiment was a Captain, a Lieutenant, a Guidon, two sergeants, three corporals, two drummers and 95 dragoons, which was identical to the establishment in Lilburne's Regiment of The Earl of Manch- ester's Army. However, recently, Dave Blackmore has undertaken research on the strength of the New Model Army at Naseby on 14 June 1645 based on the pay war- rants surviving in the National Archives. His conclusions for Okey's Regiment of Dragoons give the following All Ranks company strengths:45 Okey 78 Moore 65 Farmer 105 Mercer 82 Abbots 60 Farre 55 Bridges 46 Woggan 72 Skirmager 52 Turpin 61

43 See The Regiments of Sir William Waller's Southern Association, Laurence Spring, London 2007 and Lostwithiel 1644: The Campaign and the Battle, Stephen Ede-Borrett, Farnham 2004, p. 75. 44 Naseby 1645: The Campaign and the Battle , Peter Young, London 1985, p. 197. The '. . . three old armies . . .' being the armies of The Earl of Essex, The Earl of Manchester (the Army of The Eastern Association) and Sir William Waller, which were combined to create the New Model Army in the Spring of 1645. 45 'Counting the New Model Army', D. Blackmore. English Civil War Times No. 58, Leigh on Sea 2004, pp. 3-5. Of these numbers 'officers', which included sergeants, corporals and drummers would have made up approximately ten.

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Interestingly, the only company drawing pay at full establishment was John Farmer's, which seems to have been the only newly-raised one and which was authorized by a warrant signed by Fairfax:

'. . . to pay unto Captain John ffarmer towards the raysing of a Company of Dragoones to serve under Sr Thomas ffairfax the summe of twenty pounds . . . the first day of Aprili 1645.'46

It would be surprising, however, if it had not been raised round a small cadre deriv- ing from personnel, particularly experienced officers and NCOs, coming from the old armies. Blackmore's calculations indicate that the strength of Okey's Regiment by the time of the Battle of Naseby stood at a total of 676 all ranks, of which Farmer's new-raised company accounted for 105, leaving a figure of 571 officers and Men whose originsJSAHR were in the old Samplearmies. Blackmore's Page figures also equate well with the known strengths of those companies which came from Manchester's Eastern Asso- ciation army - Lilburne's Dragoons - which had mustered 263 Rank and File, in five companies, in January 164547 and which had increased in strength slightly by June when, under the names of their new company commanders, (Okey,48 Moore, Mercer, Bridges and Abbots), they drew pay for 281 Men. The only contemporary newsbook to refer to the strength of Okey's Regiment at this time says:

'At the last muster of Sir Thomas Fairfax his forces, the number was about 15000 foot, 400 and odd Dragooners, between 4000 and 5000 horse besides foure Regiments imployed abroad in service.49'

This would appear to indicate a surprisingly low strength for the Regiment in its early months, but this figure may well reflect a muster before all the forces had been gathered in and it would be almost exactly correct if the dragoon contingent from Waller's Army had not yet joined. The strength of the dragoon regiment in the New Model was clearly of concern to Fairfax because he continued to cast his net widely in order to bring in man- power, as indicated by the following document:

These are to desire you to pay out of the treasurie remaininge in yor hands the some of one hundred three scoare & eight pounds & fifteene shillings; being thirtie two dayes pay for fiftie seaven dragooners mounted and twen- tie foure on foote late in Cap: Gorges Company in the service of Taunton. & now reduced, to muster them with the rest of Col: Okeyes Regiment; Comencenge the [last of- erased] 29th of May last, And this warrant together

46 National Archives SP28/29/1/187. 47 The Eastern Association in the English Civil War , Clive Holmes. Cambridge 1974, p. 236. 48 Okey's company appears to have previously been that of Lilburne. 49 Mercuńus Civicus , London's Intelligencer From Thursday April 24 to Thursday May 1 1645 , p. 910. British Library Thomason Tracts E281 4.

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with the receipte of the said Col: Okey, shall bee yor sufficient discharge: Given under my hand this 19th of Aprili: 1645. To Sir Jo. Wollaston kt & the rest of ye Trese att warres: theire Deputie or Deputies (signed) Tho fairfax50 Receipted by Capt John Blackwell and countersigned by John Okey, 19 July 1645.

Although, as is obvious from this warrant, it was intended that Gorge's men51 be mustered into Okey's Regiment from the end of March, the fact that they were besieged in Taunton made this impossible. Their inclusion in the Regiment was deferred until 29th May, although they appear not to have received their pay until 19th July. Whatever these concerns about keeping Okey's up to strength, Gorge's com- pany made no contribution to the Naseby campaign, as it was unable to join the Regiment untilJSAHR after the battle as evincedSample by Okey's counter-signature. Page It therefore cannot be counted amongst the 676 All Ranks reflected in the pay warrants. From the evidence presented, therefore, it can be seen that Waller's Army con- tributed only 218 Rank and File to the new Regiment; a figure not greatly different from that provided by Lilburne's Regiment of the Army of the Eastern Association. Part of the reason why Waller's Army provided so few Officers and Men to Okey's Regiment may well be that much of his Dragoon strength was unavailable when the Regiment was being formed, since it was still serving in the West.

Conclusion Colonel John Okey's Regiment of Dragoons has usually been taken to be 1,000 men strong at Naseby52 and to have been created simply by the merging of the dra- goon regiments of Manchester's and Waller's Army. However, as Blackmore has shown, the actual strength of the Regiment by June 1645 was considerably lower than that establishment strength, and the Rank and File came from at least three separate sources.

John Lilburne's Regiment of Dragoons, the Earl of Manchester's Army James Holborne's Regiment of Dragoons, Sir William Waller's Army New Recruitment, particularly John Farmer's Company. Captain Gorge's Company of Dragoons from the garrison of Taunton eventually added their strength to the Regiment, but not until about a month after the Naseby fight. There may have been other anticipated sources of manpower for Okey's Dra- goons which, however, could not be drawn in until later. In particular, the dragoon

50 National Archives SP28/29/1/35. 51 Captain John Gorge's (or George's) company had initially been the Company of Captain Douglas of Sir William Waller's Regiment of Foot, a regiment which had been converted to dragoons on 13 July 1644. In December of that year it had been part of James Holborne's force at the relief of Taunton and must have transferred to the garrison at about that time. 52 Naseby: The Decisive Campaign , Glenn Foard, Guildford 1995.

This content downloaded from 78.148.54.132 on Tue, 29 Jun 2021 12:35:57 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms JOHN OKEY'S REGIMENT OF DRAGOONS 213 company that had been attached to Sir 's Regiment of Kentish Horse, which became 's Regiment of Horse in the New Model Army.53 Were this hypothesis to prove correct, then it would seem likely that the 'Captain Butler' of the House of Lords list was indeed Captain Nat Butler of the Kent dra- goons (see List 1). There is undoubtedly much still to be done on the origins both of Okey's Regi- ment of Dragoons and the New Model Army in its entirety, but it is hoped that these comments provide a sound foundation for continuing research into the New Model's only Regiment of Dragoons.

JSAHR Sample Page

53 General: A Military Biography of Sir William Waller.

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