English Civil War

[Comosus]

I've traced my ancestors back to Long Marston near York back to the late 1600s using the IGI (I haven't checked the information yet but it seems legitimate).  I know there was an important battle at Marston Moor, just outside Long Marston and I went to see the monument to the battle.  Would there be any records about who was fighting and on which side?

Andrew

[tazzie]

   Hi Andrew.....


  Have a look at the Wikipedia site on Battle of Marston Moor.

  It lists  All in command   List of regiments and no. of companies in regiments.

            Interesting

                   Tazzie

           

[Jean McGurn]

I have a series of books "Officers and Regiments of the Royalist Army" by Stuart Reid. So if you have a name and he was on the King's side it may be in the list with Regiment and possibly where he joined.

Jean

[Comosus]

Thanks both of you, I've had a look around the articles on Wikipedia.  I don't have a name because I haven't been able to trace further back than about 1687.  I realise this means I don't know if they were living there at the time of the civil war, and I may not ever find out but Long Marston was (and still is) a very small village so anyone with the same surname living there was probably a relative.

Jean, the surname is Holmes.  I don't know the first name but William runs in the family (It's practically in every generation).  There's also a Robert, Thomas and John in the 18th century.

After doing a bit more searching on familysearch.org there's a marriage of a Thomas and a Matthew in the 1720s, and births in Walton, which is still near to the battle site.  All the births have a father Matthew who would've been born in the mid 17th century, after the civil war.  So they may have moved from there in the late 17th century.

Andrew

[Jean McGurn]

Hi Andrew

Have looked through the books and there are 7 men who have the name Holmes or Holm. They are

THOMAS HOLME, Major  in Sir Thomas Aston's Horse

? HOLMES, Ensign in Sir bernard Astley's Foote

THOMAS HOME, Ensign in Col Edward Chisenalls Foote. This regiment was raised in 1644 partly from Lathom Ho Garrison and fought at Marston Moor.

HENRY HOLM, Captain in Sir Charles Dallison's Horse

JOHN HOLME, Ensign in Lord mansfield Foote. This regiment was destroyed at Marston Moor 1644

ROBERT HOLMES, Cornet in Prince maurices Horse

and WALTER HOLMES, Ensign in Sir Henry Slingsbys Foote.


Except for the two men whose regiments fought at Marston Moor the others don't appear to have fought in the same battle.


All the above men survived the civil war and may not have started off with the regiments that are listed. They are taken from the list of Indigent Officers 1663 which was the list that Charles II used when they 'claimed relief to the Sixty Thousand Pounds granted by his sacred Majesty for his truly-loyal and indigent party'


Of course if your ancestor fought on the side of Parliament then he won't be any of the above.

Then again if you ancestor wasn't an Officer it may be very hard to identify which regiment he fought with. It could be possible if that was the case and you knew who the Lords of the manor was were he was living to have a suggested regiment.

For example in West Sussex there was the Goring family who owned a lot of the land on the south coast so when the regiments were raised then the men who lived and worked for the Goring family would have fought with them. If the Officers died then the men would have been moved to another regiment (bit like it was in WWI when regiment lost too many men they were transferred to other regiments)

Jean

[Adnepos_Iacobi]

It's the anniversary of the Battle of Marston Moor!
My family has passed down the story that our ancestor Peter ORMEROD (b after 1610 Gambleside, Burnley, m Alice HAYDOCK buried 14 Dec 1689) fought at this engagement. Given that Charles TOWNELEY of Towneley, Burnley led an infantry unit (???regiment according to Townley family history handed down) in the Marquis of Newcastle's army and the catholic leaning of the Haydock family, it is possible that Peter was in that unit. Charles died at the battle and is buried somewhere on the battlefield. My Peter was not likely to have been an officer and I have not been able to find his name listed in any documentation that I have found over the last 30 years. If anybody has access to otherwise inaccessible information or has another idea, please shout out.