SIR
VINCENT CORBET, HIS DRAGOONS
A Provisional History of the Regiment
by Stephen Pickstock©
(Dragoon: a mounted infantryman
armed with a musket.)
Click
on picture to enlarge
Sir Vincent Corbet the first
baronet of Morton Corbet was born 13th June 1617.
The first son of Sir Andrew Corbet and Elizabeth
(nee Boothby), he went to Queen's College, Oxford
and was a member of Lincoln's Inn from 1638. In
1640 when the King recalled Parliament Sir
Vincent was elected MP for Shropshire, replacing
his father who had died three years earlier. His
colleague in the house at that time was a Mr Pierrepoint.
Once the King had raised the
royal standard at Nottingham, he was received
with welcome arms by the gentry of Shropshire,
which unlike neighbouring Cheshire was staunchly
Royalist.
At the start of the war Sir
Vincent was nominated Captain of the Horse and a
defence of Shrewsbury, in particular, and
Shropshire in general was organised.
After the first battles of the
war, notably Edge Hill in Warwickshire, the
country realised that this affair would not be a
short one, consequently moves got afoot to
organise bigger and better armies.
On 5th December a commission was
issue to Sir Vincent to raise a regiment of one
thousand dragoons. So on the 20th of the same
month at Battlefield, near Shrewsbury, a muster
was held to raise the said regiment. The muster
obviously promised much, Arthur Trevor wrote on
the 29th December that they would exceed the
number and raised two thousand. However it
emerged later, by the end of 25th January, that
the regiment was under-strength and the original
muster raised only sixty dragoons, literally a
single troop. Despite this, efforts were made to
increase the number of soldiers available.
Events began to move rapidly, to
counter Parliamentarian moves in Cheshire, Corbet
was ordered to move from Whitchurch on 20th
January to Tarporley. Respectfully he refused, he
had not sufficient strength. Sir Thomas Aston
appeared in the county on his way to Cheshire. He
asked for as many troops as he could to counter
not only the ensconced rebels in Nantwich, but a
force heading towards Cheshire, under Sir William
Brereton. Sir Vincent could only offer sixty, but
given two days he said, they could raise another
two hundred. This seems to suggest what may be
borne out by other evidence, that the dragoons,
after the initial poor showing, were being
recruited at various places all round the county.
We know from letters that
Captain (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Edward Baldwin
was near Ludlow and Aston set off on a grand tour
of the county to gather men. Whether Sir Vincent
went with him is not known at this time, but on
the 28th January they set off towards Nantwich.
Aston had sent to Chester for a
hundred and fifty musketeers to be sent to the
town, so the expedition rode up to the town's
defences expecting a friendly greeting. However
what they received was powder and shot. Orlando
Bridgeman, the royalist controller of Chester had
not sent a man. According to the Parliamentarian
pamphlets reporting the incident, and the degree
to which they are to be believed, will be
illustrated later, Aston and Corbet then set
about organising an ambush that was betrayed to
the advancing troops. In the resulting fight both
commanders are portrayed as taking flight, in
shameful manner, leaving the rebel force
victorious. In truth the only reason that
Brereton's forces could count this as a victory,
was that when all the fuss had died down they
were where they wanted to be.The most familiar
account of the fight was written up by John
Vicars who wrote for the parliamentarian press,
it is fair to say that he has embellished the
account freely, and an account of the same action
by Sir William Brereton himself gives a much more
balanced story.
In the darkness of the skirmish,
the experience of Brereton’s men under his
subordinate, Major Lothian, was a distinct
advantage over the inexperienced Shropshire men.
Even so it leaves us on the 29th with Aston at
Whitchurch berating all soundly, while Sir
Vincent is at Market Drayton. Sir Vincent wrote
to Sir Francis Ottley (the Governor of
Shrewsbury) that while it had been bad, it had
not been as bad as it could have been, and please
may we have as many surgeons as possible. This
seems to give the lie to the supposed fight with
a nary a blow exchanged. There now begins the
most well documented phase of their operations.
From Market Drayton, at the
beginning of February, the dragoons moved to
Whitchurch to carry out more offensive
operations, which unfortunately were hampered by
the refusal of the Cheshire royalists to have the
Salop troops in the county.Their strength began
to build. Captain Baldwin with his Ludlow troops
joins after the middle of the month and an
undated note in papers in a private collection of
Documents pertaining to Sir Thomas Aston at Aston
near Runcorn, probably dating from the middle of
February to early March has a list of other
troops coming in. By the end of February the
regiment probably numbered four hundred plus,
possibly as many as six hundred, if a group from
the County Trained Band was included as seems to
have been.
Also about this time Captain
Thomas Piggot joins the regiment. At the age of
forty-three, it is believed he brought troops
from around the Market Drayton area. However the
need for experienced men to command was still
sorely felt, and on the 17th while the regiment
was at Malpas, a letter was sent asking for the
secondment of a Captain Rainsford. It is possible
that this was granted as he turns up again later
at the capture at Shrewsbury castle. On the 19th
March the regiment was engaged, under the earl of
Northampton at Hopton Heath. They seem to have
improved in quality as Brereton wrote in his
letters the Shropshire dragoons 'came on in good
order'. The victory for the Royalists was soured
when the old earl was slain and his body held for
ransom.
Back in Shropshire, troops from
the regiment under Piggot at Whitchurch went back
to Malpas in Cheshire which they occupied for a
while. This was the only notable occupation of
this isolated village in the war.
Piggot seems to have been placed
under the command of Sir Thomas Scriven, Sir
Vincent’s second cousin, and on the 12/13th
April a mixed party of troops went over to Audlem
and raided the house of Captain Massie. On the
way back they were intercepted by some of
Brereton's troops and lost some of their plunder.
However the rest of the troops
in Malpas were not having a picnic either because
on the same day Corbet writes from Malpas asking
Shrewsbury for chirurgeons for injuries to the
troops. Operations at this time were severely
hampered by the reluctance of Orlando Bridgeman
at Chester to allow the Shropshire troops into
the county, hindsight suggests that he would have
saved himself many problems later if he had.
At the beginning of May,
possibly Mayday, or the 2nd or 3rd, the regiment
retired on Market Drayton where Piggot rejoined
them. Immediately they started building defences
about the town, 'mud walls' or earth ramparts.
However before these defences were complete, just
before dawn, on Thursday 4th May 1643, Brereton
attacked and the 'Battle of Drayton' took place.
The main source for this event
is Mercurius Civicus, in the first issue of
which, appears the lurid description of the
shocking defeat of Corbet's dragoons. However
although there is supporting evidence for the
event, and there seems no doubt that it actually
did take place, the casualties listed may not
have been as bad as suggested. For example
Ambrose Kynaston, the regimental quartermaster,
was sufficiently recovered from his 'death' that
by the 19th June he was fulfilling his duties
again. The other Kynaston in the regiment at that
time, Edward, also appears to have not been
overly affected by his death. Captain Robert
Sandford also seems to have made a miraculous
recovery, so much so that he was taken alive
(again) at Shrewsbury Castle.
However spurious some of the action was soon
after this Thomas Piggot resigned his commission,
and returned home to his house at Chetwynd, where
he lived the rest of the war quietly, being fined
for taking arms against Parliament in 1649.
By the 19th June the regiment
was at Caynton. On the 17th of the same month a
commission is issued for Corbet to raise a
thousand foote. This regiment never materialised,
although some sources, not original, state that
it did, labelling it the 'Shrewsbury foote',
although there are other units who have better
claim to this title.
The next occurrence of major
note was the battle of Loppington on 28th
September. Loppington was part of the operations
mounted against the town of Wen by Arthur, Lord
Capel. It is quite likely Corbets were involved
in some way, just as they were probably involved
in the rest of the same operation which
culminated in a series of battles lasting three
days - the battles of Wem and Lea Bridge. These
eventually led to the defeat of the royalists,
the death of Sir Thomas Scriven and the sacking
of Capel from his post as commander in Shropshire.
Salop then saw the arrival of
John, 1st Lord Byron, who immediately began a
series of operations to reduce the main
parliamentarian headquarters in the area, this
campaign culminated in the 2nd Battle of
Nantwich, 1643/4. 1644 was a particularly busy
year for Corbet’s regiment, they fulfilled
many important military duties. These included an
attack by Prince Rupert on parliamentarians
stationed around Market Drayton and a number of
other raids. Their duties also included the
garrisoning of various houses. One of these was
Moreton Corbet, which despite the impression
given in Gough’s History of Myddle, changed
hands several times, at least three times. They
were also engaged on the collection of supplies
from the various villages and hamlets around
Shrewsbury.
In July they were engaged in the
siege and battle for Oswestry where Captain
Robert Sandford was injured.By the beginning of
September the dragoons were probably deeply
involved in the campaign around Montgomery, which
could quite easily have been a Royalist victory,
but which marked the beginning of the end for the
royalists in Salop.
From the evidence it seems one
troop at least was definitely elsewhere. On the
night of 8th September Lt-Col Reinkling took
Moreton Corbet Castle. It seems probable that the
castle was not burned at this time. Gough, in the
history of Myddle, gives several names as being
involved in the Parliamentary Garrison. However,
listed in the prisoners taken are two named
officers, Major Bridgeman and Captain Maurice.
The Aston papers put Major James Bridgeman, of
the Chester Bridgemans, at Taunton on this date,
which rules him out despite some claims to the
contrary, and there is a possibility that Captain
Maurice should actually be Morris. Also taken at
Moreton Corbet were one Lieutenant, one sergeant,
one quartermaster, two horse colours, at least
eighty troopers, thirty good horses and other
equipment.
The numbers of soldiers suggest
this was a troop, probably what was known as the
Major's troop. It would have been well up to
strength because he was the Major and it was
Moreton Corbet garrison. That the castle fell by
virtue of a 'cunning plan' is no dishonour to him
or his troopers.
Deprived of his home base Sir
Vincent led his men to Shrewsbury first, and from
there at about 'Hallowtide', 1st November to High
Ercall house. At High Ercall Corbet and his
troops were placed under the command of the
Governor of the house, Captain Nicholas Armourer.
Armourer was a commander of horse under Sir
William Vaughan, the renowned ‘Devil of
Shrawardine’. One or possibly two of the
troops of dragoons may have been left at
Shrewsbury Castle - Captain Sandford's troop and
possibly Captain Rainsford's troop. At High
Ercall the dragoons earned themselves the name
Ercall or Arkle Dragoons.
The garrison at this time is
placed at 200 foote and 40 horse which suggests
it was not a large one.
On 22nd February 1644/5
Shrewsbury Castle was captured by the infamous
Reinkling. The officers captured, Captains
Sandford and Rainsford, and Cornet or Guidon
Sandford, were taken as prisoners to Nantwich.
The parliamentarians were less happy to issue
their prisoners with paroles by now, as the
royalists were giving their paroles and then
ignoring them.
With Shrewsbury neutralised the
Parliamentarians could begin to apply pressure to
the remaining Royalist garrisons in the county.
On 17th March 1644/5 Prince Rupert, and his
brother, Prince Maurice, progressed through the
county. They relieved Beeston Castle on 18th
March. At Holt on the 19th Rupert ordered
thirteen prisoners hanged in reprisal for the
execution of two 'Irish' troops. One of the
prisoners due to be hanged was Philip Littleton,
whom Gough describes as an former employee of Sir
Vincent ‘s family. His case was brought to
Sir Vincent, who listened to his plea and
successfully got his sentence commuted.
From 30th March to 15th April
High Ercall underwent its first siege. It would
appear that most of the time High Ercall was
under 'leaguer' which differs from a siege in a
set of technicalities. Basically it is possible
to enter and leave a place if
it is ‘under leaguer’ but it becomes
far more difficult if it is under siege. High
Ercall village was razed to the ground to give
clear fields of fire all round and the earth
ramparts around the house were improved to
include the church. Today the church is outside
the line of the walls but its position in the
17th century was improved by the fact that there
was a lake in front of it. This was drained in
the 18th century for the farmland but it would
have acted then as a natural moat.
The house at High Ercall underwent at least four
sieges, at different levels of intensity, the
second was ‘relieved’ by Sir William
Vaughan as a result of a cavalry attack that left
the parliamentarians with eight cart-loads of
wounded.
On display at the church at the foot of the bell
tower, on the opposite side from the doorway, are
the worn stones which they used to sharpen their
pikes. It is also possible to see where the
cannon balls struck the tower leaving
hemispherical depressions in the stone work.
On 14th June 1645 the King's army suffered a
disastrous defeat at the hands of the rebels at
Naseby field and some sources put Sir Vincent
himself there with the Shrewsbury foote. It is
unlikely that either Sir Vincent or the dragoons
were there but whether they were or not, the
Shrewsbury foote - the remains from three of the
king’s regiments from Ireland - fought
valiantly on that awful day. It was the decisive
action of the war.
With the king's field army beaten and in some
cases scattered, all Parliament had to do was mop
up the centres of resistance.
One of these was Chester to which city the king
went in September. His army followed only to
beaten at Rowton Moor.
His majesty left Byron, who commanded the defence
of the city with the instruction to hold out as
long as he could, meaning a few days, weeks at
most. Literal Byron took his instructions
seriously. The task then fell to the Salop
royalists to help keep Chester supplied,
representing as it did a centre of resistance to
the overwhelming advance by the parliamentarians.
Consequently we find a number of Dragoons at
Denbigh Green on 1st November. Tentative numbers
place then at 20 but it was possible there were
more.
The 'Arkle' dragoons, as they are referred to, at
one stage counter-charged the on-coming
Parliamentary horse, a feat unheard of normally
in Dragoon actions during the Civil War. Despite
this they were defeated and Chester went
unsupplied.
On 4th December, with Captain Armourer at
Bridgnorth for a conference, Sir Vincent took
command of High Ercall. That winter the garrison
seems to have indulged in the favourite sport of
garrisons throughout the war, 'beating up
quarters', as they raided other enemy positions.
On 3rd February 1645/6 they
raided a parliamentarian's house and on 15th
February badly mauled the force of one Captain
Halford, and severely affrighted the garrison at
Bentham. The final siege of High Ercall took
place over the period of 1st to 28th March 1645/6
and ended with Sir Vincent surrendering. He led
some troops to Bridgnorth while others, the
majority went to Worcester.
One story from the final siege of the house is
that a Roundhead drummer used to beat out a
challenge every day to the garrison until a
royalist marksman put an end to his impudence.
The garrison troops were living in the roof of
the house in what became, known as the
'barracks'.
Incidentally the incumbent of High Ercall at that
time, Matthew Fowler, DD, marched out with the
troops.
The Parliamentarians could now see the end of the
whole affair. Three days later on 31st March
Bridgnorth town was taken, although fired by its
garrison in the process. The castle and its
gallant defenders, including many other prominent
Shropshire royalists, held out for twenty six
days before it too surrendered.
All of the surrendering officers were paroled and
with the war virtually at its end it seems they
did not break their word. In 1649 during the
second civil war apparently Moreton Corbet was
held for the King again though less effectively
than before.
ENGLISH CIVIL WAR DRAGOONS
The organisation of the troops was as follows:
Commander either a Captain or if the commander
was a field officer such as a Colonel, Lt colonel
or Major then there would also be a
Captain-Lieutenant
Lieutenant Cornet (sometimes referred to as a
Guidon, who carried
the troop guidon or colour)
Quartermaster - who was counted as an officer
carried a sword. One letter in the Ottleiana
collection says that some of the Dragoons in
Corbet’s may have been armed with clubs at
first.
The reference to glowing match lights at 1st
Nantwich seems to suggest that the troopers had
matchlock weapons at first, though these were
probably gradually replaced with more reliable
flintlocks or flint lock weapons. Officers had
their own arms, normally a good sword and a pair
of pistols.
SIR VINCENT CORBET'S DRAGOONS
Sir Vincent Corbet’s Dragoons is a unit in
the Sealed Knot Society of Cavaliers and
Roundheads. The main aim of the Sealed Knot
Society is to further the knowledge and study of
the English Civil War, and re-enact battles from
the period. Its aims are to entertain and educate
and help raise money for charity in the process.
Although only small at the moment, we have some
50 members, we aim to portray accurately a
dragoon unit of the period, in dress, weapons and
tactics. Members of the unit will be trained in
the use of firearms, and sword, so that these may
be used on the battlefield. We also hope to
achieve as many riding members as possible,
passing the Sealed Knot Cavalry test so that we
can ride to battle as well as march.
Membership of the Sealed Knot at the moment is
over 6000 and both Individual, Family and
Associate membership are available. Membership
runs from January to December and entitles
members to free camping at the 'Musters' or
battles
throughout the season and a bi-monthly journal
entitles 'Orders of the Day'. Membership has
always been on a 'do as much as you want to'
basis and many people join as much for the
scholarly opportunities and the social life as
much as for the actual battles. If you feel like
becoming a member feel free to ring me and talk
about it. I can be reached most evenings on
01928 561367.
Steve Pickstock,
16 Waterloo Rd.,
Runcorn,
Cheshire.
WA7 1JU.
Additionally
there
is a website the Sealed Knot, an English
Civil War Re-enactment Society
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