Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 99/397

THE BATTLE OF CHALGROVE , 1643

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Having passed through the Great Hedge, Dalbier led the Parliamentarian Forlorn Hope of dragoons into action with a dash to a lower line of hedge in Upper Marsh Lane on the other side of which the Royalists had taken up position. He ordered the dragoons to fire a volley at close range into Percy’s regiment and then called out to retreat because his force was being hemmed in and caught in a trap. The Late Beating Up recorded that: ‘Some of ours affirm, how they over-heard Dulbiere (who brought up some of the Rebels first Horse) upon sight of the Princes order and dividing of his Wings , to call out to his People to retreat, least they were hemmed in by us.’ 21 In order to engage his enemy, Rupert jumped his horse over this low-ish hedge and his men followed as best they could. Having negotiated the hedge in Upper Marsh Lane and scattered Dalbier’s forlorn hope, Rupert formed a front with his regiment, drawing forward troops of the Prince of Wales’ regiment to even out his line in comparison with that of Gunter. Captains Martin and Gardiner of the Prince’s own regiment led the first charge. They received a volley of pistol shot at a distance and another at close range. Swords drawn, Rupert charged with his Lifeguard. It is likely that John Hampden was mortally wounded in this first charge and, in the confusion was able to leave the battlefield, to ride back to Thame. Traditionally, Hampden’s biographer, Lord Nugent, and those who have followed and embellished his account, suggested that Hampden was seen riding ‘with his head hanging down, and resting his hands upon the neck of his horse, by which he concluded he was hurt’. 22 Nugent based the story on the 1702 edition of Clarendon history, suggesting that it came from one of the troopers captured by the Royalists, but it was not in the original account. A troop from Percy’s regiment probably held the gap in the Great Hedge for a time and prevented Parliament’s reserve from joining the fray. The Prince of Wales’ Horse joined the fight and the mêlée resulted in the Parliamentary forces fleeing. It can only be conjectured how Rupert routed his enemy through the gap and chased them back over Golder Hill. At around 1015 Stapleton rallied the fleeing men and drew them into a body near Clare crossroads. 23 Rupert was left as master of the battlefield, but after rallying his troops and putting them in order, he left Chalgrove to return to Oxford. At around 1400, he marched into Oxford to a triumphal welcome. It was reported in Mercurius Aulicus that ‘he (Rupert) slew above an hundred dead in the place’. 24 As will be seen, Hyde wrote that ‘near 200 prisoners, seven cornets of horse and four ensigns of foot’ (by which is implied colours not necessarily the officers who carried them) were brought into Oxford and ‘laden 21 ‘Late Beating Up’, p. 5. 22 George, Lord Nugent, Some Memorials of John Hampden, his Party and his Times 2 vols. (London: John Murray, 1832), Vol. II, p. 435; Thomas Babington Macaulay, Critical and Historical Essays: Contributed to the Edinburgh Review 2 vols. (London: Longman, Brown, Green &: Longman, 1843), I, pp. 162-63; Adair, Hampden , p. 236. 23 ‘Late Beating Up’, pp. 8-9. 24 Mercurius Aulicus , The five and twentieth Weeke (1643), pp. 311-322.