Hereford 1643
Apr 24 Waller and Massey arrive with his 2,500 Roundheads after a night march from Gloucester. The town is in Royalist hands, under the governor Colonel Sir Richard Cave but he only has a small force of about 800 soldiers as a garrison.

The town has five gates, and Waller moved round from Bicester Gate which had been blockaded with earth, and on to Widemarsh gate.

A couple of cannon fired on the wooden gate - one shot passing right through and decapitating a Royalist officer.

 
Cave sought talks with the Roundheads. Colonel Carey and Captain Edward Cooke were sent in to the town to meet the Royalists. While these lengthy talks were taking place most of the Royalists troops escaped from the town, so there were very few prisoners taken.

£3,000 was offered to Waller if he did not plunder the town.

 Cave at first rejected Wallers demands with this reply "He who held this town, held it by commission from the King. If Sir William Waller could produce a better commission from the King, it should be delivered to him; otherwise he who had it by authority from the King would preserve it for the King".
Several distinguished persons were taken prisoner, among them were Cave, Lord Scudamore, his son James, Coningsby (the Sheriff) and Colonel Herbert Price.
May 18 There was a lot of local resentment about the Roundhead occupation of the town, and Waller left for Gloucester. Within a few days the Royalists reclaimed the town.
Sir Richard Cave was court martialed later in Oxford, one of the charges being, that he gave up the city dishonourably. He was though, acquitted of this and other charges brought against him.