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| Siege of Reading 1643 | ||
| Nov 3 1642 |
The King sent a message from Oxford to the Mayor of Reading to make Caversham Bridge strong enough to take the crossing of the Royalist army the following day. The small Parliamentarian garrison had fled a few days earlier. |
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| Nov 4 | Royalist troops cross Caversham bridge and enter Reading. | The tailors of Reading were set to work to make a thousand suits of clothing for the Royalist army, but, because of the shortage of money they were seldom paid. |
| Nov 28 | The King retreated to Oxford which became the Royalist headquarters and left Sir Arthur Aston as governor of Reading. | During the winter months, Reading was strongly fortified. There was a garrison of 3000 soldiers and only 5000 inhabitants. |
| Apr 13 1643 |
The Earl of Essex left Windsor with 19,000
men (16,000 foot and 3,000 horse) to take Reading on the road to
attacking Oxford.
Essex seized Caversham Bridge in the west making it difficult for the Royalists to relieve the town, and sent a message to Aston demanding his surrender. Aston replied that he would rather starve and die, so Essex set up his siege guns round the town. |
With Essex were John Hampden, and Philip Skippon |
| Apr 16 | The Parliamentary siege guns opened fire on Reading. | The town took a pounding from the guns - the steeple of Caversham Church (where a cannon had been set up) was knocked down. |
| Apr 18 | A Royalist party was spotted nearby but was unable to enter the town. Instead they pressed onto Sonning where 600 musketeers with ammunition were sent to Reading in boats. | |
| Apr 19 | Aston was wounded in the head by a brick splinter thrown up by a cannon-ball. He was replaced as commander by Colonel Richard Fielding. | Fielding had commanded one of the foot brigades at Edgehill. |
| Apr 22 | A messenger from Oxford slipped through the
Parliamentarian lines, swam across the Thames and entered the town to
announce that relief was on the way. The messenger however was caught on
his return journey and the surprise attack was thwarted.
The King became worried about his garrison at Reading and sent for Prince Rupert from Lichfield. |
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| Apr 25 | Prince Rupert arrives and together with the
King leads a force to relieve Reading.
Fielding was unaware of the King's approach. He waved a white flag and agreed to surrender to Essex. The Royalists arrived and attacked the troops holding Caversham Bridge supported by guns from the surrounding hills. Initially, the attack succeeded but as they got to the narrow confines of the bridge they were easy targets for the Parliamentarian sharpshooters lining the river. The King, unaware of Fielding's truce, expected him to attack from the town at this moment but nothing happened. A sudden hail storm signalled the end of the attack and the Royalists drew back leaving many dead and wounded. The King heard about the surrender later in the day and reluctantly agreed to it. |
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| Apr 26 | The articles of surrender were signed. | |
| Apr 27 | The Royalist garrison marched out of the town
with the honours of war. At 10am a long dignified procession moved along
the Oxford road led by the wounded Sir Arthur Aston, followed by wagons
of the sick and wounded, four cannon and the main body of soldiers with
raised colours and trumpets sounding.
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Some of
Essex's men attacked and plundered the soldiers as they were leaving,
and then sacked the houses and taverns at the start of a 2-day riot.
Sir Arthur Aston recovered and later became Governor of Oxford. |
| Reading remained in the hands of the Parliamentarians until the end of September 1643. | Back in Oxford, Fielding was stripped of his commission and condemned to death by a court martial. Rupert sympathised with his predicament and secured his pardon, and he spent the rest of the war fighting as a volunteer. | |
| Essex did not move on to Oxford as there was a lot of sickness in his army, and his men were unwilling to move until they had been paid. | ||
