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| Turnham Green - Victory without a battle. | ||
| 1642 | After Edgehill
the Royalists captured Banbury (Oct 27),
and on Oct 29th Charles moved into Oxford
to be greeted by cheering crowds. He was to make this his capital for
the rest of the war.
Rupert captured Abingdon and Aylesbury and then moved on to Maidenhead. From there he tried to capture Windsor and Kingston but failed because they were too strong. |
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| Nov 8 | There was dissent among some of the Royalist officers about how to continue the campaign. Rupert wanted to attack London but some of them wanted to open negotiations for peace rather than attack the capital and Charles agreed with them. This enabled Essex to overtake the Royalist armies and reach London on Nov 8th. | This was the first time that Charles went against Rupert who wanted to move on London in force. |
| Nov 11 | While the King discussed peace, Essex's army reinforced by the London trained bands (local militia) advanced towards the Royalists under the leadership of Skippon. | |
| Nov 12 | Charles responded by attacking and capturing Brentford. [Details] | |
| Nov 13 | Essex stood with 24,000 men at Turnham Green
when Charles and the Royalist army arrived. They were short of
ammunition and only had 12,000 men and were clearly not strong enough to
attack.
The Royalist army withdrew westwards along the Thames valley. Prince Rupert commanded a rearguard for the retreat.
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| The Royalist army then moved away into winter quarters in Oxford, Reading, Wallingford, Abingdon and other nearby towns. The Parliamentary army occupied itself fortifying the capital. | ||