shire. There, Waller’s 6,500 men attacked Hopton’s army
of 3,500 infantry and 2,500 horse soldiers. Waller’s plan
of attack and numerical advantage forced Hopton to
retreat, leaving southeastern England in Parliamentary
hands. This was also Parliament’s first major victory in
the war. Essex then ordered Waller to follow the king’s
army while he moved west in what turned out to be a di-
sastrous move, as Charles turned on Waller and defeated
him at Copredy Bridge (29 June 1644).
Waller’s final major engagement was the second
battle at Newbury (October 1644). Angered that Essex
was controlling his forces, Waller wrote an impassioned
letter to Parliament that the antiroyal army should be
organized based on a national rather than a regional
basis, noting that “an army compounded of these men
will never go through with your service, and till you
have an army merely your own that you may command,
it is in a manner impossible to do anything of impor-
tance.” This letter led to the creation of the so-called
“New Model Army” in 1645, with Waller named as one
of its commanders. However, while he was marching to
relieve Taunton, Parliament enacted the Self-Denying
Ordinance, which forced all members of Parliament to
relinquish their military commands. Because of this, in
early 1645 Waller relinquished his commission as a gen-
eral, and his military career came to an end. He returned
to his seat in Parliament, where he became a leader of
the Presbyterian faction. An outspoken member, he was
threatened with impeachment, along with 10 others, in
June 1647 when his enemies accused him of intolerance
to those not in sympathy with his ideas.
Waller subsequently became one of 40 Parliamen-
tarians arrested in “Pride’s Purge,” initiated by Thomas
Pride. In December 1648, as the first phase of the Civil
War drew to a close, Pride demanded that Parliament
not make any deals with the king. To ensure there was
no arrangement or agreement to end the war, he ordered
that soldiers prevent any pro-agreement members from
taking their seats, and 40 of them, including Waller,
were arrested. (Pride was later one of those who signed
Charles’s execution warrant in January 1649.) Waller,
who refused to accede to Pride’s demands, was impris-
oned until 1652. He played no role in the English gov-
ernment presided over by Oliver cromWell, though he
was again imprisoned on suspicion of treason in 1659.
In April 1660, Waller was elected to the Conven-
tion Parliament, which met to clear the way for the res-
toration of Charles II, son of the executed king, to the
throne. He helped to welcome Charles back to England
and retired soon after the new king’s return to his home
at Osterley. He died in London on 19 September 1668,
two months before his 70th birthday. He had been one
of the more important of the Parliamentary command-
ers in the English Civil War, but, because other com-
manders such as Cromwell played more important roles,
Sir William Waller’s name has been forgotten, except by
historians.References: Adair, John, Roundhead General: A Military
Biography of Sir William Waller (London: Macdonald &
Co., 1969); A True Relation of the Fortunate S. William
Waller, Collonel Under His Excellency the Earle of Essex,...
(London, 1643); A True Relation of the Late Fight betweene
Sr William Wallers forces and those sent from Oxford...
(London: G. Dexter, 1643); A Great Over-throw: Given
to Sir Ralph Hopton’s whole Army by Sir William Waller
neere Farnham... (London: Printed for John Hammon,
1643); A Fuller Relation of the Great Victory Obtained
(Through God’s Providence) at Alsford, on Friday the 28.
of March, 1644. By the Parliaments Forces, under the Com-
mand of Sir William Waller, Sir William Balfore, and Major
Generall Browne... (London: Printed for Laurance Blai-
klock, 1644); A Famous Victorie Obtained by Sir William
Waller, against the Lord Herbert and the Welch Cavaliers in
the Forrest of Deane in the County of Gloucester... (Lon-
don: Printed for Robert Wood, 1643); Ash, Simeon, A
True Relation, of the most Chiefe Occurrences at, and since
the late Battell at Newbery, untill the disjunction of the three
Armies, of the Lord Generall, the Earl of Manchester, and Sir
William Waller, together with the London Brigade, under the
Commander of Sir James Harrington... (London: Printed
by G.M. for Edward Brewster, 1643); The Souldiers Report
concerning Sir William Wallers Fight against Basing-house
on Sunday last November the 12, 1643... (London: John
Hammond, 1643); The Battle of Acton: An Account of the
Famous Battle in 1643 during England’s Civil War (Alton,
U.K.: Peter Canfield Associates, 1999); Adair, John,
Cheriton 1644: The Campaign and the Battle (Kineton,
U.K.: The Roundwood Press, 1973).Warwick, Richard Neville, earl of (Warwick
the Kingmaker) (1428–1471)
English military leader
Richard Neville was born on 22 November 1428, the
eldest son of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, and wARwick, RichARD neville, eARl oF