Dartmouth won the Civil War
artmouth was at the centre of the titanic struggle for the South West during the Civil War – and the town, its topography and the weather combined to significantly change the direction of this War.
By Phil Scoble D
In late 1642 King Charles I had burnt all his bridges and almost single-handedly brought the country to the edge of conflict. He had dismissed Parliament a number of times because it failed to support his belief that he had a God given right to take money for whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. For eleven years he had refused to call a Parliament under a tyranny known as the ‘Personal Rule’. In 1640, however, Charles needed cash to subdue the Scots, and called a Parliament to ask for money for a campaign. They had no interest in wars with the Scots and berated the king for his rule. Angered by their nerve, Charles dissolved Parliament and attempted to beat the Scots without the extra funds he really needed.
It was a bit of a disaster.
After two attempts to beat them Charles found that the Scots were occupying most of Northern England and Parliament was recalled. He had his commander from the Scotland campaign arrested and executed in 1641.
At this point the Irish Catholics revolted and the country seemed on the verge of chaos. Charles panicked and took a subtle group of 400 soldiers to Parliament to arrest the men he thought were to blame for all his problems. The men had been forewarned and
Right:
Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper
King Charles I by Antoon van Dyck
had slipped away. The Speaker of the House informed Charles, in chilly terms, that he served Parliament, not the King. The Country was poised for War. Charles moved his court to Nottingham and raised his standard above its Castle, and started to raise an army – the Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 marked the start of a war everyone knew was coming. Now all there was to do was choose
sides. Dartmouth was definitely on the side of Parliament - it had two members who attended the last Parliament before the war and many of the town’s rich men raised cash, men and arms to fight the Royalists. But in the early days the Royalists seemed to be doing well – and especially in the West Country. The Cornish strongly supported the King and helped the Royalists take town after town.
A large group of men, some led by Nicholas Roope, marched away to fight for Parliament and were involved in skirmishes and full-on battles before falling back to help defend Plymouth.
In July 1643 Exeter fell. The Royalist commander in the South West, Charles’ nephew Maurice, turned his attention south. The people of the town heard he had decided to take Dartmouth to secure the harbour as a base for operations.
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