ON Friday, February 13 Vaughan Wiltshire, a member of the Battle of Worcester Society, gave us an interesting and informative talk entitled1651: The Battle of Worcester in Historical Context.

The period covering three civil wars beginning in 1642 was a complicated period of history, culminating in 1651 when the Royalists of Charles II were defeated by parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell. In total there were three separate civil wars, all fought by different people for different reasons.

The first civil war began when Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham. He and his army would uphold the Protestant religion and laws of Parliament. On the other side, the difference was that the men of Parliament were Non-Conformists. The Battle of Edgehill was the first battle (October 1642). The Battle of Marston Moor in 1644 and the Battle of Naseby in 1645 sealed the king’s fate, with the conquerors being Oliver Cromwell with the Scottish army on the side of the Parliamentarians. The Scots army sided with the Parliamentarians because it wanted to unite the Scottish and English Presbyterians and get rid of the Church of England. Also, since King James had united Scotland and England, all decisions were made at Whitehall whereas the Scots wanted to become political equals. Vaughan commented that this theme has familiar undertones even today. On the conclusion of this first civil war, Parliament was uneasy about the large Scots army on English soil, so paid it off to return to Scotland. Charles I was handed over to Parliament.

The second civil war, which ran from 1647 to 1649, started by discord between the English Army and Parliament. The King tried to exploit this by asking the Scots to help him regain the throne and, in return, he said he would help them have Presbyterianism in England. Eleven thousand Scots came over the border but Cromwell destroyed them at the Battle of Preston in 1648. Parliament voted to bring Charles I to trial and he was executed in 1649 at Whitehall.

Prince Charles, son of Charles I, felt he then had a moral duty to avenge his father’s death and recover the throne, so this started the third civil war. Charles turned to the Scots for help, and threw in his lot with the Presbyterian Church, agreeing to create a Presbyterian Church in England and Scotland and to get rid of the Anglican Church. The Earl of Montrose, a loyal supporter of the previous Charles, was not told of the change of allegiance and so was captured and executed. Riding into Edinburgh, Charles passed the body of his father’s most loyal supporter. Charles II was proclaimed King in Scotland in February 1649.

The third and final civil war ran from then until September 3, 1651. In 1650 Cromwell confronted Charles but things didn’t go well for him and at the Battle of Dunbar he and his men took the Scots army by surprise at dawn and won. It was a spectacular defeat for the Royalists so after Dunbar it was a matter of just “mopping up” for the Parliamentarians to bring it all to a conclusion. By 1651 the priority of many Royalists was simply to conserve their own fortunes. On September 3 at the Battle of Worcester the result was inevitable. The attack by the Parliamentary army came early in the morning. The Royalists had Charles fighting by their side and, upon defeat, he made his escape and spent nine years in exile on the Continent. Oliver Cromwell became Protector and died in 1658. Charles II was restored to the throne, not by the English Parliament or foreigners but by the Cromwellian army that had defeated his father at Naseby. The Battle of Worcester was a significant point in history as, after this, never again would there be an absolute monarchy. There was religious tolerance, except for Catholicism. The country had suffered badly under the three civil wars, with losses of men equivalent in proportion to those of the First and Second World Wars.

On Civic Society business, Denise Preston appealed for more volunteers to conduct the town guided walks that will be running from April to October, starting at Malvern Tourist Information Centre each Saturday and Sunday at 10.30am. Tim Gunter reminded us of two social events, one on Sunday, February 22 at 7pm at the Great Malvern Hotel, at a cost of £10 per head, and a summer lunch for £25 per head on Sunday, June 14 at the Worcestershire Golf Club, where Harriett Baldwin will be the speaker. On Saturday, February 28 Roger Sutton will lead an afternoon visit to Ross-on-Wye where our hosts will be the Ross-on-Wye and District Civic Society.

For further information on Civic Society events, please see http://www.malverncivicsociety.org.uk.

The next talk, entitled The Universe in 3D will be given by Dr Chris Baddily. It will be held on Friday, March 13 at 7.30 pm at Christ Church in Avenue Road.

DENISE PRESTON