Home > Philip Skippon

A veteran of considerable experience, Captain Skippon returned to England in 1639, and was immediately appointed to a command in the Honourable Artillery Company. In 1642 the Civil War was fast approaching, and in January Skippon was made commander of the City troops. He was not present at the Battle of Edgehill, but he rode up and down the lines of his raw militiamen at the Battle of Turnham Green , cheering and encouraging them in the face of the king’s victorious army. EssexRobert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex ( January 1591 14 September, 1646) was the son and heir of the unfortunate Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and succeeded to his father's title in 1604, three years after the previous earl had been executed for treaso, the Lord General of the Parliamentary forces, soon made Skippon his major-general, a post which carried with it the command of the foot and the complicated duty of arranging the line of battle, He was with Essex at GloucesterThis is about Gloucester, England for other uses see Gloucester (disambiguation Gloucester (pronounced 'Gloster') is a city in south-west England, close to the Welsh border. In 1991 it had a population of 106,526. Traditionally Gloucester has been the cou, and at the first Battle of Newbury distinguished himself at the head of the infantry. At the end of 1644Events February to August Explorer Abel Tasman's second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. April A popular Chinese rebellion led by Li Zicheng sacks Beijing, prompting Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dyn the desertion of Essex when his army was surrounded at the LostwithielFirst Battle of Lostwithiel, 1642 2. Second Battle of Lostwithiel, 1644 After the overwhelming defeat at the Battle of Marston Moor, which cost him the entire north of England, Charles I continued to defy the Parliamentarian forces. From his HQ in Oxford, left Skippon in command; compelled to surrender without firing a shot, the old soldier bore himself with calmness and fortitude in this adversity. At. the second battle of Newbury he and Essex’s old foot had the satisfaction of recapturing six of the guns they had lost at LostwithieL The appointment as major-general of the New Model ArmyThis article deals with the English Civil War army. For information on the band, see New Model Army (band). The New Model Army was the most famous of various Parliamentarian armies in the English Civil War. It was an army of professional soldiers led by t soon followed, as, apart from his distinguished services, there was scarcely another man in England with the knowledge of detail requisite for the post. In this capacity he supported Thomas Fairfax as loyally as he had supported Essex, and at the Battle of NasebyBattle of Naseby Dates of battle June 14, 1645 Conflict English Civil War Battle before Battle after Site of battlenear Naseby, 7. 5 miles (12 km) south-west of Market Harborough Combatant 1Parliament led by Thomas Fairfax Forces15,000 men Combatant 2Roya, though dangerously wounded, he would not quit the field. For his conduct on this decisive occasion, the two Houses of Parliament thanked him, and they sent him special physicians to cure him of his wound. It was a long time before he was fit to serve in the field again. He only reappeared at the siege of Oxford , which he directed.

At the end of the war he was selected for the command of the forthcoming Irish expedition, with the rank of marshal-general. The discontent of the soldiery, however, which ended in open mutiny, put an end to a command which Skippon had only accepted under great pressure. He bore a part in all the movements which the army leaders now carried out. A Presbyterian himself, he endeavoured to preserve a middle position between his own sect and the Independents, and to secure by any means a firm treaty with the king. The army outstripped Fairfax and Skippon in action. The major--general was named as one of the king’s judges, but, like Fairfax, did not take his place. During the Commonwealth period he held high offices, military and civil, but ceased to influence passing events. He was one of the members of Cromwell’s House of Lords, and, in general, was universally respected and beloved. Age and infirmities prevented him from taking any part in the revolutions, which culminated in the restoration, and in March 1660 hie died.

Skippon was a deeply religious man, and wrote several books of devotion for the use of soldiers. One of his few sayings in Parliament, that on the fanatic James Naylor, has become famous: “If this be liberty, God deliver us from such liberty!” See Vicars, English Worthies (1647).

Updated from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica