Sir William Bereton

[Dave Blue Team]

I know enough about Brereton to know that Wiki is fairly accurate.

Mainly because I'm on the other side...
Sir Francis Gamull's Trayned Band of the Cittie of Chyster.

Intending to either have Gamull and Mostyn's Regiments of foote supported by Chomondeley Horse (lead by Colonel John Marrow) OR perhaps the Irish Reinforcments (of which not one man was Irish, but a veteran of the Irish fighting - and the very people Brereton tried to convince to turn) that landed in Flint on 15 November 1643, placed under John Byron and then units parted ways after Nantwich on 25 January 1944 (well... Sir Michael Erneley and Maj-Gen Richard Gibson were brigaded together at Marston Moor and appear to have worked together before leaving Ireland).

Was there something specific about Brereton? Or just about the man in particular?

Some links I used on my research into the ECW goings on in and around chester:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7kEj ... on&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uJlC ... on&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N3RI ... on&f=false

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/cari ... f-nantwich
And look at the pdf file on this site too.

I'd also suggest the book "The Great Seige of Chester" By John Barratt.

Much of the information online is found over and over again, but now and then there is a real nugget of information.
As for the accuracy of information, same as any other historical records.

If I do find anything else I will make a note and reference it here.

[Chesh]

Hi Dave Blue Team

Wow thanks, their is plenty to get on with there and read....!!

Regarding your question if there was anything specific. My ideal would be to try and find out what troops were raised locally for Parliament from Northwich and the surrounding areas (plus colours if I can) as growing up in Northwich from a small boy I think it woudkl be very fitting for my troops.....hence where Bereton comes into play.

[Dave Blue Team]

Had a quick dig around...

http://www.scotwars.com/james_lothian.htm
Brereton was at Congleton on 27 January 1643. Trying to drum up support for your rowdy bunch of rebels.
He left Congleton with his own horse and 3 companies of dragoons. One of these Dragoon companies was lead by John Broomhall (who had already faced Rupert).
Also accompanied by Major James Lothian (Scots professional soldier).

Broomhall and Lothian were sent to secure Nantwich on 28 January 1643, which they did. Beating Aston to the town and then driving the untested Royalists away among much confiusion. Perhaps getting caught between Lothian and Broomhall in the town and Brereton marching with the remaining forces.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Middlewich
Next peice of action is around Northwich, where again Brereton was drumming up support for you cowardly rebels around 10 March 1643.
Royalists had camped at Middlewich and Brereton set out to 'annoy' them with 2 or 3 companies of dragoons.
Brereton only had horse and about 200 musket. The rest were at Nantwich.

Sadly no colours and only one dragoon comander's name, sorry.
Major James Lothian does look a good bet for some Google-Fu along with Broomhall.
**Edit**
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=an-e ... nt&f=false
Search for Nantwich page 386, lists the regiments for Parliment there. Some are belonginhg to Fairfax, and some will probably be the Nantwich Garrison.

Or if you are ever at Wigan or Leigh:
http://prism.talis.com/wigan/items/1627 ... %2C+Robert)&resultsUri=items%3Fquery%3Dauthor%253A%2528Williams%252C%2BRobert%2529%26sort%3Ddisplayasmainauthor&sort=displayasmainauthor
I must say these do look enchanting. Although I'm sure historians have interrogated those pages many times and anything worth while will aready be in new books or research.

This book is about the Civil War in Wales and the Marches:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Z4gi ... &q&f=false
Some really nice peices in there. Also discovered another one of Brereton's Dragoon Captains is called Goldgay (page 50).

When planning my loyal Cheshire Royalist force (As I grew up in Chester and wanted to do a local Royalist force), discovered that it was quite rare for regiments to stay in one place and form an 'army' - Most of the actions being skirmish (Marrow, Colonel of the Chester Horse causing trouble around nantwich on Sunday 17 December 1643) save for the few tasty seiges and the couple of larger actions. This is why I'm focussing on just one specific time period - 15 November 1643 to 25 January 1644, as this is when the Irish War Veterans and Byron took all but Nantwich for the King. The same regiments featured marching from Flint , past Hawarden and onto Chester, before setting out elsewhere (Beeston etc). As to if tall the regiments were in the same place at the same time, unlikely. Although the battle of Nantwich on 25 January 1643 all Irish war veterans appear to be there:

Pages 29 to 42:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uJlC ... de&f=false

[Chesh]

Many thanks for the links and the info....I am going scroll over all this at the weekend

[Dave Blue Team]

Oh. Just discovered that Brereton had an 'action' at Stow on the Wold not long after winning Chester.
http://www.theteacher99.btinternet.co.u ... l/stow.htm

(Not something I was aware of previously as I've not researched after the fall of Chester, as that is where my interest stops).

As for coat colours, my intent is full of artistic lisense.
Should the actual shade of the coat not be known, I'm taking the name of the Colonel of the regiment and looking at their coat of arms.
For example - Sir Michael Erneley (who appears to be a forebear of Ex-Tottenham footballer Darren Anderton, missing pretty much all of the action in England on account of his sickness...) ariving in England in November 1643 and brought his foot and horse. Coat of arms of Ernely is white with a black stripe. So his unit will be white coats, white pants and black trim.
This is to seperate them from Maj-Gen Richard Gibson regiment - who appeared to be inseperable from Ernely, who's coat of arms is 50/50 balck and white, and will therefore be white coats and black trousers.
Of course this is entirely inaccurate historically and my own personal choice of deciding on a paint scheme (as it's known that regiments did not bear resemblances to the colonels heraldry) but it saves them from never being painted. And I'm happy to do white and black colours as these were possible given the dyes of the time.
Although, should I discover the actual colours (unlikely, but possible) then I'll probably cry and hope the facts go away.

[Rook]

I am currently painting up Sir william (Billy) Brereton's regt for my midlands association (all be it they were initially recruited mainly in the South East). There is a book called "Loyal and Ancient City" about the seige of Lichfield where he died, shot by a sniper while looking out over the seigeworks from an upstairs window in Dam Street if I remember correctly. It has some good primary sources and includes a picture of his personal flag. Its a lovely design, black with a field of silver stars with a gold scrolling . Also there is a pamphlet publication called The English Civil WAr in the Trent Valley. Cant remember the publisher or scribe of either but both were available cheaply a year or two ago. There is also an out of print book called The Civil War in the MIdlands that mentions him quite a lot. Alledgedly he kitted his guys out in purple doublets but this may well refer to their colour not their coat colour. Lillburnes regt in the Sealed Knot have them as a pre New Model alter ego so try their website too.

Hope this helps