Overshadowed by the great battle of Worcester nine days later, Wigan Lane more than ordinarily qualifies for the appelation of a "terribly obscure battle", yet this small action presents a number of interesting features, not the least of which being the very high number of senior Royalist officers killed there.

Lancashire had always been a strongly Royalist county, partly due to the unusually high Roman Catholic population and when King Charles II marched through in mid August 1651, the Earl of Derby, who had just joined him from a self-imposed exile on the Isle of Man, was left behind to gather recruits. It is perhaps a measure of his coneiderable local influence that from a county in which he had not set foot since 1644, and then only briefly, he was in the space of less than ten days increase his forces from the 60 Horse and 250 reluctant Manx Foot with which he had landed on August the 15th to 500 Horse and 800 Foot by the 25th.

Initially the Earl was based on Harrington, but on August the 21st he marched northwards to Preston, now shadowed by a small regular force under Colonel Robert Lilburne, a professional soldier best known as the elder brother of John Lilburne the Leveller. Over the next couple of days, both sides proceeded to beat up the other's quarters to their mutual alarm.

Lilburne broke off contact with the Royalists on the 24th and retired to Houghton and was thus taken unawares when early the next morning the equally shaken Royalists set off southwards once more in an attempt to catch up with the King. Indeed Lilburne did not learn of the move until an old countrywoman came in to his quarters with the news halfway through the morning and it was noon before he caught up with them at Wigan.

The Forces

At midday on August the 25th 1651, Colonel Robert Lilburne's force comprised his own regular regiment of Horse, "much scattered and wearied by long marches out of Scotland" with a nominal strength of 500 men but probably very much less, and a small Troop of thirty Horse hurriedly sent from Liverpool.

A single company of regular Foot borrowed from the Manchester garrison and two Cheshire Trained Band conpanies led by a Captain Jollie together with a number of "Carter" Birch's musketeers from Liverpool and a few countryven with fowling pieces who had been found horses to serve as Dragooners completed his meagre force.

For their part, the Royalists had about 500 Horee belonging to at least three regiments, Derby's own, Sir Thomas Tyldesley's, and Colonel John Baynes'. The composition of the 800 Foot is less easy to determine. Bayne also appears to have conmmanded the Manx Foot with a mixed bag of officers from as far afield as Oxford and London and some Yorkshire officers may have served under Sir Matthew Boynton in command of some Foot--though this seems unlikely, certainly the bulk of the Foot belonged to Tyldesley's regiment, led by his Lieutenant Colonel, old Hugh Anderton of Euxton, who had first raised the regiment back in 1642. By way of a field sign, the Royaliats all wore white scarves or handkerchiefs tied around their left arms and their "word" was "JESU!"

Stand Off and Stand To

Faced by these odds, Lilburne was understandably unwilling to assault the town, while for their part the Royalists saw that it would be unwise to continue their maroh with Lilburne hanging about their heels. For the next three hours both sides sat tight without even skirmishing. At three o'clock however Lilburne was disagreeably surprised to see the Royalists, probably at the urging of the fiery Sir Tyldesley, marching out to do battle with him.

No preparatione had been made to receive such a move since Lilburne had been expecting the Royalists to continue what he fondly believed to be a headlong flight, and he was hurriedly forced to draw up his Horse in Wigan Lane, a broad sandy road leading north out of the town, flanked by hedges in which he placed his all-too-few Foot.

In the initial stages of the fighting, the Foot on both sides were curiously inactive while a series of cayalry charges swayed up and down the lane and Lilburne's regulars were twice driven back by Derby's and Paynes' regiments, but as his men were going down for the third time, Lilburne brought up his laet reserve, probably the Liverpool Horse, and successfully stemmed the Royalist onslaught.

Critical Juncture

At this critical juncture Sir Thomas Tyldesley charged forward at the head of his regiment of Horse only to be received by a volley from Lilburne's musketeers posted in the hedgerows, which killed his Lieutenant Colonel, James Anderton of Clayton and shot his horse from under him. As he tried to mount another, an unkown trooper pistolled him. For the Horse, this was the end and they were driven back pell-mell into the streets of Wigan, suffering heavy casualtiee especially among the officers and Derby himself, wounded in the mouth, eecaped only after hiding for a time in "The Star" inn.

Back around the lane however the battle had not ended. The Manx levies had thrown down their arms and fled when the Horse broke - indeed it is possible that they may have run earlier - and it was certainly their cowardice which had prevented a more aggressive approach by the Royalist Foot earlier. At any rate with all else collapsing about them, Tyldesley's Foot regiment stood firm by the roadside and fought back savagely when Lilburne'e weary troopers returning from Wigan fell upon them.

In his reports of the battle, Lilburne bitterly complained that while his casualties were otherwise slight, he had lost "many horses kild and spoiled with their pikes." His Horse thus shattered and repulsed by this gallant band, Lilburne then drew back and ordered in the Cheshire companies led by Captain Jollie and the schiltron wee quickly overwhelmed.

Tradition has it that enraged by their defiant stand (and no doubt the loss of horses) Lilburne then cried out to give no quarter and while he later reported that had 400 prisoners, this seems to be quite likely, for most of them were the cowardly Manxmen who fled earlier and shortly afterwards surrendered in droves.

Amongst them were Sir Matthew Boynton, a former Parliamentarian Governor of Hull. Lord Widdrington a prominent Northumbrian Royalist who had commanded one of the larger regiments of the famous Northern Horse and served as Chairman of Newcastle's Council; Earl Colonel Michael Trollop who had served in Sir Arthur Aston's regiment under George Boncle at Naseby, Lieutenant Colonel John Galliard another former Northern Horse officer; and of couree Sir Thomas Tyldesley, Major General and former secret agent, whose monument erected in 1679 by his former Cornet, Alexander Rigby still stands in Wigan Lane today.

Map

A (upper left): Manx Foot under Col. John Baynes and Sir Matthew Boynton
B (left): Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Horse (a reserve)
C (bottom middle): Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Foote.
D (middle): Col. John Baynes Horse
E (upper middle): Manchester Foote -- hedges lined with Dragooners
F (middle): Earl of Derby Horse and Col. Robert Lilburne's Horse closely engaged.
G (upper middle right): Remainder of Col. Robert Lilburne's regiment.
H (right) Capt. Jollie's Cheshire companies.
I (upper right, [in distance]): Liverpool Horse
J (bottom left, [in foreground]): Wigan

Sources

Ormerod - "Civil War Tracts of Lancashire. (Lilburne's reports) Chetham Soc. 1843
Robinson - "Discourse of the War in Lancashire. Chetham Soc. 1864
Broxap - The CiVil War in Lancashire. Manchester 1910

Stuart Reld is the Author and publlisher of THE FINEST KNIGHT IN ENGLAND: A History of the Regiments of Horse, Foot, and Dragoons of Sir Thomas Tyldesley of Myerscough.)

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