Sir Edmund Fortescue’s Regiment of Foot
Active | 1643 to 1646 |
Country | England |
Allegiance | Royalist |
Conflicts | First Civil War |
Type | Foot |
Colonel | Sir Edmund Fortescue |
Area Raised | Devon |
Coat Colour | |
Flag Colour | |
Flag Design | |
Field Armies | Maurice 1643-4 |
Goring 1645 | |
Garrison |
Royalist regiment of foot serving with Prince Maurice’s, then Lord Goring’s forces in the West Country
Service History
1643
- October: Taking of Dartmouth
- December: Fortescue commissioned to garrison Fort Charles at Salcombe
1644
- April to June: Siege of Lyme Regis
- August: Battle of Lostwithiel
- October: Second Battle of Newbury
1645
- July: Battle of Langport
1646
- January to May: Besieged at Salcombe
Notes
Coats, Flags and Equipment
Notable Officers
Sir Edmund Fortescue
Sir Edmund Fortescue, High Sheriff of Devon, tried to raise the Devon Posse Comitatus at Modbury in 1642 but was captured when Ruthin dispersed the gathering. He was imprisoned at Windsor Castle until released in a prisoner exchange in 1643, then in December was commissioned by Prince Maurice to repair and garrison the fort at Salcombe. After surrendering Salcombe in May 1646, Fortescue moved to Holland where he died at Delft in 1647.
Strength
- Symonds noted that the regiment had been reduced from 800 men to just 80 by Second Newbury
- The Salcombe garrison consisted of eleven officers, Sir Charles Luckner being second in command, and two of Fortescue's brothers serving under him, a chaplain, a surgeon, two laundresses, and forty-three non-commissioned officers and men.