Sir Thomas Morton’s Regiment of Foot

Flag Illustration	1)
Active	1639
Country	England
Allegiance	English
Conflicts	First Bishops’ War
Type	Foot
Colonels	Sir Thomas Morton
Area Raised	Kent
	Essex
Coat Colour
Flag Colour	White
Flag Design	Unknown
Field Armies	Hamilton 1639
	Charles 1639

English infantry regiment that was raised from the Kent and Essex Trained Bands for Hamilton's invasion fleet in the First Bishops’ War of 1639

• February: Earl of Pembroke, Lord Lieutenant of Kent, ordered to select 1200 of the Trained Bands for service in Scotland
• March: Morton sent to secure Carlisle by Astley
• April: Kent men assemble at Gravesend, delayed by lack of partizans
• April 16th: Set sail for Harwich on 20 colliers and 12 naval vessels
• April: Embark the Essex men at Harwich and sail for Scarborough
• April: Land on the island of Incholm
• May: Re-embark and anchor off Dunbar
• May: Continue voyage from Dunbar to Holy Island, arriving 28th May, and march to Berwick
• June: Standoff between Birks and Duns Law

Morton's regiment were selected from the Trained Bands of Kent and the Essex Trained Bands. They formed part of Hamilton's invasion fleet which sailed to the Firth of Forth but achieved little beyond occupying Incholm and Inchkeith islands before sailing back to Northumberland where they joined the King's army. The Kent men were derived from Sir George Sondes’ St Augustine Lathe Kent Trained Band Regiment of Foot (230), Sir Humphrey Hales’ Shepway Lathe Kent Trained Band Regiment of Foot (230), Sir Edward Hales’ Scraye Lathe Kent Trained Band Regiment of Foot (138), Sir Francis Barnham's Aylesford Lathe Kent Trained Band Regiment of Foot (185), Sir Francis Walsingham’s Sutton at Hone Lathe Kent Trained Band Regiment of Foot (135) and Sir Francis Tufton’s Kent Trained Band Canterbury Company of Foot (90) ²⁾. By May Morton's regiment had lost 100 men to smallpox

Morton's regiment carried 12 white flags ³⁾ Morton complained that the men's equipment, provided by the Trained bands or their masters, was defective. Muskets were unserviceable and pikes rotten.

Sir Thomas Morton was given the responsibility of organizing Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmorland, Durham and the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire in preparation for the First Bishops' War. His headquarters were at Durham. A particular responsibility was mustering the Trained Bands to form part of the King's army. He was then assigned one of the regiments of the Duke of Hamilton's seaborne force.

• The Kent contingent consisted of 673 musketeers and 325 pikemen for a total of 998, to which was to be added an Essex Trained Band contingent.
• On being raised comprised Col, Lt Col, Major, 13 Captains (?), 13 Lieutenants, 13 Ensigns, 27 Sergeants, 39 Corporals, 27 Drummers and 1500 common soldiers.
• May 1639: 1637 men ⁴⁾

• Sir Thomas Morton’s Regiment of Foot Second Bishops' War
• Kent Trained Bands
• Essex Trained Bands