Sir Richard Willys’ Regiment of Horse

Later Colonel James Cromwell’s Regiment of Horse

Royalist regiment of horse initially based in Cheshire, ending up in garrison at Oxford

• May: Skirmish at Nantwich?
• June: Skirmish at Farndon?
• August: Repulsed from Nantwich?
• October: Battle of Wem and Leigh Bridge?

• January: Skirmish at Ellesmere. Sir Richard Willys taken prisoner and held in the Tower of London until exchanged nine months later.
• January: Battle of Nantwich?

• July: Taking of Welbeck Abbey
• September: Battle of Rowton Heath?

• February: Skirmish at Wareham
• May to June: Besieged at Oxford

Captain Henry Hatton might be the Capt Hatton referred to by Blount: Capt. Hatton figured a Close-Committee sitting about a Table, and the motto in English out of the 57 Psalm, UNTIL THIS TYRANNY BE OVERPAST¹⁾.

Sir Richard Willys Served in the King's Guard at Whitehall under Lunsford in 1642, then as a cavalry officer under Grandison and Capel during the English Civil War. Governor of Newark in 1645, but replaced by his rival Lord Belasyse for supporting the disgraced Prince Rupert after the surrender of Bristol. During Cromwell's Protectorate, Willys was a member of the Sealed Knot conspiracy ring. For unknown reasons, he made a pact with Thurloe to betray Royalist plots to the Protectorate government. He was pardoned after the Restoration, but forbidden from attending court or entering Charles II's presence.

Son of Royalist Henry Cromwell of Huntingdon, he was captured at Rowton Heath