New Model Army (1645): Parliament's Professional Fighting Force

The New Model Army was the military force created by the English Parliament in February 1645 to win the English Civil War. Commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax, with Oliver Cromwell as lieutenant-general of the cavalry, it was regularly paid, centrally organised and promoted officers largely on merit. It defeated King Charles I, then became a political force in its own right that purged Parliament, brought the king to trial and governed England in the 1650s.

Why a new army was needed

In the first years of the war Parliament relied on several separate armies, each raised and paid by a group of counties: the army of the Earl of Essex, the Eastern Association under the Earl of Manchester, and Sir William Waller’s southern army. Their soldiers were often unpaid and reluctant to fight far from home.

The victory at Marston Moor in July 1644 was followed by setbacks. Essex’s infantry surrendered at Lostwithiel in Cornwall in September 1644, and at the Second Battle of Newbury in October the Parliamentarian commanders failed to exploit their advantage. Cromwell openly accused Manchester of not wanting to defeat the king, and the dispute exposed deep political and religious divisions.

Creation and organisation

Parliament’s answer came in two measures. The Self-Denying Ordinance, finally passed on 3 April 1645, required members of both Houses to give up their military commands, which removed Essex and Manchester. The New Model Ordinance, passed on 15 February 1645, created a single army paid from a national monthly tax called the assessment.

Sir Thomas Fairfax, a 33-year-old Yorkshire soldier who was not a member of Parliament, was made commander-in-chief. Philip Skippon, a veteran of the Dutch wars, became major-general of the foot. Cromwell, though an MP, was granted repeated exemptions from the Self-Denying Ordinance and appointed lieutenant-general of horse in June 1645.

The planned strength was 22,000 men: 11 regiments of cavalry of 600 each, 12 regiments of foot of 1,200 each, and 1,000 dragoons, mounted infantry who usually fought on foot. Most of the infantry wore red coats, a colour that later became the hallmark of the British army. Cavalry troopers were paid 2 shillings a day and infantry 8 pence, considerably more reliably than before.

Many soldiers came from the old armies, especially Manchester’s Eastern Association, whose cavalry Cromwell had trained. The infantry, however, had to be filled out with pressed men, and desertion was common at first.

Life in the ranks

A foot soldier carried either a musket or a pike, a spear some 16 to 18 feet (about 5 metres) long. Musketeers usually outnumbered pikemen by about two to one. The cavalry were mainly harquebusiers, lightly armoured troopers with a buff leather coat, a back and breast plate, a helmet called a “lobster-pot”, pistols and a sword.

Discipline was strict by the standards of the time. Articles of war punished swearing, drunkenness, plunder and violence against civilians, and offenders could be flogged or executed. The army was not free of abuses, but many towns noticed the difference from earlier armies on both sides.

Pay was more regular than in other forces, but it was never fully reliable. By 1647 the foot were owed many weeks of pay and the horse many months, and these arrears became a central grievance. Soldiers also demanded an indemnity, a legal guarantee that they could not be prosecuted for acts committed in war.

Promotion was more open than in most armies of the age. Some officers came from modest backgrounds, such as Thomas Pride, said to have been a drayman or brewer, and Thomas Harrison, the son of a butcher. Royalists mocked this, but it helped give the army its distinctive identity.

Victory in the field

The new army proved itself quickly. On 14 June 1645 it destroyed the king’s main army at the Battle of Naseby. It defeated Lord Goring at Langport in July, took Bristol in September and ended Royalist resistance in the West Country in early 1646. Charles surrendered in May 1646.

The army’s success owed much to discipline, especially in the cavalry, which could charge, rally and charge again. It also had regular supplies and pay, a strong artillery train and commanders who cooperated closely.

Religion and radical politics

The army was famous for its religious zeal. Many officers were Independents, who favoured self-governing congregations and religious liberty for Protestants, and chaplains such as Hugh Peters and William Dell preached to the troops. Its enemies described it as a nest of sectaries, although religious views in the ranks were varied.

In 1647 Parliament, dominated by Presbyterians, tried to disband most of the army or send it to Ireland without paying its large arrears. The soldiers resisted. Regiments elected representatives called agitators, and at Newmarket in June 1647 the army pledged in its Solemn Engagement not to disband until its grievances were met. Cornet George Joyce seized the king from Holdenby House on 4 June.

The army then claimed to speak for the people of England, not just as hired soldiers. In August it marched into London, and in autumn its General Council held the Putney Debates, where Leveller soldiers argued for a far wider right to vote.

Purging Parliament and conquering three kingdoms

After defeating Royalist risings and a Scottish invasion in the Second Civil War of 1648, the army turned against the king. On 6 December 1648 Colonel Thomas Pride’s soldiers purged Parliament of its moderate members, opening the way to the trial and execution of Charles I in January 1649.

Under Cromwell, the army went on to conquer Ireland in 1649–1650, beginning with the Siege of Drogheda, and then Scotland, winning at Dunbar in 1650 and Worcester in 1651. Leveller mutinies were crushed, notably at Burford in May 1649, when three mutineers were shot.

The army remained the real power behind the government. In 1653 Cromwell used soldiers to dissolve the Rump Parliament and became Lord Protector, and in 1655–1657 England was divided among military governors known as the Major-Generals.

Key people

• Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612–1671): commander-in-chief from 1645 until he resigned in 1650.
• Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658): lieutenant-general of horse, then the army’s commander and Lord Protector.
• Philip Skippon (died 1660): major-general of the foot, badly wounded at Naseby.
• Henry Ireton (1611–1651): commissary-general of horse, Cromwell’s son-in-law and the army’s leading political thinker.
• John Lambert (1619–1684): a leading general of the 1650s.

Timeline

• 1645, 15 February: The New Model Ordinance creates the army.
• 1645, 3 April: The Self-Denying Ordinance becomes law.
• 1645, 14 June: Victory at Naseby.
• 1647, 4 June: Cornet Joyce seizes Charles I at Holdenby House.
• 1647, 28 October: The Putney Debates begin.
• 1648, 6 December: Pride’s Purge.
• 1649, 17 May: Leveller mutineers shot at Burford.
• 1660: The army is disbanded after the Restoration.

Legacy

After the Cromwellian Protectorate collapsed, General George Monck led part of the army south and helped restore Charles II in 1660. Most of the army was paid off and disbanded, but Monck’s regiment was retained and became the Coldstream Guards, which claims to be the oldest regiment in continuous active service in the British army. Fear of a standing army under political control remained strong in England for generations.

Why it matters

The New Model Army won the civil war for Parliament and showed what a professional, well-paid and disciplined force could achieve. It was also the first English army to see itself as a political actor, and its debates on rights and representation remain a landmark in the history of democratic ideas.