The Newcastle Whitecoats
Newcastle Castle played a significant role in the English Civil War of the 1640s. Our volunteer Heather Welford writes about the famous Newcastle's Whitecoats, soldiers on the Royalist side, commanded by an aristocrat named after our town.
‘Just leave our coats undyed…we’ll dye them in the blood of our enemies!’
Those - slightly paraphrased – fighting words came from the Earl of Newcastle's own Royalist troops in England's Civil War, recruited at the start of the 1640s.
The 'Newcastle Foote' (the extra 'e' was a common spelling for infantry regiments) had been told there wasn't enough red fabric for their uniforms, and plain cream wool would have to be dyed to make them. Their response, reported by the Earl's admiring wife Margaret in her biography of her husband, may have been somewhat embellished (who knows?). Even so, it reflected the regiment's tough reputation. The uniforms were left uncoloured, and the troops became known as the Whitecoats, or 'Newcastle's Lambs'; those coats, plus the choice of light blue woollen bonnets, made them stand out on the march, and on the battle field. They built a name for discipline and military prowess, under the command of the Earl and some trusted officers.
The Earl of Newcastle was William Cavendish, personal friend and loyal courtier of King Charles I. Cavendish had donated the then enormous sum of £10,000 to the Crown's cause when war began in 1642. Later in the same year, Charles sent him to secure Newcastle and its castle, both at risk of attack from the Parliamentarian side, with the additional order to build up a Royalist fighting force in the north, Cavendish's home turf.
Cavendish was born in Yorkshire, and had considerable lands there and in the English Midlands. Just as important, he had strong Northumberland roots. His mother was an Ogle, one of the richest families in the county with a strong political and military pedigree (there’s an Ogle info panel in the Great Hall of Newcastle Castle, and one of Cavendish's other titles was Earl Ogle). So with his power and influence in the north east, Cavendish succeeded in recruiting fighting men across the region. He first signed up men from the so-called ‘trained bands’ (local militias), of Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire, and then convinced the major and minor gentry to give themselves and their sons to the cause.
The old medieval practice where a lord or baron simply ordered his tenants to show up at the muster and get enlisted no longer worked in the seventeenth century, and the Earl achieved mass recruitment with promised (and paid) wages and sustenance. He funded the growing army from his own considerable purse, and as time, and battles, went on, continued to pay for men, supplies and equipment. The King appointed him Lord General of the Northern army and he gathered round him expert soldiers and strategists to do much of the boots-on-the-ground soldiering and training.
His Whitecoats were a fluctuating number of probably a few thousand over the next three years. They were pikemen and musketeers, with a varying number of cavalry.
Both sides in the English Civil War battles trained their infantry in pike and musket formation: armed with pikes around 5 metres long with a spear head, pikemen protected against the enemy's cavalry charge, and stood crammed together in a block. Musketeers lined up on the sides of the block, to fire at the cavalry from a distance. Then they'd retreat to reload, behind the lines of pikemen, who advanced, pikes lowered and at the ready for the horsemen. The musketeers reduced the size of the enemy forces – many would be killed, wounded or thrown off their horses in the first minutes of any advance – while the pikemen provided defence.
The Whitecoats, often supplementing other Royalist troops, took part in a number of battles, including a major defeat of the Parliamentarian forces at the battle of Adwalton Moor in June 1643. Lady Cavendish recounts the actions of the 'stout and valiant men' under Newcastle's command, who with strategic use of cannon and cavalry, 'charged and routed the enemy.' Parliamentarian general Lord Fairfax was captured along with his wife....but the chivalrous Newcastle made sure she was treated 'with all civility and respect' and accompanied home in the Cavendish private coach.
The Whitecoats are best-known for the crucial battle of Marston Moor, July 2, 1644. The forces of the Newcastle Whitecoats with troops led by Royalist general Prince Rupert totalled 18000. They faced a joint Scots Covenanter and Parliamentarian army of 28000.
It was a disaster for the Crown side, with an estimated 4000 dead and many more captured. The Whitecoats fought bravely throughout. One account describes 'one entire regiment of foot, called the Lambs, new-clothed in white woollen cloth' who even though the battle was clearly lost, defended a ditch for an hour, fighting cavalry off with just their pikes. They took 'no quarter' – they refused to accept capture in exchange for surrender - and fought it out until there were no more than about 30 left.
Cavendish fought alongside his men elsewhere at Marston Moor, not as an officer, but as a 'private gentleman at the head of a company of volunteers', according to the preface of his wife's biography. The next day, mortified at the defeat, he exiled himself to Holland, leaving on a boat from Scarborough. He told his general Prince Rupert (grandson of James I and nephew of Charles I) he wouldn't regroup to fight on, because he didn't want to 'endure the laughter of the court.'
The Newcastle Lambs were no more, but they remain one of the best-known forces of the Civil War. The Sealed Knot – the Civil War re-enactment society – include Newcastle's Foote, one of the largest regiments in the society, and they pride themselves on their authenticity. They're decked out in their white coats and blue bonnets several weekends a year, for public events and for training.
The Sealed Knot re-enactment group.
As for the Earl, he returned to England after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and King Charles II made him a Duke, in honour of his service and loyalty. His wife's biography, published in 1667, also re-set the record in his favour. Margaret Cavendish was a renowned writer and produced several volumes of philosophy, drama and poetry, and the biography was extremely popular. William died aged 83 in 1676; Margaret had died two years earlier, aged 50. The couple are buried in Westminster Abbey.