Chalgrove Field, battle of

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Chalgrove Field, battle of, 1643. Prince Rupert disrupted Essex's advance on Oxford in the summer of 1643 with a series of brilliant sorties. On 17 June he set out with nearly 2,000 men, mainly cavalry, and surprised several parliamentary garrisons, especially that at Chinnor. On the way back the following day, he turned on his pursuers at Chalgrove, between Watlington and Oxford, and inflicted a severe defeat. Fatally wounded in the battle was John Hampden, of ship money fame. Shot in the shoulder, he could not reach his home at Great Hampden across the Chilterns but died in an inn at Thame.

J. A. Cannon