Thomas
Horton was a strong opponent of Charles
I and
joined the Parliamentary forces after the outbreak of the Civil
War.
He served under Arthur
Haselrig
and eventually rose to the rank of colonel in the New
Model Army.
In December 1647, Parliament
declared that all soldiers who had enlisted after 6th August, 1647
were to be dismissed without pay. Those that had joined at an earlier
stage of the war were to receive only two months wages.
John
Poyer, the military governor of Pembroke, was furious when he
heard the news and began making speeches to his soldiers attacking
Parliament's decision to disband the army. Other
soldiers based in South Wales, who had heard about Poyer's actions,
began to head for Pembroke to give him their assistance. John Poyer's
supporters included the two most senior army officers in South Wales,
Major-General Rowland Laugharne and
Colonel Rice Powell.
When Parliament heard about
Poyer's actions in Pembroke they sent Horton with 3,000 troops to
deal with the rebellion. Rowland Laugharne
and nearly 8,000 rebels left Pembroke and engaged Horton's parliamentary
army at St. Fagans
in Glamorgan. Although outnumbered, Horton's experienced and well-disciplined
army was able to defeat Laugharne's poorly armed soldiers. Over 200
of Laugharne's men were killed and another 3,000 were taken prisoner.
Laugharne and what was left of his army, managed to escape back to
Pembroke.
Thomas
Horton died while serving with Oliver
Cromwell during
the the Irish campaign in 1650.
(1)
Declaration by Colonel John
Poyer and Colonel Rice Powell (10th
April 1648)
A few men... have already
gotten too much power into their hands, and want to disband us...
So they can enslave the people... and establish taxes. We promise
to protect the people from injury and maintain the Protestant religion...
as established by the law in this land. We therefore crave the assistance
of the whole kingdom.
(2)
Major
General Rowland
Laugharne, letter
to the Parliamentary
Commissioners (4 May, 1648)
As commander of these counties... I cannot ignore the affronts
put upon my men... Instead of receiving their pay allowed them by
Parliament... they have been disbanded... This happened in my absence,
and to my knowledge, still unrighted... I believe that my past service
for your country... merited much better treatment.
(3)
Thomas
Horton, letter to Thomas
Fairfax describing his victory over.
Major-General Rowland
Laugharne at the Battle of St Fagans
(8 May, 1648)
On Monday morning... the
enemy advanced towards us... we took the best ground... About sixty
men on horses charged once, but we beat them back, and after that
none of the men on horses appeared again... The enemy tell us they
were 8,000. We had a sharp dispute with them for about two hours.
Our men on horses charged the enemy, who were wholly routed... Many
of the enemy were slain... We have taken 3,000 prisoners... we have
not lost many soldiers and not one of our officers.
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