ABSTRACT
Some of the wealthy Puritan squires who sided with Parliament took a very active part in military affairs. Among the most notable of these men were Sir William Waller and Sir William Brereton, both of them generals, Sir Arthur Hesilrige, Sir John Gell, Sir Robert Cooke, Sir Richard Onslow, Sir Thomas Honywood, John Hampden, Richard Norton and John Hutchinson. Sir William Brereton played a key role in advancing the cause of Parliament in Cheshire when it apparently had little support there. A few major Puritan landowners spent some time on the Continent during the first Civil War. On 27 August members of the Commons were asked, as a test of loyalty, to pledge themselves to assist the Earl of Essex, as commander-in-chief of the army, in the service of the true Protestant religion, the king’s person, the laws of the land, the liberties and property of the subject and the privileges of Parliament.
