ABSTRACT
Appointed Parliament's Lord General on 12 July 1642, the Earl of Essex raised an army of 20 infantry regiments, 75 troops of horse, 5 troops of dragoons and a train of artillery. Parliament began to realise that it was facing a national rather than local conflict, and took the first steps towards making better provision for those injured in its service. Parliament ordered the High Constables of the Berkshire, Hampshire, Middlesex and Surrey to provide beds and bedding for the sick and, when possible, to assist in transporting the sick back to London for definitive care and attention. The Second Civil War, which erupted in 1648, resulted from three disparate events; a revolt in Pembrokeshire, an invasion from the north by Scottish troops under the Duke of Hamilton, angry at the English Parliament's broken promise to introduce Presbyterianism into England, and an uprising in the Eastern seaboard counties.
