Capture of Wakefield 1643
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 21 May 1643 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1643 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | England | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | First English Civil War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 53.6831, -1.4969 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The capture of Wakefield occurred during the First English Civil War when a Parliamentarian force attacked the Royalist garrison of Wakefield, Yorkshire. The Parliamentarians were outnumbered, having around 1,500 men under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, compared to the 3,000 led by George Goring in Wakefield. Despite being outnumbered, Parliamentarians successfully stormed the town, taking roughly 1,400 prisoners.
Around 800 Parliamentarians had been taken prisoner after being defeated at Seacroft Moor, and Fairfax plotted the capture of Wakefield to take prisoners of his own to exchange for his men. He marched his force from Leeds and split it in two to attack from different directions. After around two hours of fighting early in the morning of 21 May, 1643, Fairfax broke through into Wakefield. Goring, who had been in bed suffering from either illness or a hangover, rose and led a counterattack in his nightshirt, but to no avail and the town was captured. Fairfax gained the prisoners he needed and much ammunition. According to his own account, the Parliamentarians lost no more than seven men.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Capture of Wakefield (revision 1370609887), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Wakefield 1460 · 0 km
- Battle of Leeds 1643 · 13 km
- Battle of Adwalton Moor 1643 · 13 km
- Battle of Ferrybridge 1461 · 15 km
- Battle of Seacroft Moor 1643 · 20 km
- Battle of Sherburn in Elmet · 20 km
Other battles of the First English Civil War
- Battle of Edgehill 1642
- Battle of Powick Bridge 1642
- Battle of Turnham Green 1642
- Siege of Hull (1642) 1642
- Siege of Reading 1642
- Battle of Adwalton Moor 1643
- Battle of Aldbourne Chase 1643
- Battle of Braddock Down 1643
- Battle of Burton Bridge (1643) 1643
- Battle of Camp Hill 1643
All 45 battles of the First English Civil War →
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