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First Battle of South Harting
Part of the First English Civil War
South Harting from the South in 1782
Date 23 November 1643 Location South Harting, West Sussex Result Royalist victory
Belligerents
Royalists	Parliamentarians
Commanders and leaders
6 Unnamed officers	Colonel Richard Norton
Units involved
Detachment of the Earl of Crawford's Regiment of Horse	Colonel Richard Norton's Regiment of Horse
Strength
~ 120	~ 400
Casualties and losses
~ 6 killed 5-6 wounded	~ 6 killed "very many" wounded 2 captured

The First Battle of South Harting was a minor skirmish that took place on 23 November 1643 in South Harting, in West Sussex, during the First English Civil War.

Skirmish at South Harting

In the middle of the night on 23 November 1643 during a rainy storm, 120 Royalist cavalry of the Earl of Crawford's Regiment of Horse entered the village of South Harting whilst headed for Arundel after having been detached from Basing or Alton by Ludovic Lindsay, 16th Earl of Crawford, who was Lord Hopton's chief cavalry officer. Being both tired and hungry after having marched so far, and it being dark, cold, and in the middle of a rainy storm, the Royalists decided to take up quarter in the numerous houses in the village, with the 6 most highest ranking officers and a boy taking quarter in Harting Place (Sir John Carell's house) near the church.

Less than an hour after this, when the Royalists were all now asleep, Colonel Norton and some 400 Parliamentarian dragoons of his own regiment approached the parish but had no knowledge of the Royalists who were asleep in the various houses there. When in the village itself, the Parliamentarians soon discovered that there were Royalists there too. Once realising his situation and the defencelessness of the slumbering Royalists, Colonel Norton leapt at the opportunity to safely show proof of his own, and his regiment's, valour. Colonel Norton had his men rank themselves into groups of 10 and to thereafter set about covering every doorway of every house in the village so that no Royalist may escape. Norton's men then shouted "Horse! Horse!" in the street, and with the Royalists mistaking the calls as from their own officers and not knowing of the presence of Norton's regiment in the village, ran out the doorways of their houses, only to be shot or killed once presenting themselves within sight of Norton's men. Almost all of the Royalists, realising what was happening, and knowing that they could not get themselves or their horses onto the street without being shot, fled through back alleys on foot in order to save themselves, leaving the Parliamentarians to dominate in the village as they then went about shooting into all the houses and at all people.

The 6 officers who were sleeping in Harting Place were alerted by the gunfire and commotion outside that the village and their men had been surprised by Parliamentarians. The 6 officers left the house with the boy and took horses, whereby rushing along a lane at the back of the church called Typper Lane, they cleverly positioned themselves between the South Downs and their enemy. Knowing that those who are trying to frighten others are themselves the easiest to panic, the 6 officers and the boy valiantly charged Norton's 400 dragoons in a seemingly suicidal act, shouting the signal "Follow! Follow! Follow!", which during the darkness of the night would have given the Parliamentarians the impression that more of Lord Hopton's horse on their way to Arundel, hearing the gunfire in the village, had been signalled back and were charging down the South Downs in an avalanche soon to be on top of them. This cleverly devised charge was executed with such "fury and undaunted courage" that it panicked the Parliamentarians so much that they were routed and driven back through the village (some being killed or wounded in the process) where also some 2 or 3 Royalist soldiers still in the village came out of their hiding places to where the Parliamentarians were fleeing and began attacking them as they went past. The chase of the Parliamentarians continued until the 6 officers and the boy had forced them over both hedge and ditch, killing as many of them as they had done of the Royalists; that being some half a dozen.

Aftermath

An extract from the Harting parish register marked on the left margin with an asterisk (*) says: "There were three souldiers buryed Novemb 24 1643"

2 of Norton's men were taken as prisoners including the trumpeter and "very many" were wounded. The Royalists suffered 5 or 6 wounded, one of these (the Earl of Crawford's own cornet) more so than the rest but not dangerously so. The Royalists captured numerous of Norton's horses, all their arms they had left behind, Captain Betsworth of Milland's suit of arms, to name a few things. Once the Parliamentarians had been informed with the lamentable nature of their beating — some 400 horse and dragoons being routed by 6 officers and a boy — one of Norton's men solemnly swore the following words: "By God we deserve all to be chronicled for the veryest cowards that ever lived!".

The Harting parish register records that on the following day "There were three souldiers buryed Novemb 24 1643". Knowing the loyalty of the Parish to the Royalist cause, it is highly likely that these "three souldiers" were Crawford's men who had been killed the previous night.

References

• Bacon, George (1878). Sussex Archaeological Collections Relating to the History and Antiquities of the county, Volume 18. Lewis, East Sussex: Sussex Archaeological Society.
• Thomas-Stanford, Charles (1910). Sussex in the great Civil War and the interregnum, 1642-1660. London: Chiswick Press.

Category.1643 in England Category.17th century in Sussex Category.Battles of the English Civil Wars Category.Conflicts in 1643 Category.First English Civil War Category.History of West Sussex Category.Military history of Sussex Category.South Harting