Major General Richard Browne’s Regiment of Foot

Regiment raised as Dragoons but converted to Foot, part of Browne’s force based at Abingdon over the winter of 1644 to 1645

• November: Raised

• January: Attack on Brill
• February 14th: Converted to Foot
• April - July: Garrison of Farnham Castle

• July 17: Parliament orders 1000 men levied in London for a new Regiment
• August: Garrison of Abingdon

• January: Defence of Abingdon?
• April: Ordered to be recruited up to 1200 men
• April: Remnants of Colonel John Sparrow’s Regiment of Foot and the Earl of Essex’s Regiment of Foot reduced into Browne’s

Browne was commissioned in November 1642 to take command of all the companies of Dragoons raised by the city of London. However one or two of the companies came from Suffolk.¹⁾ The regiment was converted to a Foot regiment in February 1643. Whetham left the regiment by summer 1643 to take up the governorship of Northampton and by December had raised his own regiments of Foot and Horse. There is no evidence that he took any of Browne's regiment with him.

It is unclear if any of this force survived to be included in the unit raised to garrison Abingdon in 1644.

The accounts for the raising of the regiment²⁾ includes the entry “Given to the redcoats for their encouragement” Which would suggest that some companies at least had been isued with uniform coats. The regiment wore grey coats in April 1645 ³⁾.

Sir Richard Browne

There is no evidence for Colonel Browne having his own company, but one of the Captains below may have been his Captain-Lieutenant⁴⁾

• Major Nathanial Whetham
• Captain Joshua Browne
• Captain John Bagshaw
• Captain Salmon Nuttell
• Captain William Jarman (Probably the “Captaine Garmin” reported killed at Brill in Jan 1643)
• Captain Henry Harbottle
• Captain John Cluto (In Skippon’s Regiment of Foot by June 1643)
• Captain Robert Terrell (or Terry)
• Captain John Gother
• Captain John Okey (18/11/43 - 13/02/43 Then to Lord Brooke’s (Midland Association) Regiment of Foot)⁵⁾

• Captain John Hale (16/12/42 - 10/04/43 took over Gother's company of which he had been Lieutenant. Later in Colonel Thomas Rainsborough’s Regiment of Foot)⁶⁾
• Captain Richard Parkhouse? (May have taken over Okey's company of which he had been Cornet and Lieutenant.)⁷⁾

Three other Captains are mentioned, with men under them, in early entries of the accounts for raising the regiment

• Captain Everett
• Captain Turner
• Captain Francis Barker

It is not clear if these Captains were replaced by any of those above or moved their companies elsewhere.

• April 1645: 400 men