Colonel Thomas Ayloffe’s Regiment of Foot

Parliamentarian infantry regiment of the Eastern Association that garrisoned Newport-Pagnell and Abingdon

• March: Ayloffe commissioned Colonel and the regiment raised in Huntingdonshire
• October to December: Quartered in and paid by Hertfordshire¹⁾

• Garrison of Newport Pagnell
• June: Detachment sent to reinforce Sir William Waller
• June: Detachment at Battle of Cropredy Bridge?
• August: Garrison of Abingdon

• January: Repulse attack on Abingdon
• February: Lt. Col. Sadler’s regiment, the remains of Sir John Wittrough’s Regiment of Foot, reduced into Ayloffe’s
• April: Detachment garrisons Phillis Court near Henley upon Thames
• May: Detachments join Colonel John Pickering’s Regiment of Foot and Colonel Thomas Rainsborough’s Regiment of Foot in the New Model Army, the rest disbanded

Despite being raised as a regiment of the Eastern Association, Ayloffe’s never served as part of the Earl of Manchester’s field army. Newport Pagnell had been seized by Sir Lewis Dyve for the Royalists in early October 1643, threatening Parliamentary lines of communication, but the town was re-occupied by Sgt. Maj. General Skippon after Dyve’s withdrawal at the end of October. It’s uncertain whether Ayloffe’s accompanied Skippon, but by 1644 they formed part of the garrison under the overall command of Sir Samuel Luke. In June the Committee of Both Kingdoms ordered Luke to send 400 foot to reinforce Sir William Waller, they may have arrived in time for the Battle of Cropredy Bridge.

Having moved to garrison Abingdon, the regiment appears to have been involved in fighting off Prince Rupert’s attack on the town in January 1645, with the regiment’s Sergeant Major Francis Bradbury being killed in action. The regiment was broken up to form New Model Army regiments in April and May 1645, with 174 men reinforcing Col. John Pickering’s regiment of foot, while the remainder were sent to Col. Thomas Rainsborough’s regiment of foot, or disbanded.

On the 16th October 1643 an order was issued in Hertfordshire for the payment of 53 pounds 6 shillings and 8 pence to buy couleurs and drums and all other imployments for ye arraying of the foote to be raysed in or County payment to be made to Colonell Ayliff's Quartermaster ²⁾. This would seem to indicate a major addition of new companies to the regiment (The original regiments of Essex's army were given £80 for colours, drums, partizans and halberds) and that the regiment was in Hertfordshire before the re-occupation of Newport Pagnall.

Laurence Spring has identified Ayloffe’s as likely red-coated in April/May 1645 ³⁾, although the reference is a little confusing as it refers to Rainsborough’s who were not at Abingdon then. Likely this refers to a combination of Ayloffe's Crawford's and Russell's that were in the process of being New Modelled into Rainsborough's New Model Army regiment ⁴⁾.

Lists of the regiment's officers and NCOs are shown in Laurence Spring’s Regiments of the Eastern Association⁵⁾ and in Waller’s Army also by Laurence Spring (The Pike and Shot Society).

Thomas Ayloffe was from Essex and was commissioned Colonel in March 1643. In January 1645 he was proposed as a colonel for the planned New Model Army but was not eventually chosen, due to objections from the House of Lords.

• In January 1645 company strength varied between 35 and 72 rank-and-file ⁶⁾

• Sir John Wittrough’s Regiment of Foot
• Colonel John Pickering’s Regiment of Foot
• Colonel Thomas Rainsborough’s Regiment of Foot