Lord Andover's Regiment of Horse

Also Sir Thomas Howard's Regiment of Horse

Royalist cavalry regiment that served in the West Country and with the King's Oxford Army throughout the First Civil War.

• December: Quartered at Islip

• June-July: Siege of Exeter
• July: First Storm of Bristol
• September: First Battle of Newbury

• March: Battle of Cheriton
• June: Battle of Tipton Green?
• June: Battle of Cropredy Bridge
• August: Battle of Lostwithiel
• October: Second Battle of Newbury
• November: Relief of Donnington

• May: Storm of Leicester
• June: Battle of Naseby
• July: Skirmish at Ilminster
• July: Battle of Langport

Lord Andover was commissioned to raise a regiment of 500 horse on 11th October 1642. Field command soon passed to Andover's brother, Thomas Howard. The regiment was sent with the Marquis of Hertford and Prince Maurice to reinforce Hopton but was left to blockade Exeter with Sir John Berkeley's forces while Hopton's and Hertford's army marched North to Lansdown and Roundway Down. They were recalled for the storm of Bristol and fought with the Oxford army before returning to Hopton's command as part of Lord Forth's contingent. After the battle of Cheriton they rejoined the Oxford army for the 1644 campaign until the defeat at Naseby in 1645. The remnants of the regiment appear to have returned West, serving with Lord Goring before disbanding or being absorbed by another regiment.

At Aldbourne Chase in April 1644 Richard Symonds¹⁾ noted that the regiment consisted of 300 men with 8 green cornets.

Charles Howard (1615 – April 1679), styled Viscount Andover from 1626 to 1669, was the son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire and his wife Lady Elizabeth Cecil. In 1669 he succeeded his father as the 2nd Earl of Berkshire. He was an influential member of the Catholic nobility, Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Charles II in exile and a supporter of the Duke of York. Implicated in the Popish Plot he fled to Paris dying there in 1679.

The Hon. Thomas Howard (1619-1706) was Lord Andover's younger brother, and sat in the Long Parliament as MP for Wallingford. He obtained the Colonelcy of the regiment in 1643, commanded the brigade of Oxford horse sent with Lord Forth to reinforce Hopton prior to the battle of Cheriton, and served as a brigadier of horse at Naseby. He succeeded his brother as 3rd Earl of Berkshire and, according to Pepys, his illegitimate daughter Moll Davies was one of Charles II's mistresses.

• March 1644: At least 300 in 8 troops at Cheriton
• April 1644: 300 at Aldbourne Chase
• June 1645: 80 at Naseby