Colonel Francis Hacker’s Regiment of Horse

Later Lord Hawley’s Regiment of Horse

Post New-Model regiment of horse serving on Cromwell’s Scottish campaign

• June: Raised in Leicestershire
• Quartered in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire

• January: Hacker commands a guard of halberdiers at the execution of King Charles
• October: At Carlisle suppressing moss troopers (2 troops)

• July: Invade Scotland under Cromwell
• July: Skirmish at Musselburgh
• 3rd September: Battle of Dunbar
• September: Escort prisoners to Newcastle (4 troops)
• October: Quartered at Carlisle
• December: Sent to garrison Dumfries
• December: Take Kenmure Castle

• January: Capture a ship at Kirkcudbright
• September: Battle of Worcester
• November: Return to Scotland

• July: Serve on Deane’s expedition to the Highlands

• Garrison of Kirkcudbright (det)
• Return to England (det)
• Capt Clement Needham tried and acquitted at Whitehall

• May: Capt Wayne signs a treaty with John Gordon at Kirkcudbright
• Hacker arrests George Fox

• March: Arrest Royalists planning a rising at Thurgarton Priory

• September: Sent to Scotland again

• Serving in Scotland

• September: Return to England

• April: Quartered in London
• October: Quartered in Leicestershire
• November: March North with Lambert
• December: At Coventry, siding with Parliament

• April: Quartered in Leicestershire (3 troops), Nottingham (2 troops), Derbyshire (1 troop)
• April: Part of the regiment mutiny at Nottingham, joining Lambert
• April: Troop with Lambert surrender at Daventry
• June: Lord Hawley replaces Hacker as Colonel
• November: Disbanded

A history of the regiment is given in The Regimental History of Cromwell's Army by Sir Charles Firth and Godfrey Davies, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1940.

The regiment was raised in Leicestershire by Hacker. They served in the north chasing moss-troopers until selected to join Cromwell’s invasion of Scotland in 1650. The regiment were commended for their performance in the skirmish at Musselburgh. They accompanied Cromwell to the Battle of Worcester and then spent the rest of the 1650s in garrisons in England and Scotland.

During the Restoration crisis of 1660 Captain Cradock’s troop mutinied at Nottingham and rode off to join Lambert, surrendering at Daventry. In June Hacker was dismissed and the regiment put under the command of Lord Hawley prior to disbandment in the November.

Francis Hacker was executed on the 19th of October 1661 due to being a conspicuous instrument in the King’s execution, despite not signing the King’s death warrant.

Francis, 1st Baron Hawley, previously a Royalist commander in the West Country during the First Civil War

• Six troops