A City Brigade marched with the Earl of Essex through Royalist-held territory to relieve the Siege of Gloucester and distinguished itself at the subsequent First Battle of Newbury (20 September 1643). Thereafter, brigades of London troops participated in the Siege of Basing House and the battles of Alton (13 December 1643), Cheriton (29 March 1644) and Cropredy Bridge (29 June 1644). However, the men were usually unwilling to serve longer than their first paid month, and later brigades suffered from desertion: sometimes whole regiments set up a cry of 'Home, Home!' The brigade that marched with Essex into Cornwall found itself taken prisoner or locked up in besieged garrisons after the disastrous Battle of Lostwithiel (21 August–2 September). The Second Battle of Newbury (27 October 1644) saw the last participation by a London brigade in the field, but a number of regiments remained in garrisons until the end of 1645.