page_title: Siege of Arundel
section_title: The siege
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Arundel / The siege
caption_attribution_description: Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton of Stratton. Purchased by NPG in 1877. See source website for more information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have an unknown author, but there is strong evidence it was first published before 1923 (based mainly on the NPG's estimated date of the work).
context_page_description: The Siege of Arundel took place during the First English Civil War, from 19 December 1643 to 6 January 1644, when a Royalist garrison surrendered to a Parliamentarian army under William Waller.
  At the end of 1642, South-East England was largely controlled by Parliament, with pockets of Royalist support in Hampshire and Kent. In an October 1643 offensive led by Sir Ralph Hopton, the Royalists advanced into Sussex, where a small garrison at Arundel Castle surrendered without fighting on 2 December.
  Hopton's policy of trying to hold as many towns as possible left individual garrisons isolated, while the Royalists lacked a mobile field army, capable of quickly supporting threatened positions. Arundel was attacked by a large Parliamentarian force on 19 December; although strongly held, severe weather and poor roads meant it could not be relieved, and surrendered on 6 January.
context_section_description: Under instructions from the Earl of Essex to retake Alton, then Arundel, Waller persuaded the London Bands to help him capture Alton on 13 December. When he asked for their help with Arundel, they refused, and were sent home on 15 December. 
  The Royalist garrison originally contained 800 infantry, and four troops of horse, withdrawn by Hopton prior to the siege. Its governor, Colonel Joseph Bampfield, was an experienced soldier, who constructed additional earthwork defences to the north and south-west of the town, while bringing in provisions from the surrounding countryside. His attempt to capture Bramber further east failed, and when Hopton learned of the loss of Alton, he immediately ordered him back to Arundel. Despite being six miles inland, it was an important inland port, and the only Royalist base strong enough to resist attack. 
  Waller arrived there on 19 December, with around 5,000 men, mostly men from the South-Eastern trained bands, who were of limited quality. He immediately assaulted the outer defences on 20 December, which were captured after an initial repulse; Lt-Colonel John Birch was shot in the stomach, allegedly surviving only because the cold weather stemmed the flow of blood. 
  The garrison retreated into the castle, but lost their supplies, which had been stored in the town, while the besiegers drained the lake that was their main water supply. Oxford sent Hopton an additional 1,000 horse under Lord Wilmot, but he was now desperately short of infantry, having lost another 600 at Alton. On 27 December, he advanced from Winchester with 2,000 horse, and 1,500 infantry; leaving a skeleton force to continue the siege, Waller intercepted him at North Marden, 15 miles from Arundel. Outnumbered, Hopton withdrew, allowing Waller to bring up heavy guns from Portsmouth, which opened fire on 4 January. Weakened by typhus, and short of supplies, the Royalists surrendered on 6th; about 100 re-enlisted in the Parliamentary army, the rest sent to London.
  Bampfield later wrote an account of the siege, in which he claimed sickness and casualties had reduced the garrison to less than 200 effectives. He was held prisoner for six months, before being exchanged for two Parliamentary officers held in Oxford.
caption: Ralph Hopton, Royalist commander in the south
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