BattlefieldsColonel Rainsborough Killed at Pontefract (1648 AD)
English Civil War

Colonel Rainsborough Killed at Pontefract (1648 AD)

1648
West Riding, England
Also known as: Murder of Rainsborough · Pontefract raid 1648
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
West Riding, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Colonel Rainsborough (killed)
Forces
Parliament c.50–100
VS
Victor
Royalists (temporarily)
Forces
Royalists c.100–150
Outcome
Rainsborough killed; Royalist raiders escaped back to Pontefract
The Battle

History & Significance

A party of Royalist horsemen from the Pontefract garrison rode to Doncaster, kidnapped the Parliamentary siege commander Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, and killed him when Parliamentary forces attempted a rescue. Rainsborough was the leader of the Levellers in the army and had championed universal manhood suffrage at the Putney Debates. His killing was enormously controversial and possibly politically motivated. It made him a Leveller martyr.

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