the ecclesiastical policy of Laud, with whom he seems also to have had a personal quarrel (Diary of Thomas Burton, iii. 89; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1641–3, p. 547). In the two parliaments which met in 1640 Hesilrige was elected for Leicestershire. His opponent in the second election was sent to the Tower for breach of privilege in characterising Hesilrige as a man with ‘more will than wit’ (Commons' Journals, ii. 43). In like manner Clarendon terms him ‘an absurd, bold man,’ and adds that he was used by the leaders of his party, like the dove out of the ark, to try what footing there was when new propositions were to be brought forward (Rebellion, iii. 128, 156, 244). His name is associated with the introduction of the bill of attainder against Strafford. He was one of the promoters of the ‘Root-and-Branch Bill,’ and the proposer of the Militia Bill (7 Dec. 1641). To the last he probably owed his inclusion among the five members impeached by the king on 3 Jan. 1642, of which he gives some account in a later speech (Burton, Diary, iii. 93).
In June 1642 Hesilrige was very active in executing the parliamentary commission of array in Leicestershire (Lords' Journals, v. 147). He raised a troop of horse in Essex's army, and fought under the command of Sir William Balfour at Edgehill (Peacock, Army Lists, p. 53; Holles, Memoirs, § 11). A letter from Hesilrige to Essex is printed by Sanford (p. 559). Hesilrige then became second in command to Waller, and Vicars calls him Waller's ‘Fidus Achates.’ He took part in the captures of Chichester and Malmesbury, and did not hesitate to seize the communion plate of Chichester Cathedral, to devote it to the parliament's service (Vicars, Jehovah-jireh, pp. 235, 292; Mercurius Rusticus, ed. 1685, p. 243; Military Memoir of Col. Birch, p. 203). At the head of a regiment of cuirassiers, known to their opponents as ‘the Lobsters,’ he greatly distinguished himself in the victory of Lansdowne (5 July 1643). At Roundway Down his regiment bore the brunt of the battle, and some accounts attribute Waller's defeat to Hesilrige's mistaken tactics (Clarendon, Rebellion, vii. 104, 118; Holles, Memoirs, § 11; Bibliotheca Gloucestrensis, p. 193). At both these battles he was wounded, and it is said that after the latter he was publicly prayed for in the London churches (Mil. Mem. of Col. Birch, p. 51). Nevertheless, he at once set to work to recruit his cuirassiers, with whom he again did excellent service at the battle of Cheriton (29 March 1644). He undertook also to raise a regiment of foot, but ‘delighting all in horse,’ left the management of it entirely to Birch, his lieutenant-colonel (ib. pp. 3, 14; Ludlow, Memoirs, ed. 1751, p. 43; Clarendon, Rebellion, viii. 13). Holles, who always accuses his enemies of cowardice, relates a story of Hesilrige's misconduct at Cheriton, which has obtained more credit than it deserves (Memoirs, § 28). His fault throughout his life was overboldness rather than want of courage. Parliament showed appreciation of his services by stipulating in the Uxbridge treaty that he should be made a baron, and given lands worth 2,000l. a year (Commons' Journals, iv. 360). In the disputes which led to the passing of the self-denying ordinance Hesilrige was prominent among the opponents of Essex, and he was one of the witnesses for Cromwell in his quarrel with Manchester (Holles, § § 25, 28; Manchester's Quarrel with Cromwell, Camden Soc., 1875, pp. lxvi, 85, 87, 97).
Hesilrige now laid down his commission, and taking his place in parliament became one of the recognised leaders of the independents there. In the summer of 1647 he took part boldly with the army against the presbyterians. He was suspected of complicity in Joyce's seizure of the king, and of arranging the flight of Lenthall to the army. On one occasion he told the House of Commons that he feared the parliament of England would not save the kingdom of England, and that they must look another way for safety (Holles, § 96; Walker, Hist. of Independency, ed. 1661, pt. i. pp. 47, 51, 57). On 30 Dec. 1647 the House of Commons approved Fairfax's appointment of Hesilrige as governor of Newcastle, a post which the danger of a war with Scotland made one of consequence and trust (Commons' Journals, v. 239). Hesilrige's letters announcing the rising of the cavaliers and their seizure of Berwick (28 April 1648) are printed in Cary's ‘Memorials of the Civil War’ (i. 397, 410, 413, 419). With the small force at his command he succeeded in maintaining Newcastle, defeating Colonel Grey and the Northumbrian royalists (1 July), and recapturing Tynemouth (11 Aug., Rushworth, viii. 1177, 1227). In October he accompanied Cromwell into Scotland, and was entertained with him at Edinburgh by Leven and Argyll (ib. p. 1295; Whitelocke, Memorials, ed. 1853, ii. 422). When Cromwell, in 1650, invaded Scotland a second time, Hesilrige was charged to raise a second army of new levies to second him (Mercurius Politicus, 3 Aug. 1650). To him Cromwell wrote the night before the battle of Dunbar, urging him to gather what forces he could, either to fall on the rear of the Scottish position, or to prevent their further progress into England
