The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War

First English Civil War

The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...

 that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...

. Following a year of Royalist successes in which they took Banbury

Banbury

Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...

, Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 and Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 without conflict before storming Bristol

Storming of Bristol

The Storming of Bristol took place on 26 July 1643, during the First English Civil War. The Cavalier army under Prince Rupert of the Rhine, King Charles's nephew and Lieutenant General, captured the important city and port of Bristol from its weakened Roundhead garrison...

, the Parliamentarians were left without an effective army in the field. When Charles laid siege to Gloucester

Siege of Gloucester

The Siege of Gloucester was an engagement in the First English Civil War. It took place between August 3 and September 5, 1643, between the defending Parliamentarian garrison of Gloucester and the besieging army of King Charles I. The siege ended with the arrival of a relieving Parliamentarian army...

, Parliament was forced to muster a force under Essex with which to beat Charles's forces off.