Ironside (cavalry) Ironside (cavalry) The Ironsides were troopers in the Parliamentarian cavalry formed by English political leader Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, during the English Civil War. The name came from "Old Ironsides", one of Cromwell's nicknames. Cromwell first mustered a troop of cavalry (then referred to as "horse") at Huntingdon in Huntingdonshire, on 29 August 1642, early in the Civil War. John Desborough was quartermaster. The troop was late in being organised, and arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the war. Cromwell however did witness the defeat of the Parliamentarian horse
History of the horse in Britain horse breeding to the point that there was a dearth of the heavier horses used in tournament and for warfare. This led to complaints, as there was still a need for stronger, more powerful types of horse. The English Civil War, from 1642 to 1651, disrupted horse racing; Oliver Cromwell banned horse racing and ordered that all race horses and spectators at such an event should be seized. He concentrated on the breeding of animals suited as cavalry horses, by encouraging crossbreeding of lightweight racing horses with the heavier working horses, and effectively produced a new type of horse altogether