First English Civil War, 1644 First English Civil War, 1644 1644 was the third year of the First English Civil War. The King's position continued to decline and the Long Parliament sent the Propositions of Uxbridge, an attempt to end the war, to the king at Oxford Hopton had to retire from the area around Arundel, and on 6 January 1644, Waller recaptured the town. Byron's Cheshire army was in no better case. Newcastle's retreat from Hull and the loss of Gainsborough had completely changed the situation in the Midlands. Brereton was joined by the younger Fairfax from Lincolnshire, and the Royalists were severely defeated
Stuart London the City made an important contribution to the parliamentarians victory in the war. The civil war ended in defeat for the Royalists. The execution of King Charles on 30 January 1649, heralded Oliver Cromwell's short lived Commonwealth. In contrast to the common view of the period as being one of Puritan repression. Some music and opera flourished in London under Cromwell's patronage. In 1656 "The Siege of Rhodes" the first true English opera was performed in London. In 1655 Cromwell allowed Jews to return to London, ending a 365-year banishment. They built their first Synagogue in 1657 at Creechurch Lane.