The Committee for Both Kingdoms (England and Scotland) was established in February 1644 to replace the Committee of Safety after Parliament's adoption of the Solemn League and Covenant had secured an alliance with the Scots. Political manoeuvring by Sir Henry Vane and Oliver St John ensured that the new Committee had greater powers to direct the course of the war than its predecessor.
The Committee consisted of fourteen members of the House of Commons, seven from the Lords and four Scottish commissioners. The Committee was answerable to Parliament, but had authority to act independently in matters connected with the conduct of the war. It was responsible for co-ordinating strategy between the English and Scottish armies. However, political differences between the English and Scots and between Independents and Presbyterians on the Committee resulted in conflicts of interest and confused strategies.
Senior Parliamentarian commanders did not always co-operate with the Committee. During the spring of 1644, the Earl of Essex ignored the Committee's recommendations and acted on his own initiative, resulting in his disastrous defeat at Lostwithiel. Elsewhere, soldiers in the field were often frustrated by orders received from Westminster that bore little relation to current tactical situations. Just before the battle of Naseby in June 1645, Sir Thomas Fairfax was granted independent operational control of the New Model Army, to direct it in the field as he judged best.
After the First Civil War, King Charles secretly negotiated with the Scots for an army to restore him to the throne, resulting in the Second Civil War and the Engager invasion of England. With the breakdown of the alliance between Scotland and the English Parliament, the Committee for Both Kingdoms was dissolved in January 1647. English members of the Committee continued to meet as the Derby House Committee (named after its Westminster meeting place). It was dominated by the Presbyterian faction led by Denzil Holles, which the Army swept from power in Pride's Purge, November 1648.
Members of the Committee |
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| House of Lords | House of Commons |
Scottish Commissioners | |
| Earl of Northumberland | Sir Henry Vane (senior) | William Pierrepoint | Earl of Loudoun |
| Earl of Essex | Sir Henry Vane (junior) | John Crewe | Viscount Maitland |
| Earl of Warwick | Sir Philip Stapleton | Robert Wallop | Johnston of Wariston |
| Earl of Manchester | Sir William Waller | Oliver St. John | Robert Barclay |
| Viscount Saye and Sele | Sir Gilbert Gerard | Oliver Cromwell | |
| Baron Wharton | Sir William Armyne | Samuel Browne | |
| Baron Robartes | Sir Arthur Haselrig | John Glynn | |