Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh

Around this time, his maternal grandmother, the powerful Countess of Buckingham, gifted or bequeathed Basil substantial lands adjacent to the family estate at Newnham Paddox, Warwickshire.

[2] When the English Civil War broke out Fielding, unlike the other members of his family, ranged himself among the Parliamentarians and led a regiment of horse at the Battle of Edgehill.

[2][3] During the year 1644, he was fairly active in the field, but in some quarters he was distrusted and he resigned his command after the passing of the Self-denying Ordinance in April 1645.

Clarendon relates how at Uxbridge, Denbigh declared privately that he regretted the position in which he found himself, and expressed his willingness to serve Charles I.

[2] Under the government of the Commonwealth, Denbigh was a member of the Council of State, but his loyalty to his former associates grew lukewarm, and gradually he came to be regarded as a royalist.