Clubmen of Dorset and Wiltshire

As with other groups of Clubmen, they were formed for the purpose of self-protection from the deprivations of both the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, with their goal being the cessation of all hostilities.

This response was then exacerbated by the defeats suffered by the Royalists in the summer and the autumn of that year, as it triggered a further withdrawal of support from the local population who sought to bring about a quick end to the war and its deprivations.

This plan, having aroused little interest among the Western Gentry, was eventually dropped, with a likely cause being the changed military situation in favour of the Royalists in the region.

[4] The authorized associations provided both the model and the impetus for the Clubmen, who formed, primarily in Dorset, Wiltshire, and Somerset,[5] without authorization in the first outbreak of militant neutralism since 1643,[6] and with the intent of preventing their homes from being battlegrounds,[7] as well as in reaction to the demands of the Associations for universal conscription and higher taxation, neither of which the peasantry were in a position to bear.

[8] Despite the apparent broad nature of the Clubmen, in practice the groups operated in a decentralized manner; independently and on a local level.