A second party was in favour of more violent measures, and Goring, in the hope of being appointed lieutenant-general, proposed to march the army on London and overawe the Parliament during Strafford's trial (1641).

This proposition being rejected by his fellow-officers, he betrayed the proceedings to Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport, who passed on the information indirectly to John Pym in April.

[3] In August Goring had been dispatched by Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who recognised his ability, to join Charles I in the south, and in spite of his dissolute and insubordinate character he was appointed to supersede Henry, Lord Wilmot, as lieutenant-general of the Royalist horse.

He secured some successes in the west, and in January 1645 advanced through Hampshire and occupied Farnham; but want of money compelled him to retreat to Salisbury and thence to Exeter.

[3] Lord Goring had long been intriguing for an independent command, and he now secured from the king what was practically supreme authority in the west.

[3] Clarendon's assessment, according to Goring's biographer Florene Memegalos is untrustworthy as he appears to have blackened his name at court for personal reasons.

Memegalos also asserts from archive material in the Venice State records and other sources, that Goring's reputation stood mainly on his military abilities as a Royalist general and not just on Clarendon's all too obvious character assassination of him.