1644 in England

Incumbents

• Monarch – Charles I

Events

• January – Oliver Cromwell and his soldiers impose a Puritanical regime of worship at Ely Cathedral.
• 22 January – King Charles I opens the Royalist '[Oxford Parliament of England|Parliament (1644)|Oxford Parliament]'.
• 26 January – First English Civil War: at the Battle of Nantwich the Parliamentarians defeat the Royalists, ending a week's siege of the Cheshire town.
• March – Matthew Hopkins begins his career as a witch-hunter in the eastern counties.
• 21 March – First English Civil War: Prince Rupert effects the Relief of Newark.
• 29 March – First English Civil War: Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Cheriton in Hampshire.
• 20 April–14 June – First English Civil War: Royalists under Prince Maurice besiege Lyme Regis in Dorset. They do not take the town, but destroy twenty ships.
• 25 May – First English Civil War: Royalist forces under Prince Rupert storm and take Stockport and cross the Mersey.
• 28 May – First English Civil War: Bolton Massacre: Royalist forces under Prince Rupert kill several hundreds of the town's defenders.
• 11 June – First English Civil War: Prince Rupert and his men take Liverpool Castle. Liverpool is later reclaimed by Sir John Moore.
• 29 June – First English Civil War: Royalist victory at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge.
• 2 July – First English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor, the largest battle of the war, produces a crushing victory for the Parliamentary side in Yorkshire, ending Charles I's hold on the north of England.
• 14 July – Queen Henrietta Maria leaves the country for France.
• 16 July – First English Civil War: Parliamentary forces capture York.
• 2 September – Second Battle of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, the last major victory for Charles I and the Royalist side in the English Civil War.
• 22 October – Newcastle upon Tyne captured by a Scottish army led by Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven.
• 27 October – First English Civil War: Parliamentary victory at the Second Battle of Newbury.
• 23 November – John Milton's Areopagitica, an appeal for freedom of speech, is published in London.
• 19 December – the House of Commons passes the Self-denying Ordinance.
• 25 December – Christmas falls on a date set aside for fasting by Parliament, whose supporters are enjoined to observe the fast.
• 1644 Baptist Confession of Faith drawn up in London.

Births

• 14 January – Thomas Britton, concert promoter
• 18 January – John Partridge, astrologer
• 21 March – Sir Walter Bagot, 3rd Baronet, Member of Parliament
• 22 March – Sir James Rushout, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament
• 31 March – Henry Winstanley, engineer
• 16 June – Henrietta Anne Stuart, Princess of England, Ireland and Scotland
• 30 August – Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet, nobleman and politician
• 14 October – William Penn, Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania
• Thomas Guy, speculator and philanthropist
• Approximate date – Elizabeth Haselwood English silversmith

Deaths

• 30 January – William Chillingworth, theologian
• 22 June – Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet, antiquary and politician
• 2 July – William Gascoigne, scientist
• 20 July – Peter Hausted, poet and playwright
• July – William Crabtree, astronomer and mathematician
• September – Sir Thomas Barrington, 2nd Baronet, Member of Parliament
• 8 September
• * John Coke, politician
• * Francis Quarles, poet
• 6 November – Thomas Roe, diplomat
• 28 December – John Bankes, judge