Philip Skippon was the son of Luke and Ann Skippon of West Lexham, Norfolk. He took military service early, and, as he was married to Maria Comes at Frankenthal in 1622, he evidently served in the palatinate under Sir Horace Vere.

Skippon was wounded during the siege of Breda, by Spinola in 1625 and again at its recapture by the Prince of Orange in 1637. He served under the command of Lord Vere at the siege of Bois le Due and Maastricht in 1629. Skippon, who attained the rank of Captain in the Dutch service, returned to England in 1639, and was recommended by the King to the Artillery Company for election as leader.

After the attempted arrest of the five members of parliament in January, 1642, the House of Commons applied to the city for a guard, and the common council appointed Skippon (10th January, 1642) to take command of the Trained Bands of the city, and to raise a guard for the defence of the Parliament.

By the order of the House of Commons, Skippon blockaded the Tower, and even attempted to obtain possession of it by surprise, it ended when the King removed Sir John Byron; the Royalist Lieutenant of the Tower, to York where the King had his court.
On 4th February, 1642 parliament passed an ordinance for Skippon's indemnity, praising his 'great care and faithfulness'.

On 13th may 1642, the King ordered Skippon to attend him at York; at this point Skippon had to decide for King or Parliament. The way was clear for him as he said "I desire to honour God, and not to honour men" and as Parliament professed his type of religion it was obvious his duty lay by them. This course of action confirmed by the two houses declaring the order illegal and prohibited him going (to the King).

Skippon was not at Edgehill, but on 12th November, 1642, when the King threatened London, and The London Trained Bands marched to Turnham Green, Skippon appeared at their head. He made a short and encouraging speech to his soldiers
"Come, my boys, my brave boys, let us pray heartily and fight heartily. I will run the same fortunes and hazards with you. Remember the cause is for God, and for the defence of yourselves, your wives, your children. Come, my honest brave boys, pray heartily and fight heartily, and God will bless us."
He went along with the soldiers, talking to them, sometimes to one company, and sometimes to another; and the soldiers seemed to be more taken with it than with a set of formal oration.
Essex saw Skippon's value, and appointed him Sergeant Major General of the Army.

In April 1643 Skippon took part in the siege of Reading, and it is said that he was left in charge of the besiegers while Essex advanced on Oxford. Skippon also accompanied Essex on his march to relieve Gloucester, and did eminent service at the first battle of Newbury. In November he occupied Newport Pagnell for Parliament and on 24th December took Grafton House in Northamptonshire. During Essex's Cornish campaign in August and September 1644, Skippon's courage and ability were conspicuous. When Essex escaped by sea from Lostwithiel and deserted the parliamentary army leaving Skippon and the Trained Bands to fight on, he sent a message to Skippon bidding him to make the best terms he could. Skippon called a Council of War, and exhorted his officers to make an effort to cut themselves through as the horse had done, but failing to persuade his men to renew the fight, he was obliged to capitulate, surrendering guns, baggage and arms.

"In all this trouble" wrote a parliamentary officer, "I observed Major-General Skippon in his carriage, but never did I see any man so patient, so humble, and so truly wise and valiant".

At the second battle of Newbury, 27th October 1644, Skippon had his revenge as the major success of the day fell to the troops under his command, who recaptured 6 of the guns they had lost in Cornwall.

He, along with the other commanders, was blamed for not preventing the King's relief of Donnington Castle, but he based his defence on the disorganised nature of the army, and the lack of forces with which to do battle.

When the New Model Army was formed, Skippon was appointed Sergeant Major General to Fairfax, and he was instrumental in persuading the old generals of Essex's army to enrol in the new army. In an "excellent, pious, and pithy oratory speech" he pledged his word to the men for good usage and constant pay, ending with the words "I shall by the help of God be willing to live and die with you". Skippon took the field with Fairfax in May, 1645 and while the general blockaded Oxford, Skippon tried to take Borstall House, but was repulsed with loss.
At Naseby, he marshalled the foot of the parliamentary army, taking up his post on left centre. He was dangerously wounded by a shot in the (his) left side towards the end of the fight, but he declined to leave the field, telling Fairfax he would not leave the field as long as a man would stand.
A physician was sent by the Commons to attend him, and letters were sent extending thanks from the speakers of both houses. He was brought to London on a litter, but at Islington 'a great Mastiff dog' ran out and savaged one of the horses and almost overturned the litter, narrowly escaping with his life.

In December 1645, parliament appointed Skippon as governor of Bristol, which he accepted and then found the post a rather troublesome one.
He rejoined Fairfax at the siege of Oxford in may 1645, where he undertook the construction and management of the forts and entrenchments by the besiegers.
In 1646 Skippon became governor of Newark and commanded the convoy, which carried parliament's £200,000 to the Scots at Newcastle in exchange for the King.
In December 1646, Skippon was recommended by Fairfax to be made governor of Newcastle.
Then in march 1647 the House of Commons summoned him to resume his duties with the army and a week later he was appointed by the parliament to command the proposed expedition to Ireland, with the title of Marshal-General. He begged hard to be excused, saying "I am so sensible of my own exceeding indisposedness of mind, inability of body and distractedness of estate and family, that I ingenuously confess myself most unfit, and unable to undertake and undergo such an employment", but parliament pressed Skippon hard, and eventually he had to accept.

The same day as his acceptance he took his seat in the House of Commons as the member for Barnstable. The soldiers who had served under him applied to him to represent their grievances to parliament, and the 'agitators' of eight regiments of horse presented him with a letter of appeal, which he at once laid before the commons. He was ordered to go to the army with Cromwell and other officers to enquire into the origin of the letter and to appease the rising discontent. Skippon assembled the officers at Saffron Walden, heard their complaints; related to demobilisation of the army and the fact that no provision had been made for the payment of arrears in pay, explained his reasons for accepting the Irish command, and urged them to acquiesce in the decision of parliament and enlist for Ireland. But even men that had been willing to serve if Skippon were commander, now declined to do so unless their grievances were redressed. The army refused to disband, finding the concessions of parliament as insufficient, and when at Triplow Heath in June 1647, he made a final appeal to win them, but was answered with a universal cry for 'justice'.

Skippon's attempt to mediate between army and parliament exposed him to imputations of treachery from the Presbyterians, which were made more plausible by his refusal to take part in the attempted resistance of the city to the army at the end of July, and his entry into London with Fairfax in August.

At the outbreak of the second civil war, May, 1648, Skippon was made commander-in-chief of the London Malitia.

In July, 1648 when a Royalist rising in London seemed imminent, Skippon was further commissioned by the House of Commons to raise a regiment of horse, an extension of his authority which led to a dispute between the two houses and wad loudly complained of by the Presbyterians.

At the same time the Royalists falsely imputed to him a part in what was known as Captain Rolfe's plot to assassinate Charles I, basing the charge on the fact that Skippon had a son-in-law of that name. The House of Commons vindicated Skippon on his complaint to them, and ordered their veto's to be posted throughout the city. In the face of all these suspicions and attacks, Skippon, while eager for a treaty with Charles I, effectively maintained the peace of the city, and prevented the London Royalists from giving armed assistance to the rising in Kent and Essex.

Skippon was appointed one of the King's judges, but never attended any of the meetings of the high court of justice.

During the commonwealth and protectorate he held high office both military and civil, but exercised little political influence. When Cromwell marched against the Scots in June 1659 Skippon was appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces in and about London. He was also appointed a member of the first, second, third and fifth councils of state which existed during the republic.

Though he was not one of the Little parliament, and did not sit in the council appointed by the officers of the army after the dissolution of the Long parliament, he was a member of each of the councils appointed by Cromwell.

The Protector, Cromwell, commissioned Skippon to command the forces to be raised in London in February 1655 to suppress the intended rising of the Royalists; and when the major generals were instituted, Skippon was appointed major general for London.

In the parliaments of 1654 and 1656, Skippon represented Lyme, but he rarely opened his mouth during the debates.

Yet in 1656 indignation at the blasphemies of the Quaker James Naylor roused Skippon onto unwanted eloquence. "The growth of these things" he declared "is more dangerous than the most intestine or foreign enemies. I have often been troubled in my thoughts to think of this toleration… if this be liberty, god deliver me from such liberty. I was always of opinion in the Long Parliament the more liberty the greater the mischief".

The protector summoned Skippon to sit in his House of Lords and he was so generally respected that even republican pamphleteers found nothing except political inconsistency to allege against the choice. When the Protector died Skippon was one of the dignitaries who signed the proclamation of Richard as his successor, but he was so little identified with the Cromwellian regime that the restored Long parliament reappointed him major-general of the London militia (July, 1659).

Age and infirmity prevented him from taking an active role in the revolutions of the next few months. He died about the beginning of March 1660, leaving a son, Philip, who was later knighted; and three daughters.

A plain blunt man, an efficient soldier, he was respected for his courage and integrity.

This article was written by Christopher Howarth.