At the siege of Bolton, in May, 1644, when the town was stormed and surrendered after a valiant resistance, to Prince Rupert, with an army of over nine thousand royalists, Duddell and Davis were amongst the officers slain, whilst their companies were literally cut to pieces. Captain George Sharples, of Freckleton, was taken prisoner, and dragged, almost naked and barefooted, through the miry and blood-stained streets to the spot where Cuthbert, the eldest son of Thomas Clifton, of Lytham, was standing after the carnage, in which he had led a party of the besiegers. Captain Clifton and others near him were in a mood for a somewhat rude and ungenerous entertainment, and placed the hapless Sharples, in his dilapidated attire, in a prominent position and, thrusting a Psalter into his hand, compelled him to sing a Psalm for their delectation. After they had amused themselves in such fashion for some time the prisoner was handed over to the guard, from whom he ultimately made his escape. Captain Cuthbert Clifton was elevated to the rank of colonel as an acknowledgment of his gallant services at Bolton, after which he returned for a few days into the Fylde, where he engaged himself in procuring a fresh detachment of soldiers, who readily flocked to his standard. For their provision and comfort he did not hesitate or scruple to appropriate a number of cattle on Layton Hawes, and to relieve some of the Puritans of Kirkham, Bispham, and Poulton, of their bedding, etc. Having fully supplied his commissariat department by these means, he marched to Liverpool, and joining Prince Rupert, was present at the sacking of that town. The Civil War had proved most disastrous to Lancashire, where the constant movements and frequent collisions of the contending parties had ruined the towns, destroyed almost all attempts at agriculture, and reduced the inhabitants to a state of wretchedness and poverty, in many instances to the verge of starvation; and notwithstanding the fact that in not one single instance had the Fylde been the scene of an encounter, the people of this section were in as lamentable a condition of penury and suffering as those of the less fortunate districts, a circumstance not to be wondered at when the incessant plunderings are taken into consideration, and when it is remembered that the youth and strength of the neighbourhood were serving as volunteers or recruits, either under the banner of parliament or that of the king. The 12th of September, 1644, was appointed by the Puritans as a day of solemn prayer and fasting throughout the country, and parliament decreed that half of the money collected “in all the churches within the cities of London and Westminster and within the lines of communication,” should be devoted to the relief of the distressed and impoverished in this county.