Scottish invasion. This left them short of men and on 6 June, Rossiter was recalled and sent to Lincoln to secure the Midlands. The Parliamentarian garrison of Pontefract defected to the Royalists and were joined by other insurgents, who sent a force of around 1,000 men into Lincolnshire to seize provisions. They were pursued by Rossiter, who defeated them near Willoughby on 5 July. John Lambert, Parliamentarian commander in the north, left Rossiter to oversee the siege of Pontefract, while he supervised the campaign that ended with the Battle of Preston in August. The Second Civil War was notably more brutal than the first and captured Royalists previously released on parole were often executed. Prisoners taken at Willoughby included Sir Philip Monckton and Gilbert Byron, youngest brother of the Royalist general Sir John Byron; Rossiter reportedly persuaded Sir Thomas Fairfax to set them free. Inter-regnum and Restoration Moderates like Holles grew increasingly desperate to reach agreement with Charles, who refused meaningful concessions, leading Cromwell and his supporters to conclude further talks were pointless. As one of the MPs who backed Holles and voted in favour of continuing negotiations, Rossiter was among those excluded by Pride's Purge on 6 December 1648. Unlike his grandfather, he opposed the Execution of Charles I in January 1649 and spent much of the 1649 to 1660 Interregnum in obscurity. Although elected MP for Lincolnshire in 1654, 1656 and 1659, he was prevented from sitting as a suspected Royalist. This claim had some merit, as he was allegedly involved in co-ordinating the 1659 Booth's Uprising. He supported the Restoration of Charles II and in April 1660 was elected for Lincolnshire in the Convention Parliament. Part of the delegation sent to welcome Charles on his arrival in England, he was knighted on 27 May and appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire in August. However, he did not stand for re-election to Parliament in 1661, and died of cancer at home in Somerby on 9 January 1669. References Sources 1618 births 1669 deaths People from West Lindsey District English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1659 English MPs 1660 English Presbyterians of the Interregnum (England) Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Members of the Parliament of England for Great Grimsby Deputy Lieutenants of Lincolnshire Parliamentarian military personnel of the English Civil War