Parliamentarian cavalry under Oliver Cromwell defeated Royalist forces near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire on 28 July 1643. The victory briefly relieved the town, although superior Royalist forces soon compelled a withdrawal. It enhanced Cromwell's reputation as a forceful cavalry commander.

Accounts of Gainsborough contributed to the emerging public image of Cromwell as a providential soldier. That image later inspired both panegyric, including Marvell's political poetry, and fierce Royalist satire.