HE has lain in Worcester Cathedral ever since the smoke of the last Civil War battle cleared 350 years ago.

But now there are calls for Worcester people to help "right a wrong" and return the body of William, Duke of Hamilton, to the lochs and glens of his native Scotland.

Civil War writer and former Worcester resident Stephen Maggs is appealing to city people to voice their opinions about the death and burial of Royalist supporter Sir William.

Despite pleas from his family to return his body to Scotland, the duke was buried in Worcester Cathedral.

Mr Maggs, a Civil War enthusiast for 20 years who moved from Worcester to Scotland in 1989, says if opinion is strong enough he hopes it will spark a campaign to get the Duke's remains returned home.

"Some people might think that it's hundreds of years ago so why bother. But the Throne of Scone, which was stolen from Scotland by Edward I in 1296, was returned after a long campaign in 1996 - 700 years later!"

The Duke declared his loyalty to King Charles II in 1650 and led an 18,000-strong Scottish force against the Parliamentarians in Worcester on September 3, 1651.

He took a cannon shot to the leg during the fighting, was captured and died a few days later, aged just 34.

"On hearing of her husband's death, Elizabeth and her daughters petitioned Cromwell to allow them to bring William's body home to rest in the family estates in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.

"Cromwell refused and so to this day the Duke of Hamilton remains in the Cathedral awaiting his return.

"Should this wrong be righted? I am interested to hear what people think about this."

Mr Maggs - who happens to be the nephew of the founder of Maggs Day Centre for the homeless, off Deansway in Worcester - would like to hear from anyone who has an opinion on this. E-mail him at civilwar@tiscali.co.uk

The Scots and the civil war

The Battle of Worcester, in September 1651, was the final battle of the English Civil War - a conflict in which Scottish soldiers played a pivotal role.

Following the execution of his father, King Charles I, Charles II was ready to fight for his crown.

After his Scottish supporters crowned him King of Scotland, young Charles gathered his nobles and 18,000 of their men to march south on London.

However, with no equipment, training or supplies offered by the hostile English, the Scots were no match for

Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army.

The Duke of Hamilton himself described the march as "a desperate venture in which people were laughing at the ridiculousness of our condition".

After walking 300 miles in 23 days, his men must have arrived ragged, ill and exhausted, and in little condition to wage war against Cromwell's well-drilled military machine.

But if the Royalists hoped to recover in Worcester, Cromwell didn't give them much time - he had the

city surrounded within seven days.

It was a massacre. As the Scots tried to flee Fort Royal, after it was taken by Cromwell's men, 1,500 men were killed trying to escape through Sidbury Gate. The streets ran with blood. Charles himself escaped to France and to exile - but his men weren't so lucky.

Those who survived were captured and sent in ships to become white slaves in the tobacco plantations of Virginia and the West Indies.

Of the 4,000 Scots who died, most bodies were tipped into pits on Powick Ham. Only some were given the honour of a proper burial at the Cathedral.