English Civil Wars
At the start of the English Civil War in 1642, Ludlow engaged as a volunteer in the life guard of Lord Essex. His first battle was at Worcester on 23 September 1642, his next at Edgehill on 23 October 1642. In 1643 he returned to Wiltshire and became captain of a troop of horse for Sir Edward Hungerford's regiment. Hungerford made him governor of Wardour Castle in 1643, but had to surrender to the Royalists after a tenacious three-month defence on 18 March 1644.
After a brief imprisonment in Oxford, he was exchanged soon afterwards, and engaged as major of Arthur Hesilrige's regiment of horse. He was present at the second battle of Newbury, October 1644, at the siege of Basing House in November, and took part in an expedition to relieve Taunton in December. In January 1645 Sir Marmaduke Langdale surprised his regiment, with Ludlow only escaping with difficulty. After serving as High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1645 he was elected in 1646 Member of Parliament (MP) for Wiltshire in place of his father, and became involved with the Independent faction within Parliament - especially with Henry Marten and other radical critics of the monarchy. Ludlow was a Baptist and Calvinist predestinarian, and his political views were inextricably interlinked with providentialist and apocalyptic religious views.
Ludlow opposed negotiations with Charles I, and was one of the chief promoters of Pride's Purge in 1648. He was one of the king's judges, and signed the warrant for his execution. In February 1649 he was elected a member of the new Council of State after having himself been involved in drawing up the terms for its existence. Around this time he also married Elizabeth Thomas of Glamorgan.
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