Thomas Waite ( born Thomas Waite or Thomas Wayte ) (died 1688) is an English soldier who fought for parliament in the English Civil War , a member of the Long Parliament , and one of the regicide of King Charles I.
Waite was originally from Rutland , and is said to be the son of a brewer at in this county. He joined the army of Parliament. Having taken such a good step at one time with benefit for himself, he received the post of colonel, and a place in the Long Parliament . In 1643, he searched, turning everything upside down, the king’s chambers near Burley House, at that time he was a colonel, and, apparently as a consequence of this, then or immediately immediately afterwards became governor of , in the county of Rutland . [one]
Waite wrote to Parliament in 1648 that he attacked the trail of the organizers of the rebellion at Stamford , and at Woodcroft Castle in Cambridgeshire . He killed Dr. Hudson, who commanded those forces, and some of his associates. Thomas Waite took many prisoners, but released the fellow countrymen. Parliament responded with gratitude and ruled that the general should give him the authority to judge prisoners under wartime laws. Shortly afterwards, he announced the defeat and capture of the Duke of Hamilton . [one]
As one of the grandees of the army , Waite became one of the who served in court during the He attended court hearings on January 25, 26, and January 27, 1649, the first two in the Painted Chamber and the last of them at Westminster Hall , when the verdict was passed against Charles I , and he signed and stamped the document that sent the king to execution . [2]
After this event, we hear nothing about White. Before the restoration of the monarchy, he was apparently forgotten by parliament and Oliver Cromwell completely abandoned him when he became Lord Protector , and even missed his name as one of the committee in Rutland that he used during the First Commonwealth. [3]
He did not receive general pardon under , surrendered, and on October 10, 1660 was to the bar" in the Old Sessions Building - Bailey . He behaved uneasily in court, laying out his arguments, not wanting to be found guilty, and “corrupted me.” At trial, he was convicted of regicide , but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, as the court decided that he had forced Cromwell and Henry Ayrton to agree to the execution of the king, that Cromwell himself ruled Waite's hand when he signed the death sentence. [4] Waite’s wife, Jane, unsuccessfully requested his release for the sake of their five children and Waite was imprisoned at Mont Orgay Castle on Jersey Island . [five]
He was buried in St Seyviere on the island of Jersey on October 18, 1688. [6]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Noble, p. 310
- ↑ Noble, pp. 310,311
- ↑ Noble, p. 311
- ↑ Noble, pp. 311-317
- ↑ Lemprière, p. 100. "Dr Gilbert Millington, Sir Hardress Waller, Henry Smith, Colonel James Temple and Colonel Thomas Waite (Wayte), who were among those who condemned King Charles I to death were imprisoned in Mont Orgueil Castle."
- ↑ Balleine, p. 148. "Thomas Wayte was buried at St Savior on 18 October 1688"
Literature
- George Reginald Balleine, et al. . Balleine's History of Jersey , Phillimore, 1981, ISBN 0-85033-413-6 , ISBN 978-0-85033-413-5
- Raoul Lemprière. History of the Channel Islands , R. Hale, 1974
- Mark Noble The lives of the English regicides: and other commissioners of the pretended High court of justice, appointed to sit in judgement upon their sovereign, King Charles the First Volume II, J. Stockdale, 1798