The Execution of King Charles I and the Chaloner Connection

On this day, 30 January, 1649, at Whitehall, Oliver Cromwell oversaw the executioner Richard Brandon chopping off the head of the King of England, Charles I.

Thomas and James Chaloner, sons of the courtier Sir Thomas Chaloner (1559-1615) from Guisborough, were among the 135 commissioners at the King’s trial. Thomas, (born 1595) bolder than his younger brother, signed his name on the death warrant, earning himself the tag of Regicide at the Restoration in 1660. Escaping the executioner’s block, he sought refuge abroad and met his end there the following year. James (born 1602), avoiding putting his name on the warrant, found himself imprisoned. His death in July 1660, a consequence of an illness contracted during his captivity, left Ursula, his wife, a son, and two daughters. His exclusion from the general pardon given to those on the Parliamentary side during the Civil War ensured his family’s subsequent destitution.

The grandfather of these regicides was another Sir Thomas Chaloner (1521 – 1565). A poet and ambassador during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, he has been given the differentiator ‘Statesman’ by Wikipedia. It was he who had initially acquired the lands of Gisborough Priory after its dissolution.

Coincidentally, also on this day, albeit 12 years later, King Charles II orchestrated the posthumous execution of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who had been dead for two years!

The photograph shows a boundary stone from the early 19th century on Hutton Moor, engraved with “TC G 1860,” marking the former boundary between the parishes of Guisborough and Hutton Lowcross¹Line of boundary stones marking former Guisborough-Hutton Lowcross boundary NYMNPA HER No: 17958.. The “TC” doubtlessly stands for Thomas Chaloner, namely the Admiral Thomas Chaloner (1815-1884).

There is obviously some far removed familial connection between the Statesman and the Admiral, as the manor of Gisborough has passed across the generations. The name Chaloner continues today but has undergone two name changes since the Admiral’s time, because of inheritance through the female line. Such alterations may well have happened earlier, but the records are not easily available.

Let’s recap on this convoluted lineage, shall we? First up is Sir Thomas, the statesman, sowing the seeds for the next in line, Sir Thomas the courtier, who begat the regicidal duo, Thomas and James. Now, we skip many generations, until we encounter the Admiral Thomas.

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  Line of boundary stones marking former Guisborough-Hutton Lowcross boundary NYMNPA HER No: 17958.