On this day in 1649, Kind Charles 1 was executed on scaffolding beside the Banqueting House, Whitehall . It was just before two in the afternoon when the King was finally summoned to the scaffold. He was conveyed through a window onto the platform. The beheading block was a mere eight inches high, so that he would have to lie prostrate at the feet of the executioner, and staples had been hammered in nearby so that he might be tied if he refused to submit to his death.
His final remarks to Bishop Juxon were “I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown” and “Remember”, presumably so that his words could be accurately conveyed to the Prince of Wales and others. The King made a last silent prayer, removed his cloak and lay down prone on the block. After a few seconds, he made a sign and the executioner performed his duty with a single blow.
At the Restoration in 1660, Parliament passed an Act for the Attainder of people involved in the trail and execution of King Charles 1. Twenty four of them had already died, including Cromwell, John Bradshaw (the Judge who was President of the Court), and Henry Ireton (Cromwell’s son-in-law). These three were given a posthumous execution whereby their remains were exhumed, hanged and beheaded and their bodies cast into a pit below the gallows, their heads were placed on spikes at the end of Westminster Hall. Several others were hanged, drawn and quartered, while 19 were imprisoned for life. Property confiscated from many, and most were barred from holding public office or title again. Twenty-one of those under threat fled England, mostly settling in the Netherlands or Switzerland, although three settled in New England.
The headsman and his assistant were unnamed and identified as “those two persons, … who being disguised by frocks and vizors, did appear upon the scaffold erected before Whitehall”. Sidney Lee states in the Dictionary of National Biography (1866) that the headsman may have been Richard Brandon. Richard Brandon was the Common Hangman of London in 1649 and he is frequently noted as the man who executed the death warrant of King Charles I; although the precise identity of the executioner is still unknown. Brandon had been approached and declined to do the job, although he might later have accepted under threat.
A pamphlet purporting to be a confession by Brandon was published posthumously, in which it is stated that he received £30 for performing the execution, which was given to him ‘all in half crowns’. The register of St Mary Matfelon, the parish church of Whitechapel, records “1649. June 2. Richard Brandon, a man out of Rosemary Lane.” And to this is added the following memorandum: “This R. Brandon is supposed to have cut off the head of Charles I”. This Brandon was the son of Gregory Brandon, and claimed the headman’s axe by inheritance – he was even known as “Young Gregory”.
Gregory Brandon was said to be the illegitimate grandson or great grandson of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The notoriety of Gregory and “Young Gregory” led to “the Gregory Tree” becoming a euphemism for the gallows, and was one of the reasons for the decline in popularity of the name Gregory. The name “Gregory” became a general nickname for executioners:
More details of the Richard Bardon’s confession can be seen at http://anglicanhistory.org/charles/brandon_confession1649.html
