John Downes (regicide) being found guilty of regicide, John Downes was condemned to death in October 1660 but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because he had tried to intervene on the King's behalf and only signed the death warrant after being intimidated by the other commissioners. Downes spent the rest of his life a prisoner in the Tower of London. John Downes (regicide) Colonel John Downes (1609 – c. 1666) was a commissioner who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England. After the English Restoration he was found guilty of regicide and was imprisoned until he died. John Downes;
John Hewson (regicide) November 1645 he took command of the regiment; and, as was the custom then, the Regiment became known as John Hewson Regiment of Foot. In 1647 Parliament passed an act against religious festivals, regarding them as "vain and superstitious observances" when the Mayor of Canterbury tried to enforce this act and stop Christmas there was a riot and John Hewson Regiment of Foot were sent to restore order which they did quickly. In 1648 Hewson supported Pride's Purge and the Army's occupation of London. In January 1649 Hewson signed the death warrant of Charles I marking him as a regicide.