John Downes (regicide) 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; family had moved southwards from Cheshire to Warwickshire. They were said to be able to trace their Cheshire lineage back to 864 AD, according to John Parsons Earwaker's "History" of East Cheshire families. It is said that when the King came hunting in Macclesfield Forest, a Downes would hold the King's stirrup, whilst he mounted and Lord Stanley would
Thomas Waite (regicide) himself, was brought to the bar, at the Session's House, in the Old Bailey, 10 October 1660. He was extremely troublesome to the court at his arraignment as he would not plead guilty or not guilty when asked to do so and prevaricated. At his trial he was found guilty of regicide, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment as the court decided that he had been forced by Cromwell and Henry Ireton into agreeing to the Kings execution, to such a degree that Cromwell had guided Waite's hand when he signed the death warrant. Waite's wife, Jane, unsuccessfully