Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1593-1641)

Execution of the Earl of Strafford, Charles I's chief adviser, on Tower Hill, in 1641 after an etching by Wenceslaus Hollar. Upon hearing that Charles had signed his death warrant at parliament's insistence, Strafford famously commented ‘Put not your trust in princes’.

English politician. He was originally an opponent of Charles I, but from 1628 he was on the Royalist side. He ruled despotically as Lord Deputy of Ireland 1632-39, when he returned to England as Charles's chief adviser and received an earldom. He was impeached in 1640 by Parliament, abandoned by Charles as a scapegoat, and beheaded. He was knighted in 1611, became Baron in 1628, and created Earl in 1640.