Francis Hacker

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Francis Hacker was an English soldier and one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England.

Hacker was a Parliamentarian Army officer from Nottinghamshire. His family were Royalists — one of his brothers died fighting for the King, another lost a hand in his service. Colonel Hacker commanded the soldiers who guarded King Charles during his trial and controlled access to him. He signed the order to the executioner when Colonel Huncks refused to do so and supervised the guard on the scaffold when the King was beheaded. Brought to trial as a regicide in October 1660, Hacker pleaded that he was only following orders. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Tyburn on 19 October 1660. He was probably spared the full horror of a traitor's death because of his brothers' loyal service to the Crown.

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This article contains text under a Creative Commons License by David Plant, the British Civil Wars and Commonwealth website http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/index_h.htm