John Downes (regicide)

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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.

He was a businessman who did not fight in the English Civil War but amassed a fortune dealing in the confiscated Royalist estates. In 1641, he was elected Member of Parliament for Arundel.

On being found guilty of regicide, he received the relatively light sentence of life imprisonment, rather than the usual traitor's punishment of being hanged, drawn and quartered, because he tried to intervene on the King's behalf and only signed the death warrant after being intimidated by the other commissioners.

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