Rowland Laugharne

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Major General Rowland Laugharne (c. 1607 – 1675 in London) was a soldier in the English Civil War.

His family came from St. Brides House, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Major-General Laugharne, Parliament's commander in south Wales during the First Civil War, sided with the insurgents and took command of the rebel army. In 1648 he was wounded in battle.

After surrendering to Oliver Cromwell's army Laugharne was sent to London. In April 1649 he was court-martialled and condemned to be executed by firing squad along with two other rebels. It was ruled that the sentence would be carried out on only one of them, to be decided by drawing lots, and Colonel John Poyer was executed at Covent Garden of 24 April.

His nephew Captain John Langhorne (1640-1687) the founder of one of Virginia's best-known families went to Warwick County Virginia and had a number of influential descendants, including Lady Astor.

Laugharne spent most of the 1650s in prison. After the Restoration he was elected MP for Pembroke in the Cavalier Parliament (1661-79)

His portrait is to be found in the National Portrait Gallery of England [1]. This image is entitled "Major General Rowland Laugharne". An almost identical portrait entitled "Colonel Langhorne" is in the ownership of the descendants of Reverend John Langhorne. Langhorne is the anglicised version of Laugharne.