negotiations with Charles, and on the same day, Rich and George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham raised 400 cavalry in an attempt to seize London. This was insufficient for the task and the Royalists retreated through Surrey, before being intercepted and scattered outside Surbiton by Sir Michael Livesey. Rich and 200 men reached St Neots on Sunday 9 July, along with Colonel John Dalbier, an experienced German mercenary who served with him in the 1627 Saint-Martin-de-Ré expedition. The next day, they were attacked by a detachment from the New Model under Colonel Adrian Scrope; Dalbier was killed, Buckingham escaped to France and Rich taken prisoner to Windsor Castle. The war ended with Parliamentarian victory at Preston in August, followed by the Execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649. On 27 February, Rich was taken to London for trial; many felt he should have been punished in 1643 and despite pleas from his brother Warwick, he was executed on 9 March along with Lord Capell and the Duke of Hamilton. Shortly before his death, Rich composed a statement arguing he had always been faithful to Parliament, a "remarkable claim for someone who had deserted them twice". However, the suggestion he never changed the "principles that ever I professed" and was more consistent than those responsible for executing Charles was a view shared by many Parliamentarian moderates. References Sources |- 1590 births 1649 deaths Rich family Younger sons of earls Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of the Inner Temple 17th-century English soldiers English generals Chancellors of the University of Cambridge English MPs 1604–1611 English MPs 1614 Knights of the Garter Lay members of the Westminster Assembly Lord-Lieutenants of Berkshire Lord-Lieutenants of Middlesex People executed under the Interregnum (England) by decapitation People executed under the Interregnum (England) for treason against England Executed English people English politicians convicted of crimes Grooms of the Stool Earls of Holland Court of Charles I of England Royalist military personnel of the English Civil War People educated at Eton College