David Otton

John Felton

5 min read

On 23 August 1628, at Portsmouth, John Felton stabbed the Duke of Buckingham.

Well… fair enough. Buckingham was by all accounts a disastrous leader of men (“During the course of the duke’s incompetent leadership, Parliament had twice attempted to impeach him.” — Wikipedia), and Felton was long considered a hero and a martyr (for what cause, I’m not quite sure).

But what seems weird to me is just how abjectly apologetic he was in the aftermath. I need to dive into whether this was standard at the time (because torture? Because monarchy? How did Guy Fawkes handle it two decades earlier?), but this is from the letters of John Pory:

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About Satturday last his Majesty signif[ied] by a message unto Felton, that he should prepare himselfe to dye and to indure as muche torture as could be putt upon a man, His answere was: I give his Majesty most humble thankes, for doing me this singular grace and favor in forewarning me of my death which I am ready to embrace. And for torture to be inflicted on my body, I am ready to suffer. Being confident, that the tortures of my soule are all appeased in my Saviours merrites.

At the trial he goes into a whole “if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off” thing:

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Yesterday Felton was arraigned & condemned at the k. benche barre, there being no jury present, he being convict by his owne confession. The judges understanding he had not received the Communion in 2 yeares space tolde him, it was either Popery or Atheism putt that malice into his hart to committe so barbarous a murther. His answer was he did it not out of malice, but with intention for the good of his countrey. Here is the hand (said hee) that did the deed, and I wish it may be cutt off and then my body disposed at the kinges pleasure. No (answered the judges) you shall have the lawe that is, to be hang’d till you dye & no more, He saide besides he acknowledged it an horrible crime to deface Gods image so by murther, but he had often & earnestly repented him, and doubted not but that as the bloud of his Saviour was sufficient to expiate all his other sinnes, so this also. So the judges condemned him simply to be hanged, referring the time & place to his Majesties pleasure.

John Pory reports more of this stuff from Felton when he’s standing on the scaffold, even telling the crowd not to abuse the hangman, “because he did but his duty”. I’d expected more of a “…and your little dog too!” vibe from a political assassin, but there you go.

Here’s the bit from John Pory that I’m really interested in, which describes the disposition of Felton’s body after he was hanged:

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But by that time he was cutt downe, there came a countermande post from his Majesty, that his Corps should be returned back to the Gatehouse, from whence on Sunday last it was carried in a Coach towards Portsmouth, there to be hanged up in chains upon the highest Tower. Some say it was intercepted by the way, which I doe not believe.

Felton upon this daye sennight was hanged up in chaines two mile on this side Portsmouth, and so was seen on Monday morning by one that came from Portsmouth, some butts length from the road, and in the same cloathes he wore when he slew the Duke, which was done at the instance of my lady Duchesse.

A “sennight” is seven nights, a week. So we get this rough timeline:

  • Wed 29th Nov - Felton is hung at Tyburn
  • Thurs 30th Nov
  • Fri 1st Dec
  • Sat 2nd Dec
  • Sun 3rd Dec - Felton’s corpse is sent to Portsmouth by coach
  • Mon 4th Dec - Pory’s informant sees Felton hanging in chains
  • Tues 5th Dec - Date of Pory’s letter

On the face of it, Pory is contradicting himself here: Felton’s corpse can’t both be hanging in chains at Portsmouth seven nights ago and be shipped to Portsmouth Sunday last. So I’m thinking it’s much more likely I’m misreading him. Where I read “He was gibbetted at Portsmouth seven nights ago”, he must have meant “He was hanged seven nights ago, and then gibbetted at Portsmouth”. It’s possible.

Why the delay in shipping the corpse?

In The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries, Charles George Harper gives us a ballpark figure for the journey from London to Portsmouth of about fifteen hours.

It’s very clear (“hanged up in chains upon the highest Tower”, “in the same cloathes he wore when he slew the Duke”) that the intention was to make a spectacle and a warning of the corpse. But the traditional site of Felton’s gibbet, on the beach a little east of the town ramparts, is on the way to nowhere in particular. “Two mile on this side [of] Portsmouth” would put the gibbet on the main London-Portsmouth road, maybe somewhere around index. At that point it would be seen by every person travelling to or from Portsmouth. Any further north and the road splits, and you lose some of your audience.

(Alternative argument: The location on the beach, well away from any visual clutter, is visible to ships entering and leaving the port. There would also be a clear view from the Saluting Platform).

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