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JOHN FELTON (c. 1595-1628)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 247 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:FELTON (c. 1595-1628)  , See also:assassin of the 1st See also:duke of See also:Buckingham, was a member of an old See also:Suffolk See also:family established at Playford . The date of his See also:birth and the name of his See also:father are unknown, but his See also:mother was Eleanor, daughter of See also:William See also:Wright, See also:mayor of See also:Durham . He entered the See also:army, and served as See also:lieutenant in the expedition to See also:Cadiz commanded by See also:Sir See also:Edward See also:Cecil in 1625 . His career seems to have been See also:ill-starred and unfortunate from the beginning . His See also:left See also:hand was See also:early disabled by a See also:wound, and a morose See also:temper rendered him unpopular and prevented his See also:advancement . Every application made to Buckingham for his promotion was refused, on See also:account of an enmity, according to Sir Simonds D'Ewes, which existed between See also:Felton and Sir See also:Henry Hungate, a favourite of Buckingham . To his See also:personal application that he could not live without a captaincy Buckingham replied harshly " that he might hang." Whether he took See also:part in the expedition to Rhe in 1627 is uncertain, but there is no doubt that he continued to be refused promotion, and that even his scanty pay earned during the Cadiz See also:adventure was not received . Exasperated by his ill-treatment, his discontent sharpened by poverty, and his hatred of Buckingham intensified by a study of the See also:Commons " Remonstrances " of the previous See also:June, and by a See also:work published by Eglesham, the physician of See also:James I., in which Buckingham was accused of poisoning the See also:king, Felton determined to effect his assassination . He bought a tenpenny See also:knife on See also:Tower See also:Hill, and on his way through See also:Fleet See also:Street he left his name in a See also:church to be prayed for as " a See also:man much discontented in mind." He arrived at See also:Portsmouth at 9 o'See also:clock in the See also:morning of the 23rd of See also:August 1628, and immediately proceeded to No . Io High Street, where Buckingham was lodged . Here mingling with the See also:crowd of applicants and unnoticed he stabbed the duke, who immediately See also:fell dead . Though See also:escape would have been easy he confessed the See also:deed and was seized and conveyed to the Tower, his See also:journey thither, such was the unpopularity of the duke, being accompanied by cries of " See also:God bless thee " from the See also:people .

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Charles and See also:Laud desired he should be racked, but the illegal See also:torture was prevented by the See also:judges . He was tried before the king's See also:bench on the 27th of See also:November, pleaded guilty, and was hanged the next See also:day, his See also:body being exposed in chains subsequently at Portsmouth .

End of Article: JOHN FELTON (c. 1595-1628)
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