John Hutchinson (Roundhead)

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John Hutchinson (Roundhead) – Short, easy version

John Hutchinson (18 September 1615 – 11 September 1664) was an English politician and army officer who supported Parliament in the English Civil War. He is best known for being one of the 59 commissioners who signed the death warrant of Charles I.

Life
Hutchinson was born at Owthorpe Hall in Nottinghamshire, the son of Thomas Hutchinson and Margaret Byron. He was educated at Nottingham Grammar School and Lincoln Grammar School, then studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He began studying law at Lincoln’s Inn but soon shifted his focus to music and religious study.

Military and political career
During the Civil War, Hutchinson sided with Parliament. He helped defend Nottingham and became governor of Nottingham Castle and the town. He refused a large bribe offered by royalist leaders to switch sides. The town faced attacks, but Hutchinson kept defences up and resisted surrender.

Parliament and religion
In 1646 he became a member of the Nottinghamshire parliamentary committee and, in 1648, was elected MP for Nottinghamshire, serving until 1653 and again briefly in 1660. His religious views leaned toward the Independents rather than Presbyterians, and, under his wife’s influence, he adopted some Baptist ideas.

Regicide and the Commonwealth
In 1649 he signed Charles I’s death warrant as one of the regicides. He served on the first Councils of State during the Commonwealth, though he did not take a leading role in public life. He also held other religious commissions during the 1640s.

Restoration, arrest, and death
After the 1660 Restoration, Hutchinson was excluded from public office but not executed. He was suspected in the Farnley Wood Plot in 1663 and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died of fever at Sandown Castle in Kent in 1664 and was buried at St. Margaret’s Church, Owthorpe.

Family and legacy
Hutchinson was married to Lucy Apsley (Lucy Hutchinson), and they had nine children, including John and Barbara. Lucy wrote a biography of him, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson. Historians often credit his most lasting impact to his defense of Nottingham and to the detailed life story his wife recorded, rather than to his own political achievements.