Daniel Axtell
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Colonel Daniel Axtell[1] (1622-1660) was Captain of the Parliamentary Guard at the trial of King Charles I at Westminster Hall in 1649. Shortly after the Restoration he was hanged, drawn and quartered on 19 October 1660 for his part in the Regicide.
He was a Baptist from Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire who apprenticed as a grocer. He joined the New Model Army and rose to the Rank of Colonel. Apart from his participation in the regicide, he is best remembered for his participation in Pride's Purge of the Long Parliament. His defence at his trial as a Regicide, that he was only obeying orders at the trial of the King, was refuted by several witnesses who testified that Axtell had behaved discourteously towards the King encouraging his men to jeer at or shout-out the King when he tried to speak in his own defence. He was executed with his commanding officer Colonel Francis Hacker who had also been condemned as a Regicide. Axtell went to his execution unrepentant declaring that he died for the "Good Old Cause".
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[edit] Granny Castle
Granny Castle beside the river Nore is an imposing ruin. Its early history is identified with that of its foundersand proprietors the earls of Ormond. "In the civil wars" writes Grosse "it was strongly garrisoned for the King and commanded by Captain Butler, Colonel Axtel the famous regicide who was governor of Kilkenny dispatched a party to reduce it, but they returned without accomplishing their orders; upon which Axtel himself marched out with two cannon and summoned the castle to surrender on pain of military execution. Without any hope of relief it is no wonder the garrison submitted (Grose Antiquities Vol. II p. 79)
[edit] Miscellaneous
In 1678 Danial Axtell, the son of the regicide, fled to Carolina after his house in Stoke Newington was searched for seditious libels. He died in 1687.[2]
[edit] Further reading
- Col. Daniel Axtell, Regicide
- Excerpts from his trial
- The History of Berkhamsted
- British Civil Wars: Daniel Axtell, Soldier, Regicide, d.1660
- The Diary of Samuel Pepys Friday 19 October 1660
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ The family name is now spelt Axtell, but in some C17th records he is called Daniel Axtel and this spelling is used in some modern sources derived from those sources, for example House of Lords Record Office: The Death Warrant of King Charles I
- ^ British history on line:Stoke Newington Growth from A History of the county of MIDDLESEX volumn III by Diane K. Bolton Pub 1985. footnote 79:Cal. S.P. Dom. 1680-1, 307; 1682, 237; 1685, 5; D.N.B.
