Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
John Felton ( – 29 November 1628) was an English army officer who assassinated
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham ( ; 20 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and self-described "lover" of King James VI and I. Buckingham remained at the heigh ...
by stabbing him to death in the
Greyhound Pub at
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
on 23 August 1628.
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649.
Charles was born ...
trusted Buckingham, who made himself rich in the process but proved a failure at foreign and military policy. Charles gave him command of a military expedition against Spain in 1625. It was a total fiasco with many dying from disease and starvation. He led another disastrous military campaign in 1627. Buckingham was hated and the damage to the king's reputation was irreparable. Buckingham's assassination by Felton was widely celebrated by the English public even after Felton's execution.
Early life
John Felton was born around 1595, possibly in Suffolk, to a
family related to the Feltons of Playford in Suffolk and distantly related to
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. His father, Thomas Felton, prospered as a pursuivant, one appointed to the task of hunting down those who
refused to attend Anglican church services. His mother, Elanor, was the daughter of William Wight, the one-time mayor of
Durham.
[Bellany (2004)]
The family's fortunes declined when Thomas' lucrative position was given to
Henry Spiller in 1602. Thomas died around 1611, while he was imprisoned in the
Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the River Fleet. The prison was built in 1197, was rebuilt several times, and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.
History
The prison was built in 1197 off what is now ...
for debt, although his widow was later able to secure a £100 per annum pension from the crown.
Felton's brother
Edmund Felton also fell into debt trying to right the wrongs done against his father by Spiller, through petitions and printing and distribution of books and pamphlets.
Army career
Nothing is known of John Felton's life until the mid-1620s, when he was an army officer. He served in the
Cádiz Expedition of 1625, an attempt to capture the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
city of
Cadiz that was backed by Buckingham. This resulted in a decisive Spanish victory, with 7,000 English troops and 62 out of 105 ships lost. Felton then served as a lieutenant in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in 1626, during which time his commanding officer died and Felton tried, but failed, to be appointed as his replacement.
In May or June 1627 Felton petitioned to be appointed a captain on Buckingham's
military expedition of 1627, part of the
Anglo-French War of 1627 to 1629. The purpose of the expedition was to capture the French fortress of
Saint-Martin-de-Ré
Saint-Martin-de-Ré (, "St Martin of Île de Ré, Ré"; Saintongeais dialect, Saintongeais: ''Sént-Martin-de-Ré'', before 1962: ''Saint-Martin'') is a Communes of France, commune in the western French Departments of France, department of Char ...
on the
Île de Ré
Île de Ré (; variously spelled Rhé or Rhéa; Poitevin dialect, Poitevin: ''ile de Rét''; , ) is an island off the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait.
Its high ...
. This would secure the sea-approaches to the city of
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...
and encourage the French
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
population of the city to rebel against the French crown.
Felton had connections in political circles but despite help from two Members of Parliament,
Sir William Uvedale and
Sir William Beecher, his initial request to join the expedition was turned down. Two months later he was appointed a lieutenant with the second wave of troops that left for the Île de Ré in August 1627.
The expedition was a disaster for the English; the troops were ill-supplied and lacked the large artillery needed for the siege they laid at
Saint-Martin-de-Ré
Saint-Martin-de-Ré (, "St Martin of Île de Ré, Ré"; Saintongeais dialect, Saintongeais: ''Sént-Martin-de-Ré'', before 1962: ''Saint-Martin'') is a Communes of France, commune in the western French Departments of France, department of Char ...
. Many were lost on 27 October, during a final, desperate assault on the fortress of Saint-Martin, which failed because the attackers'
siege ladders were shorter than the walls of the fortress. The English evacuated soon after, losing 5,000 out of 7,000 troops during the campaign.
After returning to England Felton lived in London for nine months. Although his mother, brother and sister lived in the city he did not stay with them but lived in a lodging house.
Those who encountered him during this time later described him as being taciturn and melancholic. His sister recalled that, since his return from Ré, Felton had been "much troubled by dreams of fighting".
This was possibly indicative of what would be described as
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...
in modern terms. During this time Felton submitted petitions to members of the
Privy Council over two matters, £80 of back-pay he believed he was owed and his promotion to captain, which he believed he had been unfairly denied. He had no success in resolving these grievances and came to believe the Duke of Buckingham was responsible for both of them.
Assassination of Buckingham
Buckingham
Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
was hugely unpopular in the land for the national disgrace of defeat by the French, although with the help of the king,
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
, he had avoided legal moves against him by
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
for corruption and incompetence. By August 1628 Felton had come to believe that his personal grievances against Buckingham were part of a larger picture of treacherous and wicked governance of England by the Duke. He resolved to kill Buckingham and after saying goodbye to his family travelled to Portsmouth.
Buckingham was staying there while trying to organise a new military campaign.
[
]
On the morning of Saturday 23 August Buckingham left his lodgings, the
Greyhound Inn in Portsmouth, after having breakfast. Felton was able to make his way through the crowd that surrounded Buckingham and stabbed him in the chest with a dagger. He missed a chance of escape in the ensuing chaos and shortly after the murder he presented himself before the crowd that had gathered and, expecting to be well received, announced his guilt. He was immediately arrested and taken before magistrates, who sent him to London for interrogation.
[
]
Felton's case
The authorities were convinced Felton had not acted alone and were anxious to get from him the names of any accomplices.
The
Privy Council attempted to have Felton questioned under torture on the
rack but the judges resisted, unanimously declaring its use to be contrary to the
laws of England.
While the truth of this story is contested, and indeed widely doubted, it remains the case that the Privy Council never issued a
torture warrant again, and the last warrant under the
Royal Signet was issued in 1640. Indeed in 1641 the
Star Chamber
The court of Star Chamber () was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (), and was composed of privy counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judicial activities of the ...
was abolished by the
Habeas Corpus Act 1640
The Habeas Corpus Act 1640 ( 16 Cha. 1. c. 10) was an act of the Parliament of England.
The act was passed by the Long Parliament shortly after the impeachment and execution of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford in 1641 and before the En ...
.
Aftermath
The unpopularity of the Duke meant Felton's action was met with widespread approval. While he was awaiting trial it was celebrated in poems and pamphlets. Copies of written statements he carried in his hat during the assassination were also widely circulated.
A poem by the Oxford scholar and cleric
Zouch Townley claimed that Felton had saved England and King Charles from the corruption of Buckingham's politicking. The number of surviving copies of this work suggests it was widely circulated. However contemporary reports state Townley fled to Holland after it had become known he was the author.
An anonymous poem, ''Upon the Duke's Death'', begins
The work goes on at length with an argument that Buckingham's assassination was not even a crime but that the Duke himself had been a criminal who had placed himself above the law.
Other works contrasted the Duke, who was claimed to be popish, cowardly, effeminate and corrupt, with Felton, who was described as Protestant, brave, manly and virtuous.
The writer
Owen Feltham described Felton as a second
Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...
.

The son of
Alexander Gill the Elder was sentenced to a fine of £2,000 and the removal of his ears after being overheard drinking to the health of Felton and stating that Buckingham had joined
King James I in hell. However these punishments were remitted after his father and
Archbishop Laud appealed to King Charles I.
After being tried and found guilty Felton was
hanged
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
at
Tyburn
Tyburn was a Manorialism, manor (estate) in London, Middlesex, England, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. Tyburn took its name from the Tyburn Brook, a tributary of the River Westbourne. The name Tyburn, from Teo Bourne ...
on 29 November 1628.
In a miscalculation by authorities, his body was sent back to Portsmouth for exhibition where, rather than becoming a lesson in disgrace, it was made an object of veneration. A gulf was revealed between a public who revered Felton and the authorities that punished him.
There are 18th and 19th century accounts of a dagger, claimed to have been the one used by Felton, being on display at Newnham Paddox in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
.
Newnham Paddox was the
family seat
A family seat, sometimes just called seat, is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families t ...
of the
Earls of Denbigh
Earl of Denbigh (pronounced 'Denby') is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1622 for William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh, William Feilding, Viscount Feilding, a courtier, admiral, and brother-in-law of the powerful George Vill ...
and Buckingham's sister,
Susan
Susan is a feminine given name, the usual English version of Susanna or Susannah. All are versions of the Hebrew name Shoshana, which is derived from the Hebrew ''shoshan'', meaning ''lotus flower'' in Egyptian, original derivation, and severa ...
, had married
William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh. How the dagger (if authentic) came to be at Newham Paddox was explained by it being recovered after the assassination and sent to Buckingham's widow,
Katherine Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham
Katherine Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham, Marchioness of Antrim, 18th Baroness de Ros of Helmsley (''née'' Lady Katherine Manners; died 1649) was an English aristocrat. The daughter and heiress of Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, she wa ...
, who was also living there.
In fiction
''The Three Musketeers''
Felton's assassination of the Duke was fictionalised in
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright.
His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
's ''
The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...
'' (1844) and features in several film adaptations of the novel.
In Dumas' novel, Felton is portrayed as a Puritan who serves the fictional Lord de Winter. Felton is entrusted by de Winter to guard
Milady de Winter, the widow of de Winter's brother and a French spy. Milady's master,
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...
, has ordered her to deter Buckingham from helping La Rochelle or else he will reveal his affair with the French Queen and if he still pursue his goals to have Buckingham murdered so that he will not aid the
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
cause in the city of La Rochelle. As she and Felton question each other she puts on a façade of sorrow and broken innocence, even pretending to be a Puritan like Felton and inventing a story of being drugged and raped by Buckingham. Milady manages to seduce Felton in a matter of days and they escape together. Felton is sent to stab Buckingham, which he then justifies on the grounds of his lack of promotion in order to protect Milady. However Felton realises that he has been deceived when Milady sails away without him, and he is left to be hanged for his crime.
In the 1961 French film
''Les Trois Mousquetaires'', Felton was played by
Sacha Pitoëff
Sacha Pitoëff (born Alexandre Pitoëff; 11 March 1920 – 21 July 1990) was a Swiss-born French actor and stage director.
Early life and education
Pitoëff was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 March 1920, the son of Russian-born parents ...
; in the
1969 film of the ''Three Musketeers'' Felton is played by
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Christopher Walken on stage and screen, His work on stage and screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Christopher Walken, accolades includin ...
.
In the 1973 film ''
The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...
'' and its 1974 sequel ''
The Four Musketeers'', Felton is played by
Michael Gothard. Felton appears briefly in the first film as a Puritan servant of Buckingham (Lord de Winter does not appear in the films). The second film portrays his gradual seduction by Milady at some length and then his assassination of Buckingham, carried out under her influence.
Other works
Felton is the central character in a play by the dramatist Edward Stirling. Called ''John Felton; or the Man of the People'', it was first performed at the
Royal Surrey Theatre in 1852.
The Duke's assassination features in
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory (born 9 January 1954) is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987. The best known of her works is ''The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2001), which in 2002 won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Roman ...
's novel ''Earthly Joys'' (1998). In
Ronald Blythe
Ronald George Blythe (6 November 1922 – 14 January 2023) was a British writer, essayist and editor, best known for his work ''Akenfield'' (1969), an account of agricultural life in Suffolk from the Fin de siècle, turn of the century to the ...
's novel ''The Assassin'' (2004) Felton is depicted as a complex character whose motives for the assassination are altruistic.
The 2024 television miniseries ''
Mary and George'' depicts the Duke's assassination at the climax of the final episode; Felton is portrayed by
Robert Lonsdale.
See also
*
List of assassinations
This is a list of successful assassinations, sorted by location. For failed assassination attempts, see List of people who survived assassination attempts.
For the purposes of this article, an assassination is defined as the deliberate, premedit ...
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*—— "Libel in Action: Ritual, Subversion and the English Literary Underground, 1603–1642" in Tim Harris, ''The Politics of the Excluded, c. 1500–1800'' (2001), contains a section about public responses to the assassination.
*
External links
*
D'Israeli, Isaac.br>
"Felton, the Political Assassin" ''Curiosities of Literature''
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felton, John
1590s births
1628 deaths
English army officers
English assassins
Executed English people
People executed by Stuart England
17th-century English military personnel
People executed by the Kingdom of England by hanging
Executed assassins
17th-century English criminals
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
Felton family