John Phelps (regicide)

In 1648-49, John Phelps was called by England's Rump Parliament to serve as Clerk of High Court at the trial of King Charles I.

"In Clarendon's correspondence with the Lord President, 1685-6, Wealsman, "John Phelps of Vevey, ill reputation and sheriff thereof."

At a later period Henry Scobell, clerk of Parliament, was required to deliver to John Phelps all papers and books returned from Scotland touching delinquents and sequestrations."

He had purchased the manor and royalty of Hampton Court on the banks of the River Thames, part of the inheritance of the Crown, with which those who were then in power arrogated to themselves the right to deal.

The matter was worked out in due form and, by a committee, negotiations were opened with Phelps, the upshot being that an agreement for repurchase at £750 was concluded and the attorney-general was to direct the preparation of such assurances as would settle the property to "His Highness' " use, that is, to the use of Oliver, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England.

It appears incidentally that John Phelps was well up in shorthand, which must have helped him more than a little, for he took in that way all the evidence adduced on the trial of three persons for endeavoring to raise forces against the Protector.

Ample evidence has thus been adduced that Phelps was very useful to his party, and was not only willing but able to serve it in important capacities, whilst his continued employment show that, so far, his services were understood.

This on the one side, and on the other not a word has been found which suggests that he was unduly recompensed, so that he is not to be numbered amongst the many whom, at the public cost, the Cromwellites rewarded with a lavish and unsparing hand, far beyond anything that was legitimate.

A free pardon was granted to everyone who had supported the Commonwealth and Protectorate, except for those who had directly participated in the trial and execution of King Charles I eleven years previously.

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That William Lord Mounson Sir Henry Mildmay Sir James Harrington Robert Wallop Esquire and John Phelps and every of them shall be and are hereby degraded from and made uncapable of all and every the Titles of Honour Dignities and Preheminencies which they or any of them now have or which at any time hereafter may descend unto them And that neither they or any of them shall att any time hereafter have beare or use the Name Stile Addition or Title of Lord Baronett Knight Esquire or Gentleman or any of them nor shall use or have any Coates or Escutcheons of Armes whatsoever nor any other legall Title or addition whatsoever but shall be for ever reputed and are hereby declared to bee Persons of Dishonour and Infamy.

William Mounson; Henry Mildmay, James Harrington, Robert Wallop, and John Phelps, to be drawn to Tyburn, as Persons executed for Treason, and back, and then imprisoned.

And further that they the said William Mounson Henry Mildmay James Harrington Robert Wallop and John Phelps and every of them shall upon the seaven and twentieth day of January which shall be in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty one or so soon after as they shall be apprehended carried to the Tower of London and from thence drawne upon Sledges with Ropes about theire necks and according to the manner of persons executed for High Treason quite through the streets of London unto the Gallows att Tiburn and from thence in like manner be brought back again to the Tower of London and or in such other Prison as his Majesty shall thinke fitt continue Prisoners and suffer paines of Imprisonment for and during the term of theire naturall lives.

[5]Phelps evaded pursuit and was at Lausanne, Switzerland in the company of Edmund Ludlow, one of the regicides, and fellow clerk Andrew Broughton.

Phelps died after 1666 and was buried in St Martin's Cathedral, alongside Edmund Ludlow, one of the judges who condemned Charles I, and his fellow clerk Andrew Broughton.

A plate depicting the Trial of Charles I on 4 January 1649, from "Nalson's Record of the Trial of Charles I, 1688" in the British Museum.
In St Martin's Church, Vevey, Switzerland, "may be seen this black marble monument, erected in 1882, though the liberality of the late Hon. William Walter Phelps, of Teaneck, New Jersey, and the Hon. Charles A. Phelps, M.D. of Massachusetts." William Walter Phelps was later the United States Ambassador to Prague, Czechoslovakia.