Gregory Brandon had become executioner in 1611, and was then living with his family on Rosemary Lane, Whitechapel (now known as Royal Mint Street).

[4] Though little can be ascertained of Brandon's early years, rumours abounded of his gruesome upbringing as the son of London's executioner.

[5] Brandon's father, Gregory, found himself on the wrong side of the law in January 1611, when he was convicted of the manslaughter of one Simon Morton, though he was not punished thanks to a pleading of the benefit of clergy.

[7][8][9] In his father's later years as an executioner, Brandon worked alongside him and succeeded him around 1639, ostensibly obtaining the position through inheritance.

[11] As the common hangman of London, Brandon was responsible for several notable executions through the English Civil War, including Charles' advisor Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, on 12 May 1641 and Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud on 10 January 1645.

The execution of Charles I occurred on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall; the executioner and his assistant were hidden behind false wigs and beards, with crude masks covering their faces.

[17] Despite this, a contemporary letter reports that he refused £200 to kill the king,[18] and he continually denied having committed the act, even until his death in June 1649.

[12][19] Richard Brandon died on Wednesday 20 June 1649, and was buried the following day in the parish church of Whitechapel, St Mary Matfelon.

[21] Three pamphlets of 1649, published shortly after Brandon's death, claimed to reveal him as the executioner of Charles I, though their authenticity is disputable.

[23] Among academic historians of the event, Philip Sidney and Basil Morgan both consider that Brandon was most likely the executioner of Charles I. Morgan claims that the "weighted probability suggests that Richard Brandon was indeed the King's executioner",[25] considering the other attributions to be products of later "Royalist rumour-mongers";[26] similarly, Sidney, when weighing up the supporting and dissenting evidence considers "the mass of evidence in support of Brandon's identity with the headsman remains undeniably strong and suggestive", especially in comparison the mere rumours surrounding other suspects, such as William Hewlett and George Joyce.