Sir Robert Tichborne (c. 1604 – c. 1682) was an English merchant, politician, author and military officer who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1656.

On the outbreak of the English Civil War Tichborne took up arms for Parliament, and was in 1643 a captain in the Yellow Regiment of the London trained bands.

[5] In February of that year he was one of a deputation from the city who presented a petition to the House of Commons against the proposed treaty with the king.

[6] According to a contemporary critic, he did not distinguish himself as a soldier, and was indeed "fitter for a warm bed than to command a regiment";[4] but he was a colonel in 1647, and was appointed by Fairfax in August of that year lieutenant of the Tower.

[7] Tichborne's political views were advanced, as his speeches in the council of the army in 1647 prove; and in religion his printed works show that he was an extreme independent.

[8] On 15 January 1649 Tichborne presented to the House of Commons a petition from London in favour of the execution of the king and the establishment of a republic.

[10] On 23 October 1651 parliament selected Tichborne as one of the eight commissioners to settle the government of Scotland and prepare the way for its union with England.

He is recorded as 'Alderman Tichburne' in attendance at the Whitehall Conference in 1655, representing the interests of merchants in discussing the readmission of Jews into England.

On 20 April 1660 a warrant was issued for the arrest of Tichborne and Alderman John Ireton, who were regarded as the two pillars of the Good Old Cause in the City of London.

[18] At the Restoration Tichborne surrendered in obedience to the king's proclamation (16 June), though he showed considerable vacillation, withdrawing himself from the custody of the sergeant-at-arms, and then giving himself up once more,[19] and Royalist pamphlets exulted over his imprisonment.

[20] Tichborne was tried at the sessions house in the Old Bailey on 10 October 1660, and pleaded not guilty, but admitted the fact for which he was indicted, only asserting his ignorance and repentance.

[21] He was found guilty of high treason, the considerable property he had acquired during the civil war and the confiscation of the crown lands that he had purchased were sequestrated,[22] and he was sentenced to death.

[25] In July 1662 Tichborne was removed to Holy Island, where he fell very ill, and was on his wife's petition transferred to Dover Castle.