Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland (1591 – 25 March 1667), was an English landowner and Royalist general during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, described by one historian as a "much under-rated field commander".

At some point in the next few years, he became part of the patronage network associated with George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, whose personal relationship with both James I and his son Charles I made him extremely powerful.

Wounded at First Newbury in September 1643, he was later given command of a cavalry brigade in the Oxford field army and at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge in June 1644, led a charge that routed the Parliamentarian horse and captured their artillery.

[4] He subsequently took part in the West Country campaign that culminated in a significant Royalist victory at Lostwithiel in September; the Parliamentarian infantry were forced to surrender but most of their cavalry escaped, despite a vigorous pursuit by Wentworth.

Although suspected of involvement in the 1659 Booth's Uprising, he lived quietly until the 1660 Stuart Restoration, when he regained his positions as Custos Rotulorum and Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire and was made Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners.