Anthony Stapley

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Anthony Stapley (1590 - 1655), was one of the regicides of King Charles I of England.

Born at Framfield, Sussex, Stapley attended Christ's College, Cambridge, and Gray's Inn. He was elected MP for New Shoreham in the Parliaments of 1624 and 1625, and for Lewes in the Parliament of 1628. During the 1630s, Stapley emerged as one of the leading Puritans in Sussex. He was active in resisting Archbishop Laud's reforms of the Church and opposed the Bishops' Wars against the Scottish Covenanters. In 1640, he was elected to both the Short and Long Parliaments as MP for Sussex.

On the outbreak of the First Civil War, Stapley was commissioned a colonel in the parliamentary army. He was prominent on the county committee for Sussex, and was governor of Chichester from 1643 until 1645, when he resigned his commissions under the Self-Denying Ordinance. He remained a radical supporter of the Independents in Parliament and was appointed one of the King's judges in 1649. He attended all sessions of the King's trial and signed the death warrant. Stapley was a member of the Council of State from 1649-52 and continued to support Oliver Cromwell after the dissolution of the Rump. Stapley was appointed to the Nominated Assembly in 1653, one of only four regicides to be so honoured (Cromwell, Harrison, Carew). He was elected to the First Protectorate Parliament in 1654. He died in January 1655.

Stapley's son John (1628-1701) was involved in a Royalist conspiracy against the Protectorate in 1657, as a result of which he was knighted at the Restoration and created Baronet Stapley of Patcham.

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This article incorporates text under a Creative Commons License by David Plant, the British Civil Wars and Commonwealth website http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/stapley.htm