Thomas Myddelton

Sir Thomas Myddelton (1586–1666) of Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, was an English-born Welsh landowner, politician, and military officer. He became a Member of Parliament in 1624; during the First English Civil War he was a prominent Parliamentarian general, despite having no previous military experience. A member of the moderate Parliamentary opposition to the Stuart monarchy, following the execution of Charles I Myddelton gradually drew closer to the Royalists. In 1659 he took part in Booth's Uprising, an unsuccessful attempt to restore Charles II to the throne, but escaped punishment; following the Restoration he remained an active figure in local politics until his death. Origins and family Myddelton was a member of a minor gentry family from Gwaenynog, Denbighshire, who claimed descent from a 12th-century Welsh noble, Rhirid Flaidd. His father, Sir Thomas Myddelton, was a younger son who built up a substantial fortune after being apprenticed to a London grocer, and was an early investor in the East India Company; he later became Lord Mayor of London and purchased the lordship and estate of Chirk Castle. Myddelton's mother Hester Saltonstall was the daughter of another Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Saltonstall.