Rowland Laugharne
Major General Rowland Laugharne (c. 1607–1675) was a Welsh soldier in the English Civil War.
His family came from St. Brides House, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Major-General Laugharne, Parliament's commander in south Wales during the First Civil War, sided with the insurgents and took command of the rebel army. In 1648 he was wounded in battle.
After surrendering to Oliver Cromwell's army Laugharne was sent to London. In April 1649 he was court-martialled and condemned to be executed by firing squad along with two other rebels. It was ruled that the sentence would be carried out on only one of them, to be decided by drawing lots, and Colonel John Poyer was executed at Covent Garden on 24 April.
His nephew Captain John Langhorne (1640–1687) the founder of one of Virginia's best-known families went to Warwick County in Virginia and had a number of influential descendants, including Lady Astor.
Laugharne spent most of the 1650s in prison. After the Restoration he was elected MP for Pembroke in the Cavalier Parliament (1661–1679). He died in London.
His portrait is to be found in the National Portrait Gallery of England.[1] This image, entitled "Major General Rowland Laugharne", is almost identical to a portrait entitled "Colonel Langhorne" that is owned by descendants of the Reverend John Langhorne, Langhorne being an anglicised version of Laugharne.
References
- Biography of Rowland Laugharne British Civil Wars website
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Firth, Charles Harding (1892). "Laugharne, Rowland". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.