Thomas Horton (soldier)

Thomas Horton (1603 – October 1649) was an English soldier in the parliamentary army during the English Civil War.

Thomas Horton was born in Gumley, Leicestershire, the son of William Horton and Isabell Freeman.^[1] Though of humble background, Horton was taken under the wing of the powerful Sir Arthur Haselrig, and had become a captain-lieutenant by 1643. Becoming a major in the New Model Army, Horton led troops which played a decisive part in several important engagements, most notably the Battle of Naseby in 1645 and Battle of St Fagans in 1648.

As a reward for the valiant service he rendered to the cause, Horton was granted the confiscated lands of a deposed royalist.

Horton was a commissioner of the High Court of Justice in 1649, and thus was among those who signed the warrant for the execution of King Charles I of England. Later that year, he died of natural causes while serving with Cromwell in Ireland.

His heirs were deprived of their estate at the Restoration in the 1660s.

References

1. Barry Denton, ‘Horton, Thomas (bap. 1603, d. 1649)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2008, accessed 1 Feb 2009