Sir Charles Lucas, 1613 to 28 August 1648, was a professional soldier from Essex, who served as a Royalist cavalry leader during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Taken prisoner at the end of the First English Civil War in March 1646, he was released after swearing not to fight against Parliament again, an oath he broke when the Second English Civil War began in 1648. As a result, he was executed following his capture at the Siege of Colchester in August 1648, and became a Royalist martyr after the 1660 Stuart Restoration.
Sir Charles Lucas
Lucas and Lisle monument, Colchester Castle
The Second English Civil War took place between February and August 1648 in England and Wales. It forms part of the series of conflicts known collectively as the 1639–1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which include the 1641–1653 Irish Confederate Wars, the 1639–1640 Bishops' Wars, and the 1649–1653 Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
Charles I at his trial; defeat led to his execution in January 1649
Denzil Holles, a leader of the Presbyterian faction in Parliament
Carisbrooke Castle, on the Isle of Wight, where Charles was held in December 1648
Pontefract Castle in 1648, with civil war fortifications surrounding the old medieval ones.