Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland

Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of Cleveland (1591–1667), a Cavalier general who fought for Charles I during the English Civil War.

Related Topics:
1591 - 1667 - Cavalier - Charles I - English Civil War

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He was the eldest son of Henry Wentworth, 3rd Baron Wentworth of Nettlestead, whom he succeeded in 1593. In 1614 he inherited from an aunt the estate of Toddington in Bedfordshire, untill then the property of the Cheyney family, and here he made his principal residence. In 1626 he was created Earl of Cleveland, and in the following year he served under Duke of Buckingham in the expedition to La Rochelle. Adhering to the cause of King Charles I in the Kings dispute with Parliament, he attended his kinsman Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford at his execution, and afterwards was a general on the royalist side in the Civil War until he was taken prisoner at the Second Battle of Newbury in 1644. Cleveland commanded a cavalry regiment at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, when he was again taken prisoner, and he remained in the Tower of London untill 1656.

Related Topics:
Henry Wentworth, 3rd Baron Wentworth - Toddington - Bedfordshire - Earl of Cleveland - Duke of Buckingham - La Rochelle - Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford - Second Battle of Newbury - 1644 - Battle of Worcester - 1651 - Tower of London - 1656

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His early extravagance and the fortunes of war had greatly reduced his estates, and Nettlestead was sold in 1643. Cleveland was described by Clarendon as "a man of signal courage and an excellent officer"; his cavalry charge at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge where he routed John Middleton's Parliamentary horse and then with Lord Henry Wilmot'shorse lead another charged that captured the Parliamentary artillery, was one of the most brilliant incidents in the Civil War, and it was by his bravery and presence of mind that King Charles II was enabled to escape from Worcester.

Related Topics:
1643 - Clarendon - Battle of Cropredy Bridge - John Middleton's - Henry Wilmot's - Charles II

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At his death on March 25 1667 the Earldom of Cleveland became extinct. He outlived his son Thomas (1613-1645), who was called up to the House of Lords in his father's lifetime as Baron Wentworth, and whose daughter Henrietta Maria became Baroness Wentworth in her own right on her grandfather's death.

Related Topics:
March 25 - 1667

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