Gilbert Millington, c.1598-1666

Nottinghamshire barrister and MP sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the King's trial and execution.

The eldest son of Anthony Millington, a gentleman of Felley Abbey, Nottinghamshire, Millington attended Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and became a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in 1621. After his marriage in 1618 he inherited the estate at Felley Abbey in 1620. Millington served as a Justice of the Peace from 1631, was appointed deputy-lieutenant of Nottinghamshire in 1638 and was elected MP for Nottinghamshire in 1640. During the First Civil War, Millington was prominent in the administration of Nottinghamshire. He became involved in the dispute between Colonel Hutchinson and the county committee, and was harshly depicted in Lucy Hutchinson's famous account of Hutchinson's life as a result.

Millington was one of the few barristers willing to serve on the High Court of Justice which tried and condemned King Charles I in January 1649. He remained active on parliamentary committees and in local government throughout the 1650s.

At the Restoration, Millington made no attempt to deny his part in the regicide. He was brought to trial in October 1660 and sentenced to death. On appeal to the King, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on Jersey, where he died in 1666.

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