18th October 1688

Thomas Waite is buried at St Saviour

Thomas Waite, Member of Parliament for Rutland, was one of the 59 men who sat as judges at the trial of King Charles I, which convicted the king and sentenced him to death. Waite’s signature was on the death warrant.

There was some doubt over whether he had done this willingly but, whatever the truth might be, he was unwilling to enter a plea when, 11 years after the king’s execution, notable authority figures who had committed crimes during the English civil war were themselves brought to trial. Thus, he escaped suffering a similar fate, but was nonetheless sent to Jersey and jailed at Mont Orgueil, where he remained until his death.