Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth was the eldest surviving son of Sir William Wentworth, a Yorkshire landowner. By his marriage to Lady Margaret Clifford, daughter of the earl of Cumberland, Wentworth established a link with an ancient and noble family still influential in the north. His wife died childless (1622), and he married Arabella Holles, daughter of John, earl of Clare.

Through his father-in-law Wentworth came in touch with critics of Charles I (r. 1625-1649), but from 1628 he was one of the greatest supporters of Charles I. He was appointed lord president of the north (virtually governor of England north of the Humber) and in 1629 was given a seat on the Privy Council. Wentworth’s real wealth came when he went to Ireland as Lord Deputy in 1633.

When the Scots rebelled in 1638-9, Charles summoned Stafford, who commanded what troops could be mustered and lost the war in the North. In 1640 his enemies attempted impeachment of Stafford on charges of high treason. Impeachment failed but a bill of attainder, proposed by the many enemies he had made in Ireland and elsewhere succeeded. A crowd of up to 200,000 gathered to watch Wentworth’s execution. At this point he was worth £250,000, about 0.71% of net national income at the time. In 2010 he would be worth £7.8bn.