Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford 1593-1641
1593 Born in London on April 13th, 1593.
Educated at St John's College, Cambridge and at the Inner Temple.
1611 Knighted by King James I
1614 Represented Yorkshire in Parliament.
1624 Represented Pontefract in Parliament.
He was a an outspoken critic of Buckingham and the war with Spain.
1626 He was critical of the royal court and was prevented from sitting in parliament because Charles appointed him sheriff of Yorkshire.
1627 He refused to pay the forced loan and spent some time in prison.
1628 He tried for a more moderate form of the Petition of Right than Coke and Eliot proposed, but failed and became unhappy about the antics of the Commons and their attacks on the King. Charles tried to win him over by offering him a barony and he was appointed President of the Council of the North... He became a firm royal supporter.
1629 Wentworth was given a seat on the Privy Council.
1633 The King appointed him Lord Deputy of Ireland. His firm-handed administration of Ireland aimed to bring it in line with the English system and to make Ireland pay its way by becoming more prosperous. He wanted a Protestant Ireland to be a source of revenue for the English crown.

.. it was his tolerance of Catholicism which caused the Protestants to be uneasy...(but it was the Catholics who acted first in the Ulster Rebellion of 1641)
1639 Recalled to England to help Charles handle the revolt of the Scottish. His policy of war proved a disaster and he failed to prevent the Scots from running through the northern counties.
1640 He became Earl of Strafford, and sought funds from the Irish Parliament to raise Irish troops to fight the Scots. He failed to get a promise of funds for the King from the Short Parliament.

He arrived in Westminster on November 10th intending to impeach the King's opponents in Parliament for treasonable contact with the Scots...but he had enemies in Scotland, in Ireland and in the English parliament. He was impeached for 'endeavouring to subvert the fundamental laws and government'.
1641 There did not seem to be a law which would put Strafford to death, so Parliament, led by Pym, brought a Bill of Attainder against him...this was passed on May 8th, slipped in alongside a bill which said that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own consent.
Under pressure by the mobs and Parliament, Charles gave his agreement and on May 12th, Strafford went with great dignity to the block at Tower Hill and was beheaded. I thank God I am no more afraid of death, nor daunted with any discouragements rising from any fears, but do as cheerfully put off my doublet at this time, as ever I did when I went to bed.