The Man Who Killed the Duke of Buckingham

On this day 392 years ago, John Felton died. A man who might otherwise have not gone down in history at all, those that do not recognise his name will most likely be familiar with George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. Felton’s connection to Villiers is rather morbid: he was the man who killed him.

Prior to assassinating the Duke, Felton was a lieutenant in the English Army who fought in Spain and France under his command. The expedition he participated in at Saint-Martin-de-Ré failed spectacularly, costing some 5,000 English lives to a French loss of around…