Person:Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet (1)

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Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet (22 June 1593 – 26 October 1671) was a British landowner from Derbyshire who acted as local Parliamentarian commander for most of the First English Civil War before resigning in May 1646. He was notorious for parading the body of his Royalist opponent through Derby after the Battle of Hopton Heath in March 1643.

Reputedly the richest man in Derbyshire, Gell was known for conducting a series of feuds with his neighbours and business partners. Although he proved an effective and energetic general, his bullying of the local county committee and the plundering conducted by his unpaid troops provoked numerous complaints to Parliament. According to Puritan diarist Lucy Hutchinson, he "had not understanding to judge the equity of the cause, nor piety, nor holiness", while his men were "the most licentious, ungovernable wretches that belonged to the Parliament".

Gell resigned his commission just before the war ended in 1646 and was removed from all his positions in February 1649. Implicated in a Royalist plot in 1650, he was sentenced to life imprisonment but released due to ill health three years later. Pardoned after the Stuart Restoration in 1660, he lived quietly in London where he died in October 1671.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.