- Rowland Laugharne
Major General Rowland Laugharne (c. 1607 – 1675 in
London ) was a soldier in theEnglish Civil War .His family came from St. Brides House,
Pembrokeshire ,Wales .Major-General Laugharne, Parliament's commander in south Wales during the
First Civil War , sided with the insurgents and took command of the rebel army. In 1648 he was wounded in battle.After surrendering to
Oliver Cromwell 's army Laugharne was sent to London. In April 1649 he was court-martialled and condemned to be executed by firing squad along with two other rebels. It was ruled that the sentence would be carried out on only one of them, to be decided by drawing lots, and ColonelJohn Poyer was executed atCovent Garden of 24 April.His nephew Captain
John Langhorne (1640-1687) the founder of one of Virginia's best-known families went to Warwick CountyVirginia and had a number of influential descendants, includingLady Astor .Laugharne spent most of the 1650s in prison. After the Restoration he was elected MP for Pembroke in the
Cavalier Parliament (1661-79)His portrait is to be found in the National Portrait Gallery of
England [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp55702&rNo=0&role=sit] . This image is entitled "Major General Rowland Laugharne". An almost identical portrait entitled "Colonel Langhorne" is in the ownership of the descendants of Reverend John Langhorne.Langhorne is the anglicised version of Laugharne.References
* [http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/laugharne.htm Biography of Rowland Laugharne] British Civil Wars website
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