#john felton

[gargoyle-greeb]

She felton my John till I duke

[brokenbluebouquet]

Death of John Lambe 1620s woodcut

John Lambe (c1545-1628) an octogenarian quack doctor and wizard in George’s employ was beaten to death by a crowd of Londoners on 13 June 1628.

George first came to Lambe regarding his brother John Villiers mental health issues which was probably bipolar bouts of mania, although schizophrenia has also been suggested. Unsurprisingly given the state of medical knowledge at the time, there was little that could be done for John and George himself was inclined to blame his brother’s manic/psychotic episodes on witchcraft.

It was widely believed that Lambe had raped an underage girl and George helped him get off, and that Lambe was also supplying George with potions to keep Charles under his control; as well as love potions for his sexual conquests and poisons to deal with his enemies. Lambe was also said to be a skilled conjurer responsible for a violent storm in 1626 that allegedly unearthed buried corpses, among other things.

Most of this was nonsense - Lambe was most likely simply a very good confidence trickster with some skills as a herbalist. Even in the period there were skeptics regarding his supposed powers. The rape allegation was also doubted by some due to inconsistencies in the story.

Nonetheless, to the 17th C mind, this all made perfect sense, and there was a neat little ditty that summed all this up:

Who rules the Kingdom? The King.Who rules the King? The Duke. Who rules the Duke? The Devil!

And my personal favourite:

Let Charles and George do what they can, The duke will die like Doctor Lambe!

Lambe’s lynching, and Charles failure to properly punish those responsible, did a lot to encourage John Felton to “take action.”

[brokenbluebouquet]

John Felton engraving 1630s national portrait gallery London.

It should really not be a surprise that we don’t know much about John Felton. We are often in the dark regarding those not inside the charmed circles of power and wealth. Most of what we know comes from Felton’s own confession after he was arrested.

John Felton is believed to have been born around 1595 in Suffolk, the son of a pursuviant (catholic hunter). He may have been a distant relation of the Howard Earl of Arundel, and his maternal grandfather was mayor of Durham. His father lost his position and the family ended up in debt with Thomas Felton dying in debtors prison. His mother was able to secure a royal pension of 100 pounds a year. (I don’t know what that is in modern money - sorry).

Nothing is known of Felton until the mid 1620s when his name comes up in the records of the failed 1625 attack on Cadiz (another Elizabethan throwback - regular readers may notice a pattern). In 1626 Felton began serving in Ireland as a lieutenant, it was here he was turned down for promotion to captain after his CO died.

Felton blamed George for this but given the sheer volume of admin work George was snowed under at this point in his life, he would not known Felton from a proverbial bar of soap.

During the siege of St Martin and Ile de Re, Felton tried again this time enlisting the support of 2 MPs. Again no promotion. Felton was one of the thousands left humiliated and scared physically and emotionally by the failed campaign - and he blamed George.

Upon his return, Felton was according to reports, troubled by dreams and flashbacks to the fighting and an injured arm that limited his employment prospects. His finances were also poor and repeated attempts petitioned the privy council for his backpay and his promotion. Neither were awarded or even given much acknowledgement by the council. All he could in the meantime was think and read. He did a lot of both.

On 23 August 1628, John Felton, after having said his goodbyes to his loved ones, explanation for his actions sewn into his hat, and armed with a cheap knife, made his way to Portsmouth.

It was a Saturday morning and George had just finished breakfast at the Spotted Dog Inn Portsmouth, that he was using as his base of operations before setting sail in a few weeks time. In a last ditch attempt to salvage his reputation and silence his enemies one and for all, George was taking another crack at relieving the siege at Re.

George was coming down the stairs to meet the crowd of petitioners waiting for him. Hated as he was at this time, he was still the best means to get heard by the King. Felton was waiting in this crowd.

The rest, as they say, is history.

He tried to escape in the ensuing chaos but was caught. Charles wanted him put to the rack to see if there was anyone else involved. The judges said no, and besides, Felton had his manifesto sewn into his hat, remember?

Felton was, in my opinion, a disturbingly contemporary figure, the shell shocked vet turned stochastic terrorist; as it was the gossip and propaganda surrounding George that persuaded him to do this - he may have read Eglisham’s book. Despite the negative implications of murdering a crown servant in broad daylight, Felton was for many a hero.

Felton was hung at Tyburn on the 29 November 1628. His remains were displayed in chains at Portsmouth. It was intended as a warning but instead it became a shrine.

[gargoyle-greeb]

W.B Obbly’s Obelisk Observer Society ( @lyndwyrm0 )

Sorry but this murder is the most unserious thing ever. Not only did he have it cosmically coming to him, but he was attacked the day before, and then still went down a dark passage. Asking to be killed, fag audacity.

[gargoyle-greeb]

W.B Obbly's Obelisk Observer Society (@lyndwyrm0)

John Felton Death and Life Post 💔🗡️

John Felton, who had very kindly decided to strike a swanky pose with the knife before killing Mr Villiers. (Richard Sawyer, 15 May 1830, nearly 200 years after Felton died, so for a corpse, he's looking pretty good here) ^

Felton is a mystery man, possibly born in Suffolk in possibly 1595, but since he didn't slide out the womb with FUTURE ASSASSIN branded across his forehead, no one cares much enough to keep track.

His life continued in obscurity until the 1620s where he is on record for the Cadiz Expedition of 1625, which was backed by Villiers and went about as well as a military operation would go if you were blind folded and had your hands tied together. Plenty died from starvation and disease and the reputation of Villiers was on the decline. Which is fair enough when you consider this killed around 7000 men and lost a handful (62) shops. (Which is more ships lost than Odysseus and you do NOT want to be like Odysseus). I fucking hate Odysseus.

Felton had some in-between gigs but nothing too major until the anglo-french war in which he was rejected to join Villiers fleet. But two months later in August 1627, Villiers said something along the lines of 'yeah go for it' and Felton was off the bench and on the team, now serving as Lieutenant.

BANG CRASH DWOLLOP

it was a fucking nightmare. Not for Felton or Villiers those guys were actually fine but everyone else, not so much. At Saint Martin-De-Re in October the same year, their siege failed (due to poor, planning, poor weapons, terrible ladders, and an all around poor time) and 5000 troops were lost despite retreating. Despite surviving, Felton did not have it easy, his family describes him as a man plagued with nightmares, to quote his sister he was 'much troubled by dreams of fighting'. Which is how I describe myself when someone bids higher than me on eBay and steals the item i desire >:-(

Felton, living in delusion, requested 80 squid and the job role as captain. Having no experience (and no boyfriend who is also the king) he did not get either. This sent him into a rage and on Saturday 23 August 1628, the VILLAIN struck and stabbed Villiers in the chest, killing him.

Genuinely awful picture ^

Now you don't just kill the ex king's (died in 1625) bosom friend and live to tell about it (that's the job of angst poets and teenagers in obelisk observation societies). Though many believed that Felton's actions saved the kingdom and secured Charles Is reign (at least for a bit). But at Tyburn on 29 November 1628, Felton was hung (hanged????) And course, it's quite a bit hard to bounce back from something like that.

He was then moved to Portsmouth (wooo!) And strung in a Gibbet for all to gaze at.

I actually cannot put into words, there are no phrases no single way to explain how much I would do to see this gibbet, the see the Lisk, it's truly unreal. No eBay bidder can out bid my desire on this one.

These two men (erm ignore the malicious ghost) recreated the murder on the 5th September. It was so cool, my heart was racing. I was zazzed, not even over the moon, I was doing laps of it. Unreal. ^

Below is a report from the 1880s

"A relic has been exposed by workmen engaged in erecting the new refreshments and retiring rooms upon Southsea Pier. It is none other than a portion of the veritable gibbet on which the body of the murderer of the Duke of Buckingham was suspended in chains upon Southsea Beach. The murder occurred in 1628. The criminal was hanged at Tyburn, but it was customary to return remains to the scene of the crime. The gibbet bears the Borough arms and a date - but the latter is the day on which it was decided that the gibbet (which was then a well-known landmark) should act as one of the borough boundaries. It is also studded with leaden bullets, from which it would appear that soldiers had been in the habit of discharging their muskets at it. The relic is now lying full length on the pier, but it will be as soon as possible once more erected upon its old site by Mr. Adams, the Borough Engineer. (Later it was replaced by an obelisk)"

The Obelisk, and perhaps the heart of Felton, marked the site from 1782 onwards.

I suppose it must not be all that nice to have your life summarized into just some assassin, and one barely anyone remembers. Felton would only have been in his early thirties when he was killed. :-(

[stephanbroadus]

#CopsGoneWild: Black man pulled over by Ohio cop for making “direct eye contact”

#CopsGoneWild: Black man pulled over by Ohio cop for making “direct eye contact”

http://player.theplatform.com/p/BCY3OC/Ha5BggifMuHL/select/media/8xe_wxmLkQP9?form=html

John Felton, an African-American man from Detroit, was pulled over by an Ohio police officer for making “direct eye contact” with him, a jaw-dropping new video reveals.

In recent months, we’ve seen trivial encounters with law enforcement officers end terribly wrong (see Sandra Bland) but fortunately in…

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[libamericaorg]

Ohio Police Officer Admits On Camera To Following Black Motorist For Making 'Direct Eye Contact'

Ohio Police Officer Admits On Camera To Following Black Motorist For Making ‘Direct Eye Contact’

In a day and age where being a black motorist is enough to get you pulled over, it’s getting even more bizarre for the reasons behind these stops. While being a police officer is a noble and dangerous profession, can we please stop pretending that “every” police officer is infallible.

(Image courtesy of YouTube screen capture)

Motorist John Felton knows all too well that this is not true. It…

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[tiffanywillis]

Ohio Police Officer Admits On Camera To Following Black Motorist For Making 'Direct Eye Contact'

Ohio Police Officer Admits On Camera To Following Black Motorist For Making ‘Direct Eye Contact’

In a day and age where being a black motorist is enough to get you pulled over, it’s getting even more bizarre for the reasons behind these stops. While being a police officer is a noble and dangerous profession, can we please stop pretending that “every” police officer is infallible.

(Image courtesy of YouTube screen capture)

Motorist John Felton knows all too well that this is not true. It…

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