Colonel Francis Hacker
Perhaps the most famous – or infamous – resident of Stathern has been the regicide, Francis Hacker.
Hacker, born approx.1618, lived at Stathern Hall, long since demolished, with his wife Isobel and family. He was a churchwarden of St Guthlac’s Church and a local magistrate. He rose to prominence in Cromwell’s Parliamentarian Army, eventually becoming a Colonel.
After the capture and trial of King Charles I, 59 Commissioners (i.e. acting as judges) signed and sealed the death warrant of Charles. Hacker was one of three of Cromwell’s soldiers instructed in the document to execute the King.
He is particularly remembered for overseeing the custody of the King at his trial, and supervising the execution of the King in 1649, having signed the order for the executioner at Cromwell’s insistence. The picture attached is a contemporary oil painting of Hacker. It was in a private collection but has been presented to the National Civil War Museum at Newark for permanent display.
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When Charles II was installed as the monarch in 1660, Hacker was arrested, tried, found guilty of participating in the execution of Charles I. He was executed, along with the remaining 59 Commissioners who had been captured, and others. The death warrant for Charles I had probably been in the possession of Hacker at Stathern Hall since 1649. At Hacker’s trial his wife was ordered to produce it, but even though Hacker had never signed it, it did not prevent him from being executed for treason as a regicide. The death warrant is one of England’s most important and precious historic documents (along with, for example, the Magna Carta and the Domesday Book) and is now kept in the archives at the Houses of Parliament.
With Hacker’s execution, Stathern Hall was confiscated and pulled down. Today, there is no evidence of the building which was situated in a field above Church Lane overlooking the Vale. The only visible evidence is a low broken-down dressed stone wall which may have formed the boundary of the property, and evidence of an old sunken track which may have been the entrance to the property. No picture survives of the Hall, and much of the stone fabric must surely have been reused within the village or elsewhere. The field is arguably a very important site in the history of this country but is currently totally unmarked and virtually unacknowledged. Archaeological digs were carried out in 2001 and 2005 to locate the site of the house but were inconclusive. Further attempts are being made in 2024 and 2025.