Hugh Peter

Hugh Peter
Born	29 June 1598 Fowey, Cornwall, England
Died	16 October 1660(1660-10-16) (aged 62) Charing Cross London, England
Cause of death	Execution by hanging, drawing and quartering
Education	Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation	Independent Preacher
Known for	Chaplain in New Model Army, Parliamentarian, regicide, New England colonist

Hugh Peter (or Peters) (baptized 29 June 1598 – 16 October 1660) was an English preacher, political advisor and soldier who supported the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War and later the trial and execution of Charles I. Following the Restoration, he was executed as a regicide.

Peter became highly influential during the English Civil War. He employed a flamboyant preaching style that was considered highly effective in furthering the interests of the Puritan cause.

From a radically Protestant family of Cornwall, England, though of part Dutch origin, Peter emigrated to a Puritan colony in America, where he first rose to prominence. After spending time in Holland, he returned to England and became a close associate and propagandist for Oliver Cromwell. Peter may have been the first to propose the trial and execution of Charles I and was believed to have assisted at the beheading.

Peter unsuccessfully proposed revolutionary changes that would have disestablished the Church of England's role in landholding and struck at the heart of the legal title to property. Disagreeing with the war against Protestant Holland and increasingly excluded after Cromwell's death, Peter's former outspokenness and role in the execution of Charles I meant he faced reprisal following the Restoration and he was hanged, drawn and quartered as a regicide.