Oliver Cromwell.

CIVIL WAR AND PLAGUE
The Civil War in Cornwall lasted from August 1642, until 12 March 1646, when the Royalist army surrendered at Tresillian Bridge near Truro, although the last garrison at Pendennis Castle did not surrender until 17 August after a prolonged siege. According to Hals, Penzance was plundered by the Parliamentary troops for two days in 1646 "for the kindness and charity the inhabitants showed to the Lord Goring's and Lord Hopton's troops of horse, driven into those parts by Sir Thomas Fairfax," and one of the troopers, Edward Best of St. Wenn, had five gallons of silver and gold coins as his share of the spoil. However, there is no other record of this event, and since Hals was a notoriously inaccurate historian it is probable that his date is wrong and that he in fact refers to the plunder of Penzance in 1648 described below.
The leader of the Parliamentary faction in Penzance was Anthony Gubbes, a merchant who had been Mayor in 1635, and again in 1645, and had been much persecuted by the Royalists while they were in power in the west during the Civil War, suffering "the loss of my estate, my blood spilt, my body imprisoned;" he and his son were accused of high treason and "had not God raised friends then, we had perished." Early in 1648 he was constantly warning the Parliamentary leaders in Cornwall that a royalist rising, was being plotted, but no effective action was taken until after the insurrection broke out on 16 May. The local Royalist leaders were Major Thomas Grosse of St. Buryan, William Keigwin of Mousehole, Capt. Maddern of Penzance and Capt. Tresilian of St. Levan, but the rising bad been long planned by the county leaders such as Sir John Arundell of Trerice, the defender of Pendennis. The Royalists seized Penzance and arrested Gubbes; "I was seized and my goods confiscated for the supply of their rebellions." Their leaders put him on trial and threatened him with hanging, "because I would not supply them with £300 for my life, and had not God timely sent aid I had lost my estate and life besides the goods they then forced from me out of my shop and warehouses." By 22 May the Parliamentarians had collected sufficient forces to attack Penzance under the command of the Sheriff, Edward Herle, and Col. Robert Bennett: the fullest account of the action is that by John Moyle, a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Cornwall, reporting on 25 May:
They were 500 in the Town, very desperate, would accept no terms, our men fell resolutely on Monday last, where after near two hours dispute with the loss of only two of ours and four or five wounded, the enemies were totally scattered, about 60 or 70 slain, some drowned, 60 taken, the rest (amongst which the chiefest) fled, partly by the advantage of the hedges, and partly by reason (and that which made them so desperate) that 300 men from St. Keverin and adjacent parishes were come to follow the rear of our men as they should enter the town; against whom the horse were immediately sent, and fell on them, slew seven or eight, took very few, but all desisted, and the business now quieted. There is only one house burned, but the town (to use their own word) exquisitely plundered, and indeed they say it is so well done, as they are all utterly undone . . . If they had not been so seasonably scattered, we fear our county had been by this time universally inflamed.
Alexander Daniell, Lord of the Manor, was a Royalist at heart, but had prudently taken little part in the political tumults of the times, and certainly no part in the Royalist rising at Penzance. He nevertheless had a narrow escape; having been confined to his house by order of Major Robert Colman, one of the Royalist leaders, and having bad his musket and bird gun taken away by Royalist soldiers, he was (as he said) going from Laregan towards Penzance to congratulate the Parliamentary captains on their success, when "two bloody soldiers met me, and one of them held up his musket to knock me on the head, but the Lord stopped his hand. They took away all the money I had about me and a grey mare out of the stable, furnished, which I was forced to buy again at £3."
One of the Royalist leaders, Captain Pike, escaped by sea from Penzance to Mullion, and collected sufficient force to threaten Helston, but the Parliamentary troops were sent from Penzance and the rising finally ended in a battle at Gear in Mawgan on 23 May when the Royalists were totally defeated. On 31 May Moyle reported that the country was "now again by God's blessing on our endeavours in a very quiet and peaceable condition," and that the Royalist leaders "remain in the west lurking in the cliffs and in tin pitts." The triumphal arrival at Penryn of the Parliamentary forces with their plunder from Penzance was witnessed by Peter Mundy, a famous traveller then between voyages in his native town:
The Victors passed through ours [our town] in a triumphant manner. First three soldiers, upon the points of three swords (carried upright) three silver balls, used in hurling; then followed three other soldiers, marching very grandly in Aldermen's gowns; the soldiers marching after, with plundered ribbons and favours in their hats, ever and anon shooting off their guns, seconded by a general shout and hollowing; then followed about 40 prisoners; after them certain horses laden with pillage, as feather beds, household stuff, etc. In this manner marched up St. Thomas Street, about the Fish Cross to the upper end of the Town on the lower side of the street, and down again on the upper side. The Triumph being ended, the soldiers repaired to their quarters, and the prisoners committed to theirs, the market house.
This was not the only catastrophe suffered by Penzance at this time. In 1647 there was an epidemic of plague, and the heavy death roll is shown vividly by the Parish Register of Madron (which included Penzance Borough with the rest of the Parish). The burials rose from 30 in 1646 to 150 in 1647 (the worst month being July with 34); the sickness continued in 1648 when there were 63 burials at Madron, the numbers reverting to the normal 24 in 1649.
Anthony Gubbes was elected Mayor again in 1656, and died in 1662 having seen his opponents return to power with the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, during the Mayoralty of his son Joseph Gubbes.

Source: The History of the Town & Borough of Penzance, by P.A.S. Pool.