Sir Charles Wheler, 2nd Baronet (c. 1620–1683) of Birdingbury, Warwickshire, was an English cavalry officer who served in the English and Spanish armies. In 1667 he was elected a Member of Parliament for the constituency of Cambridge University.
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Early life
Charles Wheler was born around 1620, the only son of William Wheler, of Martin Husingtree, Worcestershire, and Nantwich, Cheshire, and his wife Eleanor (died 1 June 1678, aged 85), daughter of Edward Polkston, of Allington, county Denbigh, and Winifred, only sister of Sir Thomas Trevor (1586–1656).
Wheler was a student at Cambridge in 1638, and sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, being ejected thence 18 April 1644. He was M.A. of that university, and was entrusted with others to carry the university plate to Charles I to help finance the Royalist cause at the start of the English Civil War.
Civil War and Interregnum
Wheler served as a major in a Royalist Horse (cavalry) regiment from very early in the Civil War until 1644 when he transferred to a regiment of foot in which he served until early in 1646 when he surrendered to Parliament and was allowed to go into exile. In 1656 he was commissioned into King Charles II's Guards—then a regiment in the Spanish army—as a captain, his regiment fought under Tunney at the Battle of the Dunes (1658).