OLIVER CROMWELL 1599 - 1658

Oliver Cromwell was born into the Huntingdon Gentry. He was descended from a sister of Thomas Lord Cromwell, the unpopular Minister of King Henry VIII. His ancestor called Williams changed his name to benefit from a connection to the rising politician. the family subsequently lived as minor gentry. Cromwell, after marriage, entered Parliament in 1628. At this time the franchise (right to vote)  was open to very few so generally it was members of the aristocracy and gentry who formed the bulk of Members of Parliament. He was a Puritan in religion and politics in days when it was expected that the two would be part of the same thing. So as a Puritan he found himself standing firmly with the opposition to Charles I.

The Puritans were zealous Protestants, mainly of the non-labouring classes, e.g. Alderman, merchants, clothworkers. They led the movement, especially in the period 1640-2 against popery (Catholicism), and were very anti-images, not interested in building or repairing churches and regarded the importance of the beliefs and behaviour of the inner man, not outward observance. They were against Anglicans like Archbishop William Laud, members of the 'Arminian' movement who sought to reverse some of the changes of the reformation and alter the balance between the extremes of Geneva and Rome. The Arminians also suited the King as they believed in the Divine Right of kings and bishops. The Puritans had a fear of popery and during the first quarter of the Century were forming quite a large percentage of the English emigrating to New England.

Cromwell could be perceived as the right man at the right time. The English Civil War allowed him to rise up the power structure due to his exceptional abilities, on both the military field and in his great organisational abilities. At the Battle of Marston Moor in East Yorkshire his own regiment 'The Ironsides' distinguished itself in 1644.

By 1645 he was just second in command of the 'New Model Army', behind Sir Thomas Fairfax, a well connected aristocrat. The 'Roundhead' military victory at Naseby in 1645 was to lead to further Royalist defeats.

Cromwell the statesman had to come to terms with the fact that the arrogance of the King, and his flight to Carisbrooke in 1647, meant that they would not be able to compromise with him in any moderate way.

The second Civil War was one in which the Parliamentarians were even more successful. An invasion of England by the Scottish forces was defeated at Preston in Lancashire.  Realising that Charles had put the Parliamentarians in an intractable situation led Cromwell to be the loudest voice against the King at his trial in 1649. The King was executed in 1649.

Cromwell became head of the republican Commonwealth and led a punitive expedition to Ireland and Scotland. Back home he had to defeat Scottish royalists at Dunbar in 1650 and Charles II, eldest son of the late King at Worcester in 1651.   

Ireland was to provide the cause of Cromwell's 'damnation'. Since 1609 there had been considerable settlement of English and Scottish Protestants in various 'Plantations'. With their land and religion under attack the Irish Catholics in Ulster rose in 1639 and slaughtered thousands of Protestant settlers, even allowing for anti-Catholic propaganda.  These figures are sometimes exaggerated fifty-fold. Many believed that King Charles was implicated in supporting the rising. The rebellion spread throughout Ireland, encouraging the English fear of Catholicism.

On behalf of the King the Marquis of Ormonde concluded a truce with the leaders of the rebels in 1642, the 'Catholic Confederation'. King Charles gained no credibility amongst the Protestants for this as it was viewed as being pro-papist.

From 1649 to 1652 Cromwell campaigned in Ireland and Scotland to destroy resistance to the Republic. His biggest mistakes were the massacres at Drogheda and Wexford designed to break Irish resistance. It was a time when religious fanaticism had ruined much of Europe in 'The Thirty Years War' and this was just as terrible. The Campaign took three years and left Cromwell's reputation in Ireland in tatters, though he was hailed at home as a conquering hero. Many Catholic landowners were dispossessed and stayed so after the Restoration, but Catholics in Ireland were, in time, able to recover some ground lost under Commonwealth excess.

The Rump Parliament was dissolved in 1653 and was replaced by Cromwell with the 'Barebones' or 'nominated' Parliament, nominated by him. He was also to be the Lord Protector of the new Protectorate, though was wise enough to decline the Crown in 1657. He regarded foreign trade as important, especially as this built up trade contacts abroad and helped reduce the chance of a Stuart restoration. Unfortunately the Navigation Act of 1651 was to lead to the first (1652-1654) Dutch War, and the war with Spain of 1655-1658 was fought over trading rights.

Cromwell believed in religious toleration for some, tolerated Jews and non-Anglican Protestants, though to many he is remembered as a cruel and intolerant man. In the 1650's he invited Jews to settle in England, the first time that Jews had been settled in England properly since 1290.    This tolerance has been practised by subsequent regimes so the Jews remained in England as permanent settlers.

Cromwell died in 1658 and was succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell, 1626-1712. The son was regarded as a good man, but he was not as strong as his father and failed to stop the inevitable overthrow of his Protectorate in 1659. The re-established Commonwealth lasted for a short time but inevitably the Army, under General Monk, invited the return of Charles Stuart, the son of the executed King. After the restoration Richard spent twenty years abroad and eventually returned home to England under an assumed name and died peacefully as an old man.

At the end of the Commonwealth Britain was a strong independent power, subsequently much of this was lost after the Restoration by King's Charles II and James II who allied with France. The position was rescued later in the Century by Charles I's Dutch grandson King William III of Orange who brought about a revolution in foreign politics, aligning England against France very successfully. The Restoration reaction was also against the Puritans who were forbidden to worship outside church or hold public office, until 1688 and religious freedom was restored, though political freedom did not come until later.

Oliver Cromwell has many descendants and in 1961 one of these Katherine Worsley married at York Minster Prince Edward, The Duke of Kent, a direct descendant of Charles' sister Elizabeth.