Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell
Portrait by Samuel Cooper, 1656
Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland
In office
16 December 1653 – 3 September 1658
Preceded byCouncil of State
Succeeded byRichard Cromwell
Member of Parliament
for Cambridge
In office
29 February 1640 – 20 April 1653
MonarchCharles I (until 30 January 1649)
Preceded byThomas Purchase
Member of Parliament
for Huntingdon
In office
31 January 1628 – 3 March 1629
MonarchCharles I
Preceded byArthur Mainwaring
Personal details
Born25 April 1599
Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire, England
Died3 September 1658 (aged 59)
Palace of Whitehall, City of Westminster, England
Resting placeSidney Sussex College, Cambridge (head)
Spouse
(m. 1620)
Children
Parents
Alma materSidney Sussex College, Cambridge
OccupationSoldier and statesman
Signature
Nicknames
  • Old Noll[1]
  • Old Ironsides
Military service
AllegianceKingdom of England (pre-1642)
Parliamentarian (1642–1651)
Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland (1651–1658)
Branch/service
Years of servicepre-1642 (militia service)
1642–1651 (civil war)
Rank
  • Colonel (1642 – bef. 1644)
  • Lieutenant-General of Horse (bef. 1644 – 1645)
  • Lieutenant-General of Cavalry (1645–1646)
Commands
  • Cambridgeshire Ironsides (1643 – bef. 1644)
  • Eastern Association (bef. 1644 – 1645)
  • New Model Army (1645–1653)
Battles/wars

Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician, and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the British Isles. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and latterly as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to the establishment of The Protectorate, he ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658. Cromwell remains a controversial figure due to his use of the army to acquire political power, and the brutality of his 1649 campaign in Ireland.[2]

Educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Cromwell was elected MP for Huntingdon in 1628. The first 40 years of his life were undistinguished and at one point he contemplated emigration to New England. He became a religious Independent in the 1630s and thereafter believed his successes were the result of divine providence. While he generally supported tolerance for the various Protestant sects of the time, he later opposed those he considered heretical, such as Quakers and Fifth Monarchists.[3] In 1640, Cromwell was returned as MP for Cambridge in the Short and Long Parliaments, and joined the Parliamentarian army when the First English Civil War began in August 1642. He quickly demonstrated his military abilities and in 1645 was appointed commander of the New Model Army cavalry under Sir Thomas Fairfax, playing a key role in defeating the Royalists in the First and Second English Civil Wars.

Following the execution of Charles I and the exile of his son, military victories in Ireland and against the Scots from 1649 to 1651 firmly established the Commonwealth and Cromwell's dominance of the new republican regime. In December 1653, he was named Lord Protector of the Commonwealth,[a] a position he retained until his death in September 1658, when he was succeeded by his son Richard, whose weakness led to a power vacuum. This culminated in the 1660 Stuart Restoration, when Charles II returned to the throne, after which Cromwell's body was removed from its resting place in Westminster Abbey and displayed at Tyburn. Cromwell's head was placed on a spike outside the Tower of London, where it remained for 30 years. It was ultimately reburied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960.

Cromwell has been variously described as a military dictator by Winston Churchill,[4] and as a hero of liberty by John Milton, Thomas Carlyle, and Samuel Rawson Gardiner. The debate over his historical reputation continues. First proposed in 1856, his statue outside the Houses of Parliament was not erected until 1895, most of the funds being privately supplied by Prime Minister Lord Rosebery.[5]

  1. ^ Dickens, Charles (1854). A Child's History of England volume 3. Bradbury and Evans. p. 239.
  2. ^ Ó Siochrú 2008, pp. 1–2.
  3. ^ Worden 2012, pp. 71–73.
  4. ^ Churchill 1956, p. 314.
  5. ^ Burch 2003, pp. 228–284.


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