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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Oliver Cromwell
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(1599–1658)
Ruler of the whole of Great Britain as Lord Protector during the central years of the *Commonwealth, from 1653 to 1658. Born in *Huntingdon into a family prominent in local affairs, his first public career was in politics – as an MP for Huntingdon in 1628 and then for Cambridge in the *Long Parliament of 1640. With the start of the *English Civil War, Cromwell raised a troop of cavalry in Cambridgeshire on behalf of parliament. He rapidly proved himself a brilliant soldier and was largely responsible for the successes of the *New Model Army.
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Prominent among those demanding the execution of Charles I, and one of the political leaders of the new *Commonwealth, he was also appointed commander-in-chief of the parliamentary army sent to put down unrest in *Ireland in 1649. He did this with considerable severity, intended as an example (in particular in the massacre of the royalist garrison at *Drogheda in September). A similar campaign in Scotland (1650–1) was equally effective, and he capped these successes with the defeat of *Charles II at the battle of *Worcester in 1651.
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By now there were deep religious differences between parliament (*Presbyterian and inclined to the suppression of all dissent) and the army, in which there were many mutually tolerant sects, linked by the *Congregationalist doctrine that each group had the right to be self-governing. Cromwell, by now the most powerful man in the land, sided with the army and in 1653 personally ejected the rump of the *Long Parliament from the House of Commons. He replaced it with the *Barebones Parliament, the failure of which led rapidly to his own supreme power under the *Protectorate.
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In religious matters he ruled with a considerable degree of tolerance (allowing the *Jews to return, for example, after nearly 400 years) and a new efficiency brought Britain successes abroad, particularly in the *Anglo-Dutch Wars. Cromwell died in 1658 of malaria, first contracted during his campaigns in Ireland. Many of his domestic reforms were repealed in the *Restoration, when the high feeling against him led to his body being exhumed from Westminster Abbey. It was hung in chains at Tyburn and his head was stuck on a pole on top of Westminster Hall, where it remained for some 25 years.
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