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929.2  ta 

C88w 

1162798 


GENEALOGY  COLLECTION 


•\ 


rflHfitfMl'irafflWS/JBHARY 


3  1833  00674  5670 


t 


THE    HOUSE   OF    CROMWELL. 


THE 


HOUSE   OF   CROMWELL 


H  (Benealogical  1foistor£  of  tbe  family  ano 
Descendants  of  tbe  {protector. 


JAMES    WAYLEN, 

Sometime  Secretary  of  Thomas   Carlyle. 


A  NEW  EDITION,  REVISED 

BY 

JOHN  GABRIEL  CROMWELL,  M.A.  Oxon., 

Hon.  Canon  of  Durham. 


LONDON: 
ELLIOT   STOCK,   62,   PATERNOSTER   ROW,    E.C. 

1897. 

{All  rights  reserved. \ 


V? 


V^ 


1162798 


PREFACE 
TO    THE    SECOND    EDITION. 


IN  order  to  render  Mr.  Waylen's  book  more  complete 
and  interesting  to  the  general  reader,  the  Publisher 
has  decided  to  prefix  a  new  chapter  designed  to 
trace  as  far  back  as  possible  the  family  from  which  the 
Great  Protector  derived  his  origin.  He  has  also  added 
a  chapter  at  the  end  on  the  Cromwells  in  America. 
The  book,  which  has  been  revised  throughout  and  very 
much  condensed,  now  presents  the  history  of  the  family 
from  the  fourteenth  to  the  nineteenth  century.  It  may 
seem  proper,  but  almost  unnecessary,  for  the  editor  to 
say  that  he  does  not  agree  with  the  sentiments  of  the 
late  Mr.  Waylen  upon  very  many  subjects. 


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PREFACE 

TO    THE    FIRST    EDITION. 


THE  following  pages  are  primarily  designed  to 
contain  genealogical  tables  of  the  Protector 
Oliver's  descendants  to  the  present  day, 
and  thus  to  carry  down  through  another 
century  the  family  history  which  terminated  in  1785 
with  the  publication  of  Mark  Noble's  "  History  of  the 
Protectoral  House."  Other  miscellaneous  matter  is  added, 
illustrative  of  the  Protector's  character,  all  which  will 
speak  for  itself.  But  the  mention  of  matter,  supple- 
mentary to  Mr.  Carlyle's  collection  of  the  Protector's 
"  Letters  and  Speeches,"  claims  a  few  preliminary  obser- 
vations. 

About  the  year  1842,  Mr.  John  Langton  Sanford,  of  the 
Temple,  struck  by  the  astounding  discrepancies  which  had 
long  been  conspicuous  among  the  biographers  of  Oliver 
Cromwell,  resolved  to  make  an  independent  investigation 
on  his  own  account,  and  to  commence  the  task  by  forming 
as  complete  a  collection  as  possible  of  the  hero's  letters 
and  speeches.  Of  these,  he  had  brought  together  about 
three  hundred,  when  Mr.  Carlyle's  work  on  the  same 
subject  came  forth  to  light  in  1845.     As  each  collection 


viii  Preface. 

contained  documents  which  were  wanting  in  the  other, 
Mr.  Sanford  promptly  and  generously  surrendered  his  own 
contingent,  which  accordingly  made  part  of  Mr.  Carlyle's 
second  edition  of  1846.  To  specify  what  that  contingent 
supplied  would  now  be  a  superfluous  task  ;  it  may  suffice 
to  mention  that  it  included  the  Clonmacnoise  Manifesto — 
perhaps  the  most  masterly  and  characteristic  specimen  on 
record  of  Cromwell's  polemical  discernment. 

It  is  agreeable  to  add  that  the  results  of  these  studies  on 
Mr.  Sanford's  own  mind  were  already  in  felicitous  accord- 
ance with  the  Carlylean  decisions,  and  had  issued,  to  use 
his  own  terms,  in  a  clear  conviction  that  the  theory  of 
Cromwell's  hypocrisy  and  selfish  ambition  was  devoid 
of  all  support  in  the  real  facts.  He  had  learnt  also  that 
the  lives  of  Pym,  Hampden,  and  many  others  of  that 
time,  required  re-writing  quite  as  much  as  that  of  Crom- 
well ;  and  he  became  increasingly  solicitous  that  his  ac- 
cumulated stores  "  might  be  moulded  into  a  work  supple- 
mentary to  that  of  Mr.  Carlyle,  and  affording  a  critical 
refutation  of  the  large  mass  of  calumnious  anecdote  which 
still  passes  for  history  in  works  of  such  general  value  and 
authority  as  Mr.  Forster's  "  Statesmen  of  the  Common- 
wealth." Such  a  work,  therefore,  appeared  in  1858 — the 
original  title  of  "  Life  of  Oliver  Cromwell  "  being  sup- 
planted by  "  Studies  and  Illustrations  of  the  Great  Rebel- 
lion " — and  a  very  fascinating  book  it  is,  fully  answering 
the  proposed  design,  without  in  the  smallest  degree  dis- 
turbing the  majestic  supremacy  of  the  Protector.  It 
closes  with  a  graphic  account  of  the  fight  at  Marston 
Moor,  which  had  never  before  been  rightly  adjusted  ;  and 
it  supplies  a  few  additional  letters,  which  also  may  now  be 
read  in  Carlyle's  later  editions. 

But,  indeed,  that  gallant  crisis  in  the  fortunes  of  England 
and  of  Europe  may  well  sustain  other  supplementary 
illustration  besides  Mr.  Sanford's  classic  essays.  The 
position  which  the  British  Protector  appeared  to  be  as- 


Preface.  ix 

suming  in  the  councils  of  foreign  nations  when  death  laid 
him  low  is  apprehended  by  very  few.  Englishmen  seem 
to  have  forgotten  the  motives  which  prompted  him  to 
snatch  from  Papal  Spain  the  port  of  Dunkirk  and  adjacent 
part  of  Flanders.  Nay,  the  majority  of  his  compatriots 
seem  to  have  forgotten  that  he  ever  held  Dunkirk  at  all. 

The  loss  of  Calais  was  more  than  redeemed;  and  the 
Protestant  ensign,  under  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  fought 
and  fell,  floated  over  territory  torn  from  Papal  Spain.  The 
whole  affair  was  eminently  calculated  to  re-awaken  the 
enthusiasm  which  the  leadership  of  the  Protector  had 
formerly  kindled;  for  the  Flanders  campaign,  though 
executed  by  deputy,  was  rightly  felt  to  be  animated  by  his 
spirit.  His  representatives,  meanwhile,  at  the  Gallic  Court, 
where  Huguenots  had  sued  in  vain,  received  homage  which 
was  withheld  from  the  very  Legate  of  Rome — a  strange 
spectacle,  startling  to  all  Europe — alike  anomalous,  por- 
tentous, and  inexplicable.  To  many  a  lip  the  question  must 
then  have  risen,  which  in  later  years  has  again  and  again 
baffled  the  logic  of  Oliver's  defamers  :  Wherein  lay  the 
divining  power  which  could  thus  bring  an  aspiring  Cardinal 
and  a  French  autocrat  under  the  fascination  of  a  heretical 
island  chieftain,  whose  political  aspirations,  all  undisguised 
as  they  were,  were  backed  by  but  a  very  moderate  military 
power  ?  The  answer,  surely,  is  found  in  the  fact,  that 
every  step  in  his  career  was  known  to  be  the  expression 
and  outcome  of  habitual  faith  in  the  Unseen.  To  his 
Parliaments,  and  to  those  who  came  still  more  closely  in 
contact  with  him,  it  was  sufficiently  manifest  that  his 
every  thought  was  with  the  Eternal ;  but  Milton  gives  us 
further  to  understand  that  the  contagion  of  his  spiritual 
force  carried  the  better  part  of  the  nation  along  with  him. 
Through  Lockhart's  medium  the  same  sentiment  would 
remotely  influence  Mazarin,  offering  a  more  honourable — 
and  shall  we  not  say  rational  ? — explanation  of  his  bearing 
towards  the  English  Protector  than  the  mere  vulgar  fear 


x  Preface. 

which  is  all  that  the  Cardinal's  enemies  can  discover  in 
him.  The  downright  integrity  and  absence  of  self-seeking 
of  Oliver  was  a  new  phenomenon  in  the  history  of 
monarchs,  and  at  the  bottom  of  their  hearts  the  people 
hailed  his  advent  as  that  of  a  practical  saviour.  In  short, 
"  There  has  not  been  a  supreme  governor  worth  the  meal 
upon  his  periwig,  in  comparison,  since  this  spirit  fell 
obsolete,"  says  Carlyle,  in  his  comments  on  Speech  V. 
There,  gentlemen,  is  that  strong  enough  ?  That  it  will 
for  ever  silence  his  detractors,  can  hardly  be  looked  for. 
But  it  is  in  the  firm  belief,  that  the  majority  of  his  country- 
men are  rapidly  reaching  the  same  conviction,  that  the 
tribute  of  the  following  pages  has  been  rendered. 

Should  it  be  objected  against  him,  that  his  organization 
of  parochial  religious  life  was  a  mongrel  affair,  let  it  also 
be  remembered  that  in  the  transition  age  through  which 
the  nation  was  passing  it  was  a  matter  of  exceptional  per- 
plexity. Robert  Hall,  in  many  respects  a  kindred  spirit, 
when  repelling  on  one  occasion  the  notion  that  any 
particular  form  of  Church-government  was  stereotyped  for 
all  ages,  exclaimed,  "  That  which  is  best  administered  is 
best."  That  Cromwell's  administration  of  this  and 
every  other  department  was  the  very  best  conceivable 
is  not  the  thing  to  be  proved.  That  he  deemed  it  the 
best  under  the  actual  circumstances  of  the  hour,  and 
made  it  the  best  by  the  simple  force  of  his  personal 
Christianity,  is  all  that  his  admirers  claim — sufficiently 
entitling  him  to  the  eulogy  above  expressed,  ratified  as 
it  is  by  the  testimony  of  a  contemporary  who,  having, 
like  many  others,  watched  him  long  and  closely,  pro- 
nounced him  "  the  justest  of  conquerors."  (Carrington's 
"  Life  of  Oliver  Cromwell.") 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER     . 

THE    HOUSE    OF    CPOMWELL  . 


I'AGE 

I 


CHAPTER  II. 

OLIVER,    LORD    PROTECTOR    . 


J9 


CHAPTER  III. 

ROBERT,  ELDEST  SON  OF  THE  PROTECTOR 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OLIVER,    SECOND    SON    OF   THE   PROTECTOR 


25 


CHAPTER  V. 

RICHARD,    THIRD    SON    OF   THE    PROTECTOR 


28 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HENRY,     FOURTH     SON     OF    THE     PROTECTOR     AND    HIS     DE- 
SCENDANTS .  ....         45 


xii  Contents. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

l'AGE 

JAMES,    FIFTH    SON    OF   THE    PROTECTOR  .  .  .86 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

BRIDGET,   ELDEST   DAUGHTER   OF  THE   PROTECTOR,  AND   HER 

DESCENDANTS  .  .  .  .  .  87 

CHAPTER  IX. 

ELIZABETH,    THE    PROTECTOR'S    SECOND    DAUGHTER.  .        IIO 

CHAPTER  X. 

MARY,    THE    PROTECTOR'S    THIRD    DAUGHTER  .  115 

CHAPTER  XI. 

FRANCES,    THE    PROTECTOR'S    FOURTH    DAUGHTER,  AND    HER 

DESCENDANTS  .  .  .  .  .  I  23 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  YOUNGER  SONS  OF  SIR  HENRY  CROMWELL,  THE  GRAND- 
FATHER OF  THE  LORD  PROTECTOR  OLIVER,  AND  HIS 
BROTHERS   AND   SISTERS     .  .  .  .  -183 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

SOME    ANECDOTES    AND    TRAITS    OF   OLIVER    CROMWELL  .       198 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   CROMWELLS    OF    AMERICA  ....       253 


a.t-J^^Jl-ir-CTI-7E3I-T 


j.-j1.j.^i.jiviJ.ii'j^Jt^i-n-.«-i^jL-n-Ji-^ivu-ii-;uj1.vujm_)m_n.-;ujL! 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE   HOUSE    OF    CROMWELL. 


AS  early  as  1308  we  find  a  nobleman  bearing  the 
name  of  Baron  John  de  Cromwell,*  who  held 
the  high  and  responsible  office  of  Constable  of 
the  Tower  of  London.  He  was  regularly  sum- 
moned to  Parliament  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1335.  His  seat  in  the  country  was  Tattershall  Castle,  not 
far  from  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Baron  Ralph  de  Cromwell,  who  died  in  1399  ;  by  another 
of  the  same  name,  who  died  in  1419 ;  and  then  by  a  third 
of  the  same  name,  who  died  in  1455.  This  nobleman  at- 
tained to  the  dignity  of  Lord  High  Treasurer  of  England, 
under  Henry  VI.,  the  pious  founder  and  princely  benefactor 
of  Eton.  In  the  churchwardens'  accounts  of  the  parish  of 
St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  we  find  mention  of  a  "  Lorde 
Crumwell  "  (sic)  as  a  residentf  therein  in  the  year  1572. 

The  investigations  made  by  Mr.  Carlyle  for  his  edition 
of  "  Oliver  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches  "  led  him  to 
conclude  that  there  were  other  Cromwells  in  the  Fen 
counties  ;  and,  in  his  own  quaint  phraseology,  he  says 
that  "without  any  ghost  to  teach  us  we  can  understand 


*    Vide  "  Historic  Peerage,"  by  Sir  Harris  Nicholas. 

f    Vide  "Westminster  Tobacco-box,"  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Smith,  ll 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


that  the  Cromwell  kindred  all  got  their  name  in  very  old 
times  indeed"  from  the  village  of  "Cromwell,"  which 
lies  about  five  miles  north  of  Newark. 

Owing  to  the  industry  of  an  indefatigable  antiquary  of 
this  generation,  Mr.  John  Phillips,  we  have  been  enabled 
to  trace  a  clear  link  of  connection  between  one  of  the 
lords  of  Tattershall  Castle  and  a  resident  near  Newark 
named  "  John  Cromwell."  The  way  in  which  this  dis- 
covery was  made  was  as  follows.  Mr.  Phillips  was 
fortunate  enough  to  obtain  the  permission  of  Earl 
Spencer,  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Wimbledon,  to 
examine  carefully  the  Court  Rolls  of  the  manor  for  the 
fifteenth  century.  Therein  he  discovered  numerous 
entries  of  the  name  of  "  Cromwell."  The  first  of  that 
name  mentioned  in  those  old  musty  documents  was  one 
John  Cromwell,  who  is  therein  stated  to  have  come  from 
Norwell,  a  village  not  far  from  the  village  of  Cromwell. 
He  was  a  fuller  by  trade,  and  he  obtained  the  lease  of  a 
fulling-mill  for  twenty-one  years,  together  with  a  residence 
and  six  acres  of  land  belonging  thereto,  situate  near  the 
river  Wandle,  in  the  ancient  Manor  of  Wimbledon.  This 
lease  was  granted  to  John  Cromwell  in  the  year  1452,  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  was  then  the  Lord 
of  the  Manor.  Now,  we  happen  to  know  that  the  custo- 
dian of  the  temporalities  of  the  Archbishop  at  that  time 
was  a  certain  Sir  Gervase  Clifford,  who  also  held  the 
office  of  Secretary  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  Cromwell  of 
Tattershall  Castle.  It  requires  no  great  stretch  of  imagin- 
ation to  suppose  that  it  was  due  to  the  tie  of  consan- 
guinity that  John  Cromwell  obtained  his  lease  through 
the  hands  of  his  powerful  kinsman's  secretary. 

It  is  easy  to  conjecture  that  John  Cromwell  desired  to 
push  his  fortune  by  removing  from  a  country  village  to 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  London,  where  he  could 
pursue  his  business  as  a  cloth-fuller  to  greater  advantage 
and  profit  than  he  could  down  in  Nottinghamshire.     We 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


learn  that  John's  father,  William  Cromwell,  held  a  lease 
of  Palme  Hall,  at  Norwell,  and  that  he  was  a  grandson 
of  William,  fourth  son  of  the  sixth  Ralph  de  Cromwell, 
of  Lambley,  Nottingham.  It  will  not  escape  the  reader's 
observation  that  Ralph  was  the  favourite  name  of  the 
above-mentioned  Barons  de  Cromwell,  who  resided  in 
Lincolnshire.  We  may  conclude,  with  every  appearance 
of  certainty,  that  the  Cromwells  of  Lincolnshire  had 
originally  sprung  from  the  Cromwells  of  Nottinghamshire, 
and  that  some  connection  continued  to  be  kept  up 
between  the  two  branches  of  the  family  at  least  down  to 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Let  us  see  what  more  can  be  gleaned  about  John 
Cromwell,  the  cloth-fuller  from  Norwell.  His  fulling- 
mill  appears  to  have  stood  near  the  river  Wandle,  in  a 
lane  formerly  called  Fulling-mill  Lane,  in  the  parish  of 
Wandsworth.  Here  cloth,  imported  into  London  from 
Flanders  by  London  merchants,  was  brought  to  be 
"  fulled,"  and  then  dyed  and  finished  ready  for  the  cloth 
fairs  held  at  Smithfield  Market.  For  eight-and-twenty 
years  John  Cromwell  pursued  his  business  on  the  Wandle, 
and  appears  to  have  been  diligent  and  successful  in  his 
business ;  for  he  acquired,  in  addition  to  the  lease  of  his 
fulling-mill,  with  land  and  house  adjoining,  the  copyhold 
of  some  land  at  Putney,  which  is  called  "  Cromwell's  " 
in  the  existing  Court  Rolls  of  the  manor.  At  his  death, 
which  occurred  about  1480,  he  was  buried  in  Wimbledon 
churchyard,  overlooking  the  Valley  of  the  Wandle.  Behind 
him  he  left  two  sons,  John  and  Walter,  and  one  or  two 
daughters.  Follow  we  first  the  history  of  John,  the 
eldest  son.  He  became  a  copyholder  of  land  in  the 
parish  of  Lambeth,  and  also  of  a  brewery  at  Stockwell 
Green,  where  he  carried  on  his  business  as  a  brewer  till 
his  death,  in  1523,  and  was  buried  in  Lambeth  church- 
yard. In  the  churchwardens'  accounts  of  the  parish  of 
Lambeth  the  following  entries  occur : 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


"  1514.  Recd  of  John  Cromwell  towards  making  our  suits 
of  vestments  6s  8d. 

1515.  Recd  for  the  burial  of  John  Cromwell's  woman- 
servant  4d. 

1521.  Recd  from  John  Cromwell  for  reparation  of  the 
Church  20s  od. 

1523.  Recd  for  burial  of  John  Cromwell  8s  6d,  and  for 
ringing  his  knell  6d." 

In  his  will  he  directed  that  his  body  should  be  buried 
in  the  churchyard  of  "  our  Lady  of  Lambithe  "  (Lam- 
beth now),  that  4s.  should  be  given  to  the  "  High 
Altar  "  for  "  tithes  and  oblations  forgotten,"  that  3s.  4d. 
should  be  given  to  the  "  fraternity  of  Sl  Christopher," 
and  6s.  4d.  to  the  reparation  of  the  church.  It  will  be 
remembered,  of  course,  that  a  shilling  then  was  worth 
almost  as  much  as  a  sovereign  now.  His  two  sons 
followed  their  father's  occupation  as  brewers,  and  their 
names  are  found,  together  with  that  of  their  distinguished 
cousin  Thomas,  amongst  the  members  of  the  household 
of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  at  Hampton  Court,  in  the  subsidy 
assessment  for  the  year  1526. 

****** 

Having  followed  far  enough  the  history  of  the  eldest 
son  of  John  Cromwell  of  Norwell,  let  us  now  fix  our 
attention  upon  his  second  son,  Walter,  for  it  was  through 
him  that  the  most  eminent  members  of  the  family  derived 
their  origin.  To  the  Court  Rolls  of  the  Manor  of  Wimble- 
don we  are  again  led  by  Mr.  John  Phillips  for  information. 
It  thence  appears  that  Walter  succeeded  his  father  (John) 
in  the  business  at  the  fulling-mill  on  the  Wandle  ;  for 
when  the  lease,  originally  granted  to  John  Cromwell  of 
Norwell,  expired,  in  1473,  it  was  renewed  in  favour  of  his 
son  Walter,  who  added  to  the  business  of  a  fuller  of  cloth 
several  other  kinds  of  business.  We  learn  that  he  held 
in  the  parish  of  Putney  several  copyhold  lands  and  tene- 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


merits,  and  there  he  carried  on  business  as  a  smith,  an 
armourer,  a  brewer,  and  a  "  hostelry-keeper." 

In  thus  combining  under  one  management  so  many 
diverse  kinds  of  business,  Walter  may  be  almost  said  to 
have  anticipated  some  of  the  big  London  firms  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

In  his  youth  he  was  apprenticed  to  his  maternal  uncle, 
who  was  a  smith  and  brewer  at  Putney,  and  when  his 
apprenticeship  expired,  he  joined  his  father  in  conducting 
the  fulling-mill  on  the  Wandle,  but  did  not  forget  or 
abandon  his  original  trade  as  a  smith  and  armourer,  and 
thus  he  was  described  in  the  local  records  sometimes  as 
a  smith,  sometimes  as  a  fuller,  and  sometimes  as  a  brewer. 
Indeed,  in  the  Court  Rolls  he  is  variously  entered  as 
"  Walter  Cromwell  otherwise  called  Walter  Smyth,"  and 
"  Walter  Smyth  alias  Cromwell,"  and  "  Walter  Cromwell 
alias  Smyth." 

It  is  suggested  that  the  reason  why  he  was  sometimes 
called  "  Smyth"  was  because  his  uncle's  name,  to  whom 
he  was  apprenticed,  was  William  Smith,  armourer,  smith, 
and  brewer,  at  Putney. 

In  the  parish  of  Putney,  Walter  Cromwell  held  thirty 
acres  of  land  under  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Wimbledon, 
which  had  belonged  to  the  successive  Archbishops  of 
Canterbury  from  the  days  of  William  the  Conqueror. 
Some  of  this  land  is  said  to  have  been  situated  close  to 
the  Thames,  between  the  west  side  of  Brewhouse  Lane 
and  the  east  side  of  Putney  Churchyard.  His  brewery 
and  hostelry  were  in  Brewhouse  Lane,  and  the  hostelry 
was  conveniently  near  to  the  "  hithe,"  or  landing-place, 
where  no  doubt  a  good  deal  of  business  was  done ;  for 
Putney  was  always  a  busy  and  important  place,  owing  to 
its  being  on  the  direct  line  of  transit  between  London  and 
West  Surrey,  while  ferry-boats  constantly  plied  between 
Putney  and  Fulham,  and  boats  and  barges,  some  filled 
with  rich  merchandise   and   some  with  pleasure-seekers, 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


came  up  from  London  and  Westminster.  For  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  Walter  Cromwell  is  known  to  have 
carried  on  his  various  kinds  of  business  at  Putney,  and 
in  1500  we  find  that  he  received  a  considerable  addition 
to  his  property  in  land.  For  in  that  year  the  Court  Rolls 
tell  us  that  "  Walter  Cromwell,  otherwise  called  Walter 
Smyth,  took  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  six  entire  virgats  " 
(i.e.,  ninety  acres)  "  of  land,  as  well  as  divers  arable  lands 
in  Roehampton."  After  describing  fully  and  minutely 
the  exact  situation  of  all  these  lands  in  legal  phraseology, 
the  copy  of  Court  Roll  concludes  by  recording  that  Walter 
Cromwell  was  not  required  to  pay  anything  for  all  this 
land,  "because  the  Lord"  (of  the  Manor)  "for  certain 
considerations  .  .  .  had  pardoned  payment  therefor." 

In  these  quaint  words  there  is  something  very  signifi- 
cant, and  we  ask  with  curiosity  what  could  have  been  the 
"  certain  considerations  "  that  moved  Archbishop  Morton 
of  Canterbury  to  make  a  free  grant  of  ninety  acres  of 
land,  together  with  "  divers  arable  lands  in  Roehampton," 
to  Master  Walter  Cromwell,  in  the  year  of  grace  1500. 
The  answer  to  this  question  probably  will  be  found  in 
the  following  facts.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  Walter 
Cromwell,  like  his  maternal  uncle,  was  by  trade  an 
armourer  and  smith,  and  in  that  capacity  he  had  found 
employment  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  amongst  the 
Lancastrian  Barons,  whose  cause  he  espoused,  and  whom 
he  accompanied,  like  a  brave  man,  to  the  field  of  battle ; 
where  his  strong  arms,  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  smith,  were 
doubtless  very  useful.  In  one  of  the  numerous  battles 
fought  during  the  thirty  years'  Civil  War  he  was  killed, 
fighting  on  the  Lancastrian  side.  For  services  thus 
rendered  by  the  armourer  of  Putney,  and  by  his  sons,  to 
the  great  party  which  eventually  placed  Henry  VII.  upon 
the  throne  of  England,  it  is  conjectured  that  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  was  moved  to  grant  freely  those 
lands  in  Putney  and  Roehampton  to  "  Walter  Cromwell 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


alias  Smyth,"  whose  mother  was  both  a  daughter  and  a 
sister  of  a  Lancastrian  armourer.  Other  reasons  likewise 
may  have  moved  Archbishop  Morton  to  take  this  course, 
for  it  is  conjectured  that  some  of  those  lands  had  been 
torn  from  the  Putney  armourers  by  a  former  Archbishop 
(Bourchier),  who  was  a  strong  partisan  of  the  Yorkist 
cause,  and  therefore  the  grant  made  to  Walter  Cromwell 
was  probably  an  act  of  partial  restitution.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  we  find  Walter  Cromwell,  near  the  end  of  his  life, 
in  possession  of  a  considerable  amount  of  property  at 
Putney,  Wandsworth,  and  Roehampton,  though  later  on 
he  seems  to  have  lost  much  of  it,  and  to  have  died  at 
his  cottage  on  Wimbledon  Green,  about  the  year  15 16, 
and  was  buried  probably  in  Wimbledon  churchyard, 
beside  his  father  and  mother.  The  reader  is  doubtless 
aware  that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  give  the  exact  date 
of  the  birth,  marriage,  or  death  of  anybody  in  England 
prior  to  1538,  because  before  that  year  there  was  no 
regular  and  systematic  registration  of  births,  marriages, 
and  deaths  kept  in  this  country.  It  was  Thomas  Cromwell 
who  first  ordered  registers  to  be  kept  in  all  parish  churches, 
and  thus  instituted  that  system  of  registration  which  con- 
tinues in  force  with  some  alterations  at  the  present  day. 

Before  passing  from  the  biography  of  Walter  Cromwell, 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  he  twice  discharged  the  office 
of  "  Constable  of  Putney,"  in  1495  and  1496,  a  parochial 
office  that  in  all  parishes  used  to  be  held  in  turn  by 
the  principal  householders  in  a  parish.  Three  children 
survived  him — Katharine,  born  about  1477;  Thomas,  about 
1485 ;  and  Elizabeth,  about  1487.  Our  interest  will  be 
with  Katharine  and  Thomas  principally. 

Place  aux  dames.  The  lady  must  come  first,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  her  brother  afterwards  became  the  most 
powerful  subject  of  King  Henry  VIII. 

It  was  in  Putney  Church,  in  the  year  of  grace  1494, 
that    Katharine    Cromwell,    then    a    young    lady   about 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


eighteen  years  of  age,  was  married  to  a  young  man  of 
Welsh  extraction  named  Morgan  Williams.  From  the 
issue  of  this  marriage  sprang  in  the  fourth  generation, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  the  renowned  Lord  Protector 
of  England,  Oliver  Cromwell. 

Morgan  Williams  was  the  son  of  John  Williams,  who 
had  migrated  from  the  parish  of  Llanishen,  near  Cardiff, 
about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  took  up  his 
abode  at  Mortlake ;  where  he  married  an  English  wife 
distantly  connected  with  the  Cromwell  family  at  Putney, 
and  pursued  the  avocations  of  accountant,  land-agent, 
and  lawyer.  He  seems  to  have  been  employed  about  the 
Court  at  Richmond  in  the  time  of  Henry  VII.  and 
Henry  VIII.,  and  his  eldest  son,  John  Williams,  is  desig- 
nated in  the  record  of  a  lawsuit  in  the  King's  Bench 
as  "  de  Hospice  de  Regni,"  i.e.,  "  of  the  Royal  House- 
hold." In  1515  he  was  appointed  "Yeoman  of  the 
Crown  "  with  6d.  a  day,  thus  becoming  one  of  that  royal 
bodyguard,  composed  of  stalwart  Welshmen,  on  whose 
loyalty  the  two  first  Tudor  Kings  could  rely  ;  and  we 
must  never  forget  that  Henry  VII.  was  as  much  a 
Welshman  as  James  I.  was  a  Scotchman,  and  George  I. 
was  a  German.  Welshmen,  therefore,  were  naturally 
held  in  favour  about  the  Courts  of  Henry  VII.  and  his 
son,  bluff  King  Harry  the  Eighth. 

In  due  time  a  son  was  born  as  issue  of  the  marriage 
of  Katharine  Cromwell  and  Morgan  Williams,  and  the 
child  was  called  Richard.  Of  his  early  life  little  is 
recorded,  but  we  may  conjecture,  with  every  probability 
in  our  favour,  that  he  joined  the  royal  bodyguard  of 
Welshmen,  to  which  one  of  his  paternal  uncles  already 
belonged ;  and  that  it  was  thus  he  became  so  proficient 
in  the  use  of  arms,  that  at  a  grand  tournament  held  by 
the  King  in  1539  he  was*  successful  in  defeating  a 
Mr.  Culpeper  and  two  of  the  bravest  foreign  champions 

*  Vide  Dugdale's  "  Baronetage,"  ii.  370. 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


who  had  been  invited  from  the  Continent  to  take  part 
in  the  royal  festivities.  It  is  said  that  Henry  VIII.  was 
so  highly  delighted  with  Richard  Cromwell's  success  in 
beating  the  two  foreigners,  that  he  knighted  him  on  the 
spot,  gave  him  a  ring  from  his  own  finger,  and  said : 
"  Henceforth  thou  shalt  be  my  knight."  Richard  thence- 
forth, if  not  before,  abandoned  his  father's  surname, 
Williams,  and  assumed  that  of  his  mother's  family, 
"  Cromwell."  He  had  a  potent  reason  for  making  this 
change  in  his  name,  for  by  so  doing  he  proclaimed  to 
the  courtiers  his  close  kinship  to  the  King's  chief  adviser 
and  Minister,  Thomas  Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex,  who  had 
not  as  yet  fallen  beneath  the  royal  displeasure.  In 
memory  of  the  great  tournament  and  of  its  fateful  results, 
Sir  Richard  Cromwell  and  his  descendants  after  him 
adopted  as  their  crest  a  lion  rampant  holding  up  a  ring 
in  his  right  paw. 

Leaving  for  a  time  the  history  of  Sir  Richard,  we  shall 
find  much  to  interest  us  in  recovering  the  story  of  the 
early  life  of  his  maternal  uncle  Thomas,  the  son,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  Walter  Cromwell  of  Putney,  for  it  is  full 
of  adventure,  and  not  a  little  romance. 

Mr.  John  Phillips,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  so 
many  interesting  particulars  derived  from  the  Court  Rolls 
of  Wimbledon  Manor,  says :  "  We  are  inclined  to  think 
that  Thomas  Cromwell,  after  leaving  school,  resided  at 
Mortlake  with  John  Williams ;  that  he  assisted  him  to 
collect  rents  and  debts  on  the  manor  .  .  .  and  learnt 
from  him  to  prepare  legal  documents  for  leases  and 
mortgages.  ...  At  Putney  he  saw  and  conversed  with 
the  merchants  who  came  there  to  buy  wool,  and  heard 
much  about  Italy  and  other  foreign  countries."  Hence, 
says  Foxe  :  "A  great  delight  came  into  his  mind  to  see 
the  world  abroad,  and  to  gain  experience,  whereby  he 
learned  such  tongues  and  languages  as  might  better  serve 
his  use  hereafter." 


io  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

In  prosecution  of  his  desire  to  see  "forraine  "  countries, 
he  passed  over  sea  to  the  great  commercial  port  of 
Antwerp,  where,  says  Foxe,  "  he  was  retained  of  the 
English  merchants  "  (who  at  that  time  resided  together 
in  a  factory  for  mutual  protection  and  convenience)  "  to 
be  their  dark  or  secretarie,  or  in  some  like  condition 
pertaining  to  their  affaires."  When  he  was  thus  employed 
at  Antwerp,  there  arrived  two  merchants  from  Boston 
on  their  way  to  Rome,  commissioned  by  their  townsmen 
to  solicit  from  the  Pope,  Julius  II.,  a  renewal  of  "a 
pardon,"  as  it  was  called,  to  the  town  of  Boston,  and 
to  "  the  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  gylde  of  our  Lady 
in  Saint  Botulph's  church  at  Boston." 

A  copy  of  this  "  pardon  "  may  be  seen  in  Foxe,  and 
very  curious  are  the  indulgences  and  relaxations  granted 
by  the  Pope  to  all  such  as  should  resort  to  the  Church 
of  St.  Botulph  at  the  great  Church  festivals — indeed, 
his  Holiness  promised  that  they  should  have  "  pardon 
no  less  than  if  they  themselves  personally  had  visited 
the  stations  of  Rome."  For  such  a  document  as  this, 
of  course,  the  Court  of  Rome  would  demand  a  good  round 
sum  of  money  from  the  merchants  who  had  undertaken 
the  commission  to  obtain  it.  Foxe  tells  us  that  these 
Boston  merchants  felt  themselves  unequal  to  the  task 
of  "  compassing  such  a  weightie  piece  of  worke,"  and 
finding  that  Thomas  Cromwell  had  acquired  some  skill 
in  the  Italian  tongue,  they  induced  him  to  accom- 
pany them  to  Rome,  and  assist  them  in  their  weighty 
business. 

By  making  acceptable  presents  to  the  Pope  and  his 
courtiers,  and  by  offering  for  his  acceptance  some  "jolly 
junkets  and  fine  dishes  of  jellie  made  after  the  best 
fashion  and  manner,  which  to  them  of  Rome  was  not 
known  nor  seene  before,"  Thomas  Cromwell  and  his 
friends  from  Boston  obtained  the  coveted  "pardon." 
This  was  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1510,  says  our  historian 


The  Hotise  of  Cromweu.  1 1 

Foxe.     Thomas  would  then  be  about  twenty-five  years 
of  age. 

Never  had  the  Court  of  Rome  been  more  notoriously 
and  shamelessly  corrupt  than  it  was  at  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  Cromwell  must  have  seen  and 
heard  strange  things  about  the  Pope  and  Cardinals  during 
his  stay  at  Rome.  No  doubt  his  visit  to  the  Eternal  City 
helped  to  colour  many  of  his  opinions  and  actions  in  his 
subsequent  career  as  malleus  monachorum  in  England. 
Alexander  Borgia,  one  of  the  most  profligate  Popes  that 
ever  disgraced  and  polluted  an  episcopal  throne,  had 
died  in  1503  after  a  week's  illness,  induced  by  drinking 
a  poisoned  cup  intended,  as  was  commonly  believed,  for 
one  of  the  guests  that  sat  by  his  side  at  supper.  "The 
moral  degradation  into  which  the  Papacy  sank  under 
Alexander,"  says  the  historian  Robertson,  "has  no  parallel 
either  in  its  earlier  or  in  its  later  history.  .  .  .  The  Pope 
and  his  children "  (the  notorious  Caesar  and  Lucretia 
Borgia)  "  are  accused  of  profligacy  which  hesitated  at 
nothing  for  its  gratification,  and  never  scrupled  to  remove 
obstacles  by  murder.  The  Vatican  was  polluted  by  revels 
and  orgies  of  the  most  shameless  and  loathsome  obscenity, 
of  which  the  Pope  and  his  daughter  are  represented  as 
pleased  spectators.  A  letter  of  the  time  paints  the  morals 
of  the  Papal  Court  in  the  darkest  colours,  and  speaks  of 
the  Pope  as  a  man  stained  with  every  vice.  .  .  ."  It  was 
during  the  Papacy  of  this  infamous  man  that  the  great 
Florentine  preacher  and  reformer,  Savonarola,  was  con- 
demned, after  a  mock  trial  before  the  Papal  Commissioners 
at  Florence,  to  be  hanged  and  burnt,  and  his  ashes  to 
be  cast  into  the  Arno. 

At  the  time  when  Thomas  Cromwell  (1510)  was  at 
Rome,  the  occupant  of  the  Papal  throne  was  Julius  II., 
a  prelate  who  was  accustomed  personally  to  conduct 
campaigns,  sieges,  and  other  military  enterprises,  which 
were  much  more  congenial  to  his  taste  than  the  perform- 


12  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

ance  of  any  episcopal  functions.  Neither  age  nor  sick- 
ness could  damp  his  military  impetuosity.  In  the  midst 
of  winter  he  laid  siege  to  the  fortress  of  Mirandola,  and 
in  spite  of  frost  and  heavy  snow  he  personally  super- 
intended the  pointing  of  his  cannon,  and  gave  the  word 
of  command  for  their  discharge.  Can  we  be  surprised 
at  all,  that  almost  every  man  who  paid  a  visit  to  Rome 
during  the  Papacy  of  such  Popes  as  Alexander  Borgia, 
Julius  II.,  and  Leo  X.  should  go  away  from  its  gates 
with  mingled  feelings  of  disgust  and  disappointment,  as 
well  as  with  a  determination  to  aid  in  producing  a  refor- 
mation of  abuses  in  the  Church  ?  Undoubtedly  such  were 
the  impressions  made  respectively  upon  Thomas  Crom- 
well, upon  Erasmus,  and  upon  Luther  by  their  respective 
visits  to  Rome  in  the  opening  years  of  the  momentous 
sixteenth  century. 

After  having  remained  in  Italy  for  some  little  time, 
Thomas  Cromwell  returned  by  slow  journeys  to  Antwerp, 
and  afterwards  settled  (1514)  in  London  as  a  wool  and 
cloth  merchant,  and  also  practised  as  a  lawyer  and 
scrivener  in  Fenchurch  Street.  About  1522  he  removed 
from  Fenchurch  Street  to  Throgmorton  Street,  and  shortly 
afterwards  took  a  lease  from  the  Mercers'  Company  of 
a  mansion  called  "  Great  Place,"  at  Stepney.  In  1524 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  King's  chief  Minister  and 
favourite,  Cardinal  Wolsey,  by  whom  he  was  confidentially 
employed  in  prosecuting  the  Cardinal's  great  undertaking 
of  building  the  college  of  Christ  Church  at  Oxford.  In 
order  to  acquire  sufficient  funds  for  this  purpose,  the 
Cardinal  employed  Cromwell  in  suppressing  a  certain 
number  of  small  monasteries  and  priories  "  in  divers 
places  of  the  realm,"  and  their  lands  were  seized  for  the 
benefit  of  the  new  college.  Not  many  years  passed  before 
all  the  monasteries  in  England  were  suppressed  by  the 
same  hands.  His  wife,  whom  he  had  married  soon  after 
he  had  settled  in  London,  died  in  1529,  and  on  July  12 


The  House  of  Cromwell.  13 

of  that  year  he  made  his  will,  which  has  been  printed 
at  the  end  of  the  first  volume  of  Froude's  "  History  of 
England."  It  may  be  seen  now  in  the  Record  Office, 
with  the  erasures  and  interlineations  made  by  the  hand 
of  Thomas  Cromwell  himself.  As  a  proof  that  he  had 
not  been  unsuccessful  in  his  pursuits,  it  may  in  passing 
be  mentioned  that  the  value  of  the  property  included  in 
his  will  would  at  the  present  day  be  about  £36,000.  His 
subsequent  history  and  sudden  downfall  are  so  fully 
recorded  in  every  history  of  England  that  we  need  not 
further  follow  his  eventful  career,  which  was  terminated 
on  Tower  Hill  by  the  axe  of  the  executioner  on  July  28, 
1540. 

It  is  now  time  for  us  to  return  to  Sir  Richard  Cromwell 
and  trace  the  links  of  connection  between  him  and  the 
Lord  Protector  of  England.  As  we  have  seen,  he  had 
managed  to  win  the  special  favour  of  that  most  capri- 
cious monarch  Henry  VIII.,  and  hence  when  monasteries 
and  abbeys  and  priories  were  suppressed,  and  their  broad 
acres  and  immense  wealth  were  seized  by  the  royal  hand, 
Sir  Richard's  claims  were  not  forgotten  by  Henry  and  by 
his  Minister,  Thomas  Cromwell,  the  maternal  uncle,  be  it 
remembered,  of  Sir  Richard.  In  the  county  of  Huntingdon 
the  monks  of  Ramsey  Abbey  had  secured  the  possession 
of  extensive  estates  and  manors,  and  to  Sir  Richard  and 
his  heirs  all  those  estates  were  granted  by  royal  favour. 
Thus  he  became  the  possessor  of  the  estates  that  had 
formerly  belonged  to  the  Abbey  of  Ramsey,  the  Convent 
of  Hinchinbrook,  and  the  priories  of  Saltrey,  Huntingdon, 
and  St.  Neot's.  He  was  made  a  Gentleman  of  the  Privy 
Chamber,  Constable  of  Berkeley  Castle,  and  Captain  of 
the  Horse  sent  into  France  under  Sir  John  Wallop.  Like 
many  other  English  gentlemen  of  that  generation,  he 
seems  to  have  used  the  stones  of  the  dismantled  abbeys 
and  priories  for  the  erection  of  convenient  and  comfortable 
manor  -  houses   at    Ramsey   and   at  Hinchinbrook.     His 


14  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


wife  was  Frances,  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Sir  Thomas 
Murfyn,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  by  her  he  had  a  son, 
Henry,  named,  as  is  conjectured,  after  the  King's  majesty. 
His  wife's  fortune  formed  a  considerable  addition  to  his 
great  possessions  in  Huntingdonshire.  In  due  time  Henry 
succeeded  his  father,  and  having  married  Joan,  daughter 
of  another  Lord  Mayor  of  London — Sir  Ralph  Warren — 
was  knighted  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  died  in  1603.  By 
this  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  London  mer- 
chant, no  doubt  the  wealth  of  the  family  was  still  further 
augmented.  Upon  account  of  his  great  wealth,  munifi- 
cence, and  hospitality,  Sir  Henry  was  called  "  the  Golden 
Knight."*  His  uncommon  liberality  was  long  remem- 
bered and  spoken  of  by  the  good  folk  of  Ramsey,  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  see  him  throw  money  out  of  his  coach 
amongst  the  crowd  as  he  passed  along  the  street  of  the 
little  town.  When  he  died,  he  left  the  bulk  of  his  estates 
to  his  eldest  son,  Oliver,  but  he  provided,  it  is  said,  £500 
a  year  in  land  for  each  of  his  other  sons— Robert,  Henry, 
and  Philip.  Very  shortly  after  Oliver  had  entered  upon 
possession  of  his  estates  at  Hinchinbrook,  he  was  called 
upon  to  entertain  King  James  I.,f  then  on  his  way  from 
Scotland  to  London,  there  to  be  crowned  King  of  England, 
and  so  hospitably  did  the  owner  of  Hinchinbrook  enter- 
tain his  Sovereign,  that  the  King,  as  a  mark  of  royal 
favour,  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood. 
Thus  we  see  that  three  members  of  the  family  were 
knighted    by   three    successive    Sovereigns — Richard    by 

*  When  Queen  Elizabeth  was  returning  from  Cambridge  in  1564,  she  slept 
at  Hinchinbrook,  the  seat  of  Sir  Henry  Cromwell,  and  was  most  handsomely 
entertained  by  him.  He  represented  the  county  of  Huntingdon  in  Parliament 
in  1563,  and  was  Sheriff  of  the  two  counties  of  Huntingdon  and  Cambridge 
in  four  different  years. 

f  Not  only  did  the  worthy  Knight  entertain  his  Sovereign  and  retinue 
in  a  princely  fashion,  but  likewise  at  his  departure  he  made  him  handsome 
presents  of  a  "large  cup  of  gold,  goodly  horses,  deep-mouthed  hounds,  doves, 
and  hawks  of  excellent  wing."  These  royal  visits  were  expensive  luxuries, 
as  we  know  from  other  sources. 


The  House  of  Cromwell.  15 

Henry  VIII. ,  Henry  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  Oliver  by 
James  I. 

Sir  Oliver's  first  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Bromley,  Lord  Chancellor  of  England ;  and  his  second 
wife  was  the  widow  of  Sir  Horace  Pallavacini,  a  wealthy 
Genoese  merchant.  He  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety-three,  and  was  buried  at  Ramsey  on  August  28, 
1655.  By  his  two  wives  he  had  a  numerous  progeny,  viz., 
five  daughters  and  five  sons,  all  of  whom,  like  their  father, 
were  distinguished  for  their  loyalty  to  the  crown  and  their 
opposition  to  the  Republican  party. 

One  of  Sir  Oliver's  sons,  John,  was  a  Captain  in  a  regi- 
ment of  English  soldiers  sent  by  James  I.  to  assist  in 
recovering  the  Palatinate  for  his  son-in-law,  and  subse- 
quently he  became  the  Colonel  of  an  English  regiment  in 
the  service  of  Holland.  Singularly  enough,  he  was  selected 
by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  then  an  exile  in  Holland,  to  carry 
letters  to  Oliver,  his  cousin,  and  to  intercede  with  him 
for  sparing  the  life  of  the  King — but  in  vain.  Another 
son  of  Sir  Oliver  —  William  —  also  took  service  under 
Frederic,  Elector-Palatine,  and  became  a  Colonel  in  his 
wars  for  the  crown  of  Bohemia.  He  also  held  the  office 
of  "  carver  "  in  the  household  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  Frederic. 

No  trace  of  any  issue  from  either  John  or  William  has 
yet  been  discovered. 

So  deeply  did  the  elder  branch  of  the  family  detest  the 
proceedings  of  their  cousin  Oliver,  the  Lord  Protector, 
that  some  of  them  dropped  the  very  name  of  Cromwell, 
and  reverted  to  the  name  of  Williams.  Sir  Oliver's  ex- 
treme liberality  towards  all,  from  King  to  peasant,  com- 
pelled him  to  sell  Hinchinbrook  in  1627  to  Sir  Sidney 
Montague,  an  ancestor  of  the  Earl  of  Sandwich  ;  and 
later  on  he  had  to  part  with  Newport  and  Easton,  in 
Essex,  to  Henry  Maynard,  Esq.,  an  ancestor  of  the  pre- 
sent  Countess  of  Warwick,  to  whom  Easton  Park  now 


1 6  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

(1896)  belongs.  The  exactions  and  oppressions,  more- 
over, of  the  Republican  party,  directed  against  all  rich 
Royalists,  almost  ruined  old  Sir  Oliver  and  his  sons,  so 
that  nearly  all  their  estates  had  passed  from  their  hands 
by  the  year  1675,  when  Ramsay  became  the  property  of 
Colonel  Titus,  author  of  the  famous  pamphlet  entitled 
"Killing  no  Murder." 

Henry,  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Oliver  Cromwell,  born  in 
1586,  took  an  active  part  on  the  Royalist  side  in  the  Great 
Rebellion,  and  in  consequence  his  estate  was  sequestered 
by  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners ;  but  his  cousin 
Oliver,  the  Lord  Protector,  caused  the  fine  to  be  remitted 
and  the  land  to  be  restored  to  its  owner.  Henry  sur- 
vived his  father  only  two  years,  and  died  in  1657,  leaving 
several  daughters  and  one  son,  Henry.  His  eldest  son, 
James,  a  Colonel  in  the  Royalist  army,  had  died  before 
his  father,  without  leaving,  so  far  as  is  known,  any  issue. 
He  fought  on  the  Royalist  side,  and  commanded  a  regi- 
ment of  Cavaliers.  His  other  son,  Henry,  born  in  1625, 
succeeded  to  the  family  estate  on  the  death  of  his  father  ; 
retook  the  name  of  Williams  ;  sat  in  several  Parliaments 
as  member  for  Huntingdonshire,  and  gave  his  vote  in  1660 
for  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  to  the  throne  of  his 
father.  Notwithstanding  the  leniency  shown  to  him  by 
his  cousin,  the  Lord  Protector,  so  many  demands  had 
been  made  upon  his  patrimony  that  he  died  a  poor  man 
in  1673,  leaving  no  son  behind  him,  but  a  widow  in  pos- 
session of  a  very  small  jointure.  The  extensive  estates, 
derived  originally  from  the  spoliation  of  the  abbeys,  had 
gradually  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  Cromwells,  who 
had  been  for  a  hundred  years  one  of  the  most  opulent  and 
important  families  in  Huntingdonshire.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  the  property  had  been  acquired  by  a  man  who  belonged 
to  the  Reformation  party  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
was  lost  by  men  who  took  the  side  of  the  Royalist  party 
in  the  seventeenth  century. 


The  House  of  Cromwell.  17 

Though  the  elder  branch  of  the  family  thus  disappeared, 
there  remained  numerous  representatives  of  the  name, 
sprung  from  the  three  other  sons  of  Sir  Henry,  "the 
Golden  Knight,"  namely,  Robert,  Henry,  and  Philip. 
Moreover,  the  Rev.  Mark  Noble,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  the 
House  of  Cromwell,"  published  in  1787  (vol.  i.,  p.  81), 
expressed  an  opinion  that  from  Francis,  the  brother  of 
"  the  Golden  Knight,"  a  family  descended,  who  bore  the 
name  of  Cromwell,  alias  Williams,  and  possessed  property 
both  in  Huntingdonshire  and  Glamorganshire.  Noble 
expresses  himself  very  positively,  saying,  "  It  appears  to 
me  almost  certain  to  a  demonstration  that  these  are  the 
descendants  of  Francis  Cromwell,  Esq.,  the  younger  son 
of  Sir  Richard."  From  this  family  it  is  quite  possible 
that  some  of  those  who  bear  the  name  of  Cromwell  at  the 
present  day  may  have  descended,  although  the  genealogical 
line  cannot  now  be  distinctly  traced. 

From  Robert,  the  second  son  of  Sir  Henry,  "the  Golden 
Knight,"  sprang  Oliver,  the  Lord  Protector,  born  in  St. 
John's  parish,  Huntingdon,  on  April  25,  1599,  and 
baptized  in  the  parish  church  on  the  29th  day  of  the 
same  month,  receiving  his  name  from  his  uncle  and  god- 
father, Sir  Oliver,  of  Hinchinbrook.  Into  the  history  of 
that  most  remarkable  man,  who  was  at  once  one  of  the 
ablest  statesmen  and  one  of  the  most  daring,  skilful,  and 
successful  generals  that  have  ever  sprung  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  it  is  not  intended  fully  to  enter.  From  the 
time  when  he  entered  Parliament,  in  1640,  to  the  day  of 
his  death,  September  3,  1658,  his  history  forms  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  history  of  England.  During  those 
eighteen  eventful  years  he  played  a  conspicuous  part — 
hated  and  feared  by  thousands,  and  admired,  almost 
adored,  by  at  least  an  equal  number.  He  received  his 
early  education  at  the  grammar-school  of  his  native  town, 
and  in  April,  1616,  he  entered  as  an  undergraduate  at 
Sidney  Sussex  College,  Cambridge.     Upon  the  death  of 

2 


1 8  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

his  father,  in  1617,  he  went  to  study  law  at  Lincoln's  Inn, 
and  the  most  damaging  stories  were  told  in  after-years  hy 
his  political  enemies  respecting  this  portion  of  his  life. 
"  If  his  professed  enemies  be  credited,"  says  Noble,  "  it 
will  appear  he  had  no  guard  whatever  upon  his  actions  at 
this  period."  But  we  cannot  believe  all  that  his  professed 
enemies  said  about  him.  When  his  father  died,  Oliver 
was  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  At  twenty-one  he  was 
married  in  St.  Giles's  Church,  Cripplegate — the  church 
where  John  Milton  was  buried.  In  1628  he  was  sent  to 
Parliament  as  member  for  the  borough  of  Huntingdon. 
In  1631  he  sold  all  his  property  in  Huntingdon,  and  went 
to  St.  Ives,  where  he  resided  upon  a  farm  till  1636,  when 
he  took  up  his  residence  at  Ely,  and  farmed  some  land 
which  had  been  recently  bequeathed  to  him  by  his  maternal 
uncle,  Sir  Thomas  Steward.  There  he  continued  to  reside 
in  a  house  adjoining  St.  Mary's  Church  till  1647,  and  he 
seems  to  have  taken  an  active  part  in  the  management  of 
local  affairs  and  charities.  In  1640  he  took  his  seat  in  the 
famous  Long  Parliament  as  member  for  Cambridge,  and 
then  began  the  long  and  bitter  struggle  between  King  and 
Parliament. 

The  history  of  that  fierce  struggle,  as  already  remarked, 
belongs  to  the  general  history  of  England,  and  does  not 
enter  into  the  plan  of  this  book.  The  foregoing  pages 
have  been  written  with  the  object  of  placing  before  the 
reader  a  succinct  account  of  the  House  of  Cromwell,  so  far 
as  is  known,  from  the  year  1308  to  the  opening  of  the 
great  Civil  War  of  the  seventeenth  century.  In  the  suc- 
ceeding pages  will  be  found  a  genealogical  account  of  the 
descendants  of  Oliver,  the  Lord  Protector,  followed  by  an 
account  of  the  male  descendants  of  his  uncles,  Henry  and 
Philip. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OLIVER,  LORD  PROTECTOR. 

OLIVER  CROMWELL,  the  only  surviving  son 
of  Mr.  Robert  Cromwell,  of  Huntingdon,  and 
Elizabeth  Steward,  of  Ely,  was  born  at  Hunt- 
ingdon, April  25,  1599,  and  christened  in  the 
parish  church  of  St.  John,  receiving  his  baptismal  name 
from  his  uncle  and  godfather,  Sir  Oliver  Cromwell,  of 
Hinchinbrook,  Knight.  On  August  22, 1620,  he  was  married 
at  St.  Giles's  Church,  Cripplegate,  London,  to  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Sir  James  Bourchier,  of  Felsted,  in  Essex, 
Knight,  and  had  issue  five  sons  and  four  daughters,  namely: 

Robert,  baptized  at  Huntingdon,  October  13,  162 1  ; 
buried  at  Felsted,  May  31,  1639. 

Oliver,  baptized  at  Huntingdon,  February  6, 1623  ;  died 
of  small-pox,  1644. 

Richard,  who  succeeded  his  father  in  the  Protectorate, 
born  at  Huntingdon,  October  4,  1626  ;  died  at  Cheshunt, 
July  12,  1712. 

Henry,  Lord- Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  born  at  Huntingdon, 
January  20,  1628  ;  died  at  Spinney  Abbey,  March  23, 
1674. 

James,  baptized  at  Huntingdon,  January  8,  1632  ;  died 
in  infancy. 


2o  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Bridget,  baptized  at  Huntingdon,  August  4,  1624 ; 
buried  at  St.  Anne's,  Blackfriars,  July  1,  1662. 

Elizabeth,  christened  at  Huntingdon,  July  2,  1629 ; 
died  at  Hampton  Court,  August  6,  1658. 

Mary,  born  at  Ely,  christened  at  Huntingdon,  Feb- 
ruary g,  1637 ;  died  at  Chiswick,  March  14,  1713. 

Frances,  christened  at  St.  Mary's,  Ely,  December  6, 
1638 ;  died  [at  Spinney  Abbey  ?]  January  27,  1721. 

Note. — In  the  above  list,  and  in  all  subsequent  dates  throughout  this  work, 
the  year  will  be  treated  as  commencing,  not  (as  was  the  practice  in  England 
at  the  Civil  War  period)  on  March  25,  but  on  January  1. 

THE  PROTECTRESS  ELIZABETH. 

The  scurrilous  literature  which  at  the  period  of  the 
Restoration  found  a  victim  in  the  quiet,  dignified  Lady 
Protectress  is  beneath  notice.  She  was  not  without 
annoyance  from  the  Government  itself.  Even  before  the 
King's  return  the  newspapers  were  charging  her  with 
secreting  sundry  goods  at  a  fruiterer's  warehouse  near 
the  Three  Cranes  in  Thames  Street,  including  pictures  and 
other  royal  property,  with  a  view  to  exportation.  And  a 
few  weeks  later  a  search-warrant  was  issued,  directing  her 
and  her  sons  to  deliver  up  various  deeds  and  evidences 
belonging  to  the  Marquis  of  Worcester.  These  tribula- 
tions drew  from  her  the  following  petition  : 

"  To  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty. 

"The  humble  petition  of  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  widow, — 
Sheweth,  that  among  the  many  sorrows  wherewith  it  hath 
pleased  the  allwise  God  to  exercise  your  petitioner,  she  is 
deeply  sensible  of  those  unjust  imputations  whereby  she 
is  charged  of  detaining  jewels  and  other  goods  belonging 
to  your  Majesty ;  which,  besides  the  disrepute  of  it,  hath 
exposed  her  to  many  violences  and  losses  under  pretence 
of  searching  for  such  goods,  to  the  undoing  of  her  in  her 


Oliver,  Lord  Protector.  21 

estate,  and  rendering  her  abode  in  any  place  unsafe  ; — 
she  being  willing  to  depose  upon  oath  that  she  neither 
hath  nor  knows  of  any  such  jewels  or  goods.  And 
whereas  she  is  able  to  make  it  appear  by  sufficient  testi- 
mony that  she  hath  never  intermeddled  in  any  of  those 
public  transactions  which  have  been  prejudicial  to  your 
Majesty's  royal  father  or  yourself,  and  is  ready  to  yield 
an  humble  and  faithful  obedience  to  your  Majesty  in 
your  government, — She  therefore  humbly  prays  that  your 
Majesty  would  be  pleased  to  distinguish  betwixt  the  con- 
cernments of  your  petitioner  and  those  of  her  relations 
who  have  been  obnoxious ;  and  out  of  your  princely 
goodness  vouchsafe  her  a  protection,  without  which  she 
cannot  expect,  now  in  her  old  age,  a  safe  retirement  in 
any  place  of  your  Majesty's  dominions.  And  she  shall 
ever  pray,  etc.  t(  ^  Cromwell.» 

This  document  is  endorsed,  "  The  petition  of  Old  Noll's 
Wife."  As  to  the  venerable  lady's  whereabouts  during 
this  revolution  of  things,  we  have  but  scanty  evidence. 
She  had  been  ordered  to  quit  the  Cockpit  soon  after  her 
son  Richard's  abdication ;  and  we  can  hardly  doubt  that 
Henry,  whose  return  from  Ireland  she  was  anxiously 
soliciting,  now  took  her  under  his  protection.  Just 
before  the  King's  arrival,  Henry  Coventry,  writing  to  the 
Marquis  of  Ormond,  April  27,  says :  "  Cromwell's  widow 
is  stolen  out  of  town,  and  her  nighest  friends  pretend  not 
to  know  whither."  It  has  been  asserted  that  for  awhile 
she  sought  retirement  in  Wales,  and  even  in  Switzerland. 
All  we  know  for  certain  is  that  she  eventually  found  a 
permanent  asylum  at  Northborough  House  in  North- 
amptonshire, near  Market  Deeping,  the  residence  of  her 
son-in-law  Claypole  (still  standing  as  a  farmhouse),  and 
that  there  she  died  on  November  19,  1665.  Further  par- 
ticulars respecting  her  latter  days  will  occur  in  the  lives 
of  her  children,  Richard,  Mary,  and  Frances. 


CHAPTER  III. 


ROBERT,  ELDEST  SON  OF  THE  PROTECTOR. 


ROBERT  was  sent,  together  with  his  brother 
Oliver,  and  perhaps  also  with  Richard,  to  the 
free  grammar-school  of  Felsted,  then  under  the 
management  of  Mr.  Holbeach.  This  school, 
which  had  been  founded  by  Lord  Rich  in  1564,  was  then 
in  considerable  repute.  Drs.  John  Wallis  and  Isaac 
Barrow  are  said  to  have  received  their  early  education 
there.  But  what  principally  recommended  the  place  to 
the  judgment  of  Oliver  was,  no  doubt,  the  circumstance 
that  his  sons  would  there  be  under  the  watchful  observa- 
tion of  their  maternal  grandfather,  Sir  James  Bourchier, 
whose  seat,  Grandcourts,  was  in  the  same  parish  on  the 
road  between  Braintree  and  Felsted.  Other  neighbouring 
friends  and  relatives  were  the  Mashams  of  Otes.  The  few 
scanty  notices  of  this  Robert,  who  was  evidently  a  son 
after  the  father's  heart,  are  of  a  very  interesting  character. 
The  first  occurs  in  1638.  Cromwell  had  been  making  a 
brief  stoppage  at  Otes,  where  his  cousin,  Mrs.  St.  John, 
happened  also  to  be  paying  a  visit.  Perhaps,  as  Mr. 
Carlyle  suggests,  he  may  have  been  taking  one  of  his  sons 
over  to  Felsted  School,  and  on  returning  home  took  occa- 
sion to  ride  round  byway  of  Otes  and  have  a  talk  with  his 


Robert,  Eldest  Son  of  the  Protector.  23 

pious  kinsmen.  The  discourse  passing  at  that  interview 
had  evidently  been  of  a  devotional  character  ;  so  Mrs.  St. 
John  reminds  him  in  a  subsequent  letter.  Cromwell's  reply 
to  her  is  one  of  his  most  characteristic  epistles  ;  but  the 
only  use  we  need  make  of  it  here  is  to  quote  the  reference 
it  contains  to  one  of  his  sons,  presumably  Robert:  "Salute 
all  my  friends  in  that  family  whereof  you  are  yet  a  member. 
I  am  much  bound  unto  them  for  their  love,  I  bless  the 
Lord  for  them,  and  that  my  son  by  their  procurement  is 
so  well.  Let  him  have  your  prayers,  your  counsel ;  let 
me  have  them." 

Seven  months  later  this  Robert  died  at  Felsted,*  of 
small-pox,  to  the  unspeakable  grief  of  his  father.  It  was 
to  this  event  he  alluded  on  his  death-bed,  when  he  said, 
"This  text"  ["I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who 
strengtheneth  me"]  "did  once  save  my  life,  when  my  eldest 
son  died  ;  which  went  as  a  dagger  to  my  heart ;  indeed  it 
did."  It  was  long  supposed  that  the  son  thus  alluded  to 
was  young  Oliver,  who  fought  by  his  father's  side ;  and 
under  this  impression  Mr.  Carlyle  inserted  the  name  hypo- 
thetically  into  that  colloquy,  thus  :  "  when  my  eldest  son 
[poor  Oliver]  died  "  —  which  Monsieur  Guizot  copying, 
but  failing  to  mark  the  doubt,  introduced  as  "  mon  pauvre 
Olivier "  into  his  own  text,  thus  treating  it  as  an  un- 
questionable fact.  The  error  had  no  doubt  acquired  con- 
firmation from  a  passage  in  the  father's  letter  of  condolence 
to  his  brother-in-law,  Valentine  Wauton,  who  lost  a  son 
at  Marston  Moor.  "  Sir,"  says  he,  "  you  know  my  own 
trials  this  way " ;  and  then  soon  after,  recalling  his 
favourite  text,  he  adds,  "  You  may  do  all  things  by  the 
strength  of  Christ.  Seek  that,  and  you  shall  easily  bear 
your  trial."  He  had  himself,  in  fact,  just  been  compelled 
to  put  to  the  test  the  principle  here  recommended  to  his 

*  The  old  schoolroom,  in  which  Oliver's  sons  were  taught  by  Mr.  Holbeach, 
still  stands,  and  now  is  used  as  the  Sunday-school.  The  names  of  many 
scholars  are  cut  into  the  old  oak  wainscot. 


24  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

brother.  It  is  now  fully  confirmed  that  Robert,  and  not 
Oliver,  was  the  son  whose  premature  death  rose  to  his 
memory  in  the  hour  of  his  own  closing  conflict.  The 
discovery  of  this  interesting  fact  is  due  to  a  writer  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  January,  1856,  whose  narrative  is  as 
follows  :  "  In  the  register  of  burials  in  the  parish  church 
of  Felsted  for  1639  occurs  this  entry  : 

"  Robertus  Cromwell  Alius  honorandi  viri  Militis  Oliveris 
Cromwell  et  Elizabethae  uxoris  ejus  sepultus  fuit,  31  die 
Maii.  Et  Robertus  fuit  eximie  pius  juvenis  Deum  timens 
supra  multos." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OLIVER,   SECOND  SON   OF  THE  PROTECTOR. 

OLIVER  accompanied  his  brother  Robert,  as  stated 
above,  to  Felsted  School.  On  the  breaking  out 
of  hostilities,  that  brother  having  recently  died, 
Oliver  was  the  only  one  of  the  sons  old  enough 
to  bear  arms,  and  he  could  not  have  been  more  than 
twenty  when  his  name  appears  as  Cornet  in  Troop  Eight 
of  Earl  Bedford's  Horse.  Very  few  traces  of  his  military 
career  survive,  except  in  the  form  of  a  reference  to  him 
occurring  in  Simon  Gunton's  "  History  of  Peterborough." 
In  that  chronicle  the  elder  Cromwell  is  represented,  ac- 
cording to  the  usual  custom  of  ignorant  church-guides, 
as  having  been  engaged  in  the  mutilation  of  the  cathedral. 
Young  Oliver's  share  in  the  transaction  becomes  visible 
through  the  medium  of  one  of  his  troopers,  who,  being 
about  to  burn  a  manuscript  relating  to  the  antiquities  of 
the  see,  was  persuaded  by  Mr.  Humphrey  Austin,  the 
precentor,  to  surrender  it  for  the  sum  of  ios.,  and  to 
ensure  its  preservation  by  subscribing  an  acquittance  on 
the  fly-leaf,  which  Mr.  Austin  thereupon  prefaced  by  the 
following  "Memorandm. — This  book  was  hid  in  the  Church 
by  me,  Humphrey  Austin,  February,  1643,  and  found  by 
one  of  Colonel  Cromwell's  soldiers  when  they  pulled  down 


26  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


all  the  seats  in  the  Choir,  22  April,  1643.  And  I  making 
inquiry  among  them  for  an  old  Latin  Bible  which  was 
lost,  I  found  out  at  last  the  party  who  had  it,  and  I  gave 
him  for  the  book  ten  shillings,  as  you  see  by  this  acquit- 
tance "  [here  following]. 

"  I  pray  let  this  scripture  book  alone,  for  he  hath  paid 
me  for  it,  and  therefore  I  would  desire  you  to  let  it  alone. 
By  me  Henry  Topcliffe,  soldier  under  Captain  Cromwell, 
Colonel  Cromwell's  son.  Therefore  I  pray  you  let  it  alone. 
Henry  Topcliffe.     22  April,  1643." 

The  book  thus  rescued  was  entitled,  "  The  Leger-book 
of  Peterborough,"  being  the  annals  of  the  see,  compiled 
by  a  monk  of  the  establishment  named  Robert  Swapham. 
We  know  full  well  that  the  Cromwell  family,  wherever  they 
could  make  their  influence  felt  throughout  the  war,  rigor- 
ously discountenanced  violations  of  this  kind  ;  and  a  letter 
of  the  younger  Oliver  turns  up  at  this  very  date  to  corro- 
borate the  fact. 

"  To  the  right  worshipful  and  worthy  friend  Samuel  S  my  the, 
Esq.,  Steward  of  the  City  of  Norwich. 

"  Worthy  Sir, 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  should  have  such  an  occasion 
to  write  to  Norwich,  concerning  those  which  say  they 
came  from  that  noble  city  which  hath  furnished  our  armies 
(I  can  speak  by  experience)  with  godly  men ;  but  indeed 
I  suppose  them  rather  spurious  offspring  of  some  ignoble 
place.  Sir,  thus  it  is,  that  among  honest  men,  some 
knaves  have  been  admitted  into  my  troop,  who  coming 
with  expectation  of  some  base  ends  but  being  frustrated 
of  them,  and  finding  that  this  cause  did  not  nourish  their 
expectations,  have  to  the  dishonour  of  God,  and  my  dis- 
credit, and  their  own  infamy,  deserted  the  cause  and  me 
their  captain.  Therefore,  Sir,  look  upon  them  as  dis- 
honourers of  God's  cause,   and    high  displeasers  of  my 


Oliver,  Second  Son  of  the  Protector.  27 

father,  myself,  and  the  whole  regiment.  In  brief,  I  would 
desire  you  to  make  them  severe  examples,  by  taking  and 
returning  the  arms  and  horses  of  all  that  have  not  a  ticket 
under  my  hand,  and  to  clap  them  up  into  prison,  and 
inflicting  of  such  punishment  as  you  shall  think  fit.  Es- 
pecially I  desire  that  you  would  deal  severely  with  one 
Robert  Waffe  [Wasse  ?]  and  Simon  Scafe.  Pray,  Sir, 
cause  to  return  speedily  all  that  had  liberty  from  me  to  go 
to  their  friends.  And  likewise  I  desire  you  would  secure 
a  good  horse  from  some  of  your  malignants  to  mount  one 
of  my  soldiers,  John  Manning,  now  at  Norwich,  who  was 
lately  taken  prisoner  by  the  enemy  and  by  that  means 
destitute.  And  pray  do  me  the  favour  to  mount  such  men 
as  this  bearer,  Richard  Waddelow,  my  clerk,  shall  procure. 
And  so  I  rest, 

"  Yours  to  command, 

"  Oliver  Cromwell. 

"  From  my  quarters  at  Peterborough, 
"15  Aug.  1643." 

Young  Oliver  died  of  small-pox  at  Newport  Pagnell  in 
the  second  week  of  March,  1644.  He  was  a  very  hand- 
some young  gentleman,  says  the  author  of  the  memoir 
of  Richard  Cromwell  in  "  Lives  and  Characters  of  Illus- 
trious Persons  dying  in  1711."  "  His  father  had  suddenly 
summoned  him  to  join  the  army,  and  he  soon  after  fell  a 
victim  to  that  complaint  in  the  flower  of  his  youth."  In 
opposition  to  the  quite  apocryphal  statement  contained  in 
the  "  Squire  Papers,"  the  occasion  and  whereabouts  of 
his  death  is  authoritatively  established  by  a  passage  in 
the  Parliament  Scout,  March  15  to  22,  1644  :  "  Colonel 
Cromwell  is  gone  with  his  forces  from  Burlingham  to 
Stony  Stratford  and  Brickhill,  and  begins  to  increase  in 
power.  He  hath  lost  his  eldest  son,  who  is  dead  of  the 
small-pox  at  Newport  [Newport  Pagnell],  a  civil  young 
gentleman,  and  the  joy  of  his  father." 


CHAPTER  V. 


RICHARD,   THIRD   SON   OF  THE   PROTECTOR. 


LIKE  his  two  elder  brothers,  Richard  was  sent  to 
Felsted  School ;  after  which  he  resided  in  the 
.>  Temple  in  London  during  the  war,  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty  was  admitted  to  the  Society  of 
Lincoln's  Inn.  The  Protectorate  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  into  which  he  was  installed  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  was  a  troublous  reign  of  eight  months,  the  story 
of  which  would  be  unsuitable  in  this  place.  At  the 
Restoration  he  fled  the  kingdom,  more  out  of  fear  of  his 
creditors  than  of  the  King,  leaving  his  wife  and  children 
behind  him  at  Hursley  Lodge,  near  Romsey,  in  Hants. 
After  twenty  years'  residence  abroad  in  Paris  and  else- 
where, he  returned  to  England  in  1680 — a  period  when  the 
increasing  unpopularity  of  Charles  II.  divested  such  a  step 
of  any  great  danger — and,  under  the  assumed  name  of 
Clarke,  either  occupied  a  small  estate  which  he  owned  at 
Cheshunt,  or  shared  the  roof  of  his  friend,  Serjeant  Sir 
Thomas  Pengelly  (afterwards  Chief  Baron  of  the  Ex- 
chequer), whose  house  was  that  standing  near  Cheshunt 
Church,  and  subsequently  known  as  the  Rectory.*     His 

*  Pengelly  House  in  modern  times  became  the  property  of  a  gentleman 
named  Atwood,  who  bequeathed  it  for  charitable  purposes.  It  was  subse- 
quently used  as  a  school.  In  1880  it  was  destroyed  by  fire  ;  estimated  damage, 
;£  1 0,000. 


Richard,    Third  Son  of  the  Protector.         29 

wife  had  been  dead  five  years  ;  his  only  surviving  son 
was  in  possession  of  large  property  derived  from  her ;  and 
of  his  daughters,  one  was  already  married  to  Dr.  Gibson 
(of  whom  hereafter) ;  another  was  perhaps  still  living  at 
Hursley;  and  a  third,  Dorothy,  just  then  nineteen  years 
of  age,  was  on  the  point  of  becoming  the  wife  of  John 
Mortimer,  a  Somersetshire  squire.  Richard's  return  to 
England  at  this  juncture  favours  the  suggestion  that  one 
of  the  objects  he  had  in  view  was  to  be  present  at  the 
ceremony.  The  young  lady  died  the  following  year  in 
childbed.  There  were  now  only  two  daughters  and  one 
son,  Oliver,  remaining  out  of  a  family  of  nine.  This  son 
died  unmarried  in  1705,  when  the  question  arose  whether 
the  Hursley  estate  which  he  inherited  from  his  mother 
passed  directly  to  his  sisters  as  co-heirs,  or  to  Richard 
their  father  for  his  life.  The  sisters  proposed  to  compro- 
mise the  affair  by  paying  him  an  annuity ;  but  Richard, 
preferring  that  the  matter  should  be  decided  in  Chancery, 
obtained  a  decree  in  his  own  favour. 

This  affair  being  settled,  Richard  appears  to  have  spent 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  remaining  seven  years  of 
his  life  at  Hursley,  where  in  company  with  his  daughters 
he  attended  the  parish  church  on  Sunday  mornings,  and 
in  the  afternoon  rode  alone  in  his  coach  to  a  Baptist 
meeting-house  in  Romsey.  He  died  at  Cheshunt  July  12, 
1712,  and  lies  buried  in  the  chancel  of  Hursley  Church. 
His  death  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the  house  of 
his  Cheshunt  friend,  Pengelly,  above  mentioned,  the 
counsel  who  had  successfully  conducted  his  cause  in 
1705,  and  to  whom  he  was  strongly  attached.  In  his 
will  he  bequeaths  a  personal  souvenir  to  his  good  friend 
Mrs.  Rachel  Pengelly.  Some  other  names,  too,  are 
mentioned,  but  his  daughters  are  not  referred  to.  He 
knew  that  they  would  take  the  Hursley  estate  after  him, 
and  of  personal  property  he  probably  had  but  little.  He 
enjoyed,  we  are  told,  a  good  state  of  health  to  the  last, 


30  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

and  at  fourscore  would  gallop  his  horse  for  several  miles 
together.  In  person  he  is  described  as  tall,  fair-haired, 
and  "  the  lively  image  of  his  father."  A  letter  of  T. 
Whiston,  quoted  by  Mark  Noble,  asserts  that  the  Crom- 
wells  as  a  family  possessed  great  bodily  strength,  and 
were  of  robust  constitutions,  many  of  them  attaining 
considerable  longevit)'.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  observable 
how  many  of  them  died  in  infancy,  but  this  may  have 
been  owing  to  the  ignorant  medical  treatment  of  those 
days. 

As  to  his  character,  Richard  has  shared  in  the  defa- 
mation which,  more  or  less,  overtook  all  the  members  of 
his  family.  He  is  now  known  to  have  been  an  upright, 
generous,  and  sagacious  man — fully  aware  that  the  turbu- 
lent crew  around  him  when  he  became  Protector  had 
made  peace  impossible,  but  resolving  at  the  same  time  not 
to  shed  a  drop  of  blood  in  defence  of  a  false  position.  A 
humane  temper  is  not  necessarily  a  weakness;  and  cer- 
tainly John  Howe,  who  knew  him  well,  did  not  deem 
him  a  weak  man.  On  one  occasion  in  after-years,  when 
some  person  in  Mr.  Howe's  presence  charged  the  ex- 
Protector  with  weakness,  the  venerable  divine  exclaimed  : 
"  How  could  that  man  be  termed  weak  who,  when  the 
army  remonstrance  was  brought  to  him  by  Fleetwood, 
stood  it  out  all  night  against  the  whole  Council,  and 
continued  the  debate  till  four  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
maintaining  that  to  dissolve  that  Parliament  would  be 
his  and  their  ruin — with  none  but  Thurloe  to  abet  him  ?" 
Dr.  Isaac  Watts,  who  in  his  youthful  days  was  privileged 
to  hold  many  conversations  with  Richard  Cromwell, 
testifies  that  his  abilities  were  by  no  means  contemptible. 
He  further  remarks  that  in  all  these  interviews,  the  ex- 
Protector  never  but  on  one  occasion  referred  to  his  former 
elevation,  and  then  only  in  a  very  cursory  manner. 
Another  favourable  witness  was  William  Tonge,  of 
Denmark  Street,   Soho,  who  described   to    Dr.    Thomas 


Richard,   Third  Son  of  the  Protector.         31 

Gibbons  Richard's  occasional  visits  to  some  friends  there, 
his  appearance  in  a  place  of  worship,  his  unblemished 
character,  and  the  pleasantry  which  characterized  his  talk. 
He  corroborates  Watts's  remark  about  his  unwillingness 
to  refer  to  former  times. 

John  Howe,  the  divine  above  mentioned,  who  had 
been  chaplain  in  succession  to  both  the  Protectors,  died 
in  London  in  1702.  He  was  visited  in  his  last  sickness 
by  Richard  Cromwell,  then  seventy-six  years  of  age,  who, 
hearing  that  his  old  friend  was  near  his  end,  had  come 
up  from  the  country  to  make  him  a  respectful  visit  and 
to  take  a  final  farewell.  Much  serious  discourse,  we  are 
told,  passed  between  the  two  patriarchal  men,  and  their 
parting  was  solemn  and  affectionate.  When  Richard's 
own  end  was  approaching,  some  few  years  later,  he  said 
to  his  two  attendant  daughters,  "  Live  in  love  ;  I  am 
going  to  the  God  of  love."  His  affectionate  disposition 
is  revealed  in  the  following  letter,  written  to  one  of  these 
daughters  from  the  house  of  his  friend,  Sir  Thomas 
Pengelly,  at  Cheshunt,  ten  years  after  his  return  to 
England. 

Richard  Cromwell  to  Mrs.  Anne  Gibson. 

"  1 8  December,  1690. 

"  Dear, 

"  Think  not  that  I  forget  you,  though  I  confess 
that  I  have  been  silent  too  long  in  returning  and  owning 
that  of  yours  to  me.  That  which  was  one  bar,  I  knew 
not,  upon  Mrs.  Abbott's  removing,  how  to  send  so  as  my 
letter  might  come  safe  to  you.  For  though  we  write 
nothing  of  State  affairs,  they  being  above  our  providential 
sphere,  yet  I  am  not  willing  to  be  exposed ;  nor  can  there 
be  that  freedom  when  we  are  thoughtful  of  such  restraint 
as  a  peeping  eye.  The  hand  by  which  this  comes  [to 
you]  gave  me  a  hint  as  if  there  were  some  foul  play  to 


32  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


letters  directed  to  him  [to  Pengelly  ?] .  Dear  heart,  I 
thank  thee  for  thy  kind  and  tender  expressions  to  me, 
and  I  assure  thee  (if  there  had  been  cause)  they  would 
have  melted  me.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  pity,  piety,  and 
love.  What  I  had  before,  was  so  full  that  I  had  not  the 
least  room  to  turn  a  thought  or  surmise.  But  what  shall 
I  say  ?  My  heart  was  full,  but  now  it  overflows.  You 
have  put  joy  and  gladness  into  it.  How  unworthy  am  I 
to  have  such  a  child !  And  I  know  I  may  venture  to  say 
that  the  like  parallel  is  not  to  be  found.  What  I  said  was 
experienced  matter  for  information.  What  you  replied 
was  in  behalf  of  those  who  professed  themselves  to  be  the 
Lord's  people  ;  and  they  that  are  truly  such  are  as  tender 
as  the  apple  of  His  eye.  I  rejoice  in  that  we  both  of  us 
love  them ;  yet  we  are  not  to  deny  our  reasons  as  to  the 
mischiefs  some  of  them  have  been  instrumental  [in  caus- 
ing] not  only  in  particular  to  a  family,  but  in  general  to 
the  Church  of  Christ.  Besides,  what  woes  are  hanging 
over  these  nations  !  May  we  not  go  farther,  and  bring  in 
all  Christendom  ?  I  have  been  alone  thirty  years  banished 
and  under  silence  ;  and  my  strength  and  safety  is  to  be 
retired,  quiet  and  silent.  We  are  foolish  in  taking  our 
cause  out  of  the  hand  of  God.  Our  Saviour  will  plead, 
and  God  will  do  right  [as]  He  hath  promised.  Let  us 
join  our  prayers  for  faith  and  patience.  If  we  have 
heaven,  let  whoso  will,  get  the  world.  My  hearty,  hearty, 
hearty  affection  and  love  to  your  sister  and  self.  Salute 
all  friends.  I  rest,  commending  you  to  the  blessing  of  the 
Almighty.     Again  farewell. 

"  Your  truly  loving  father, 

"R.  C. 

"  Present  me  to  all  friends.     Landlord  and   Landlady 
[the  Pengellys]  present  respects  and  service." 

Note. — In  his  extant  letters  he  avoids  names  and  places  as  much  as  possible, 
his  object  being  to  keep  out  of  harm's  way. 


Richard,  Third  Son  of  the  Protector.         33 

The  few  incoherences  visible  in  the  above  would  pro- 
bably adjust  themselves  fairly  enough,  did  we  know  the 
substance  of  the  letter  which  brought  them  forth  ;  though 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  an  obscure  and  involved  style  would 
become  habitual  to  one  writing  under  the  constant  fear  of 
having  his  letters  opened ;  to  say  nothing  of  his  having 
spoken  French  for  twenty  years. 

The  story  of  Richard's  twenty  years'  exile  is  involved  in 
much  obscurity.  The  following  document,  preserved  in 
the  Record  Office,  may  help  in  some  small  measure  to 
remove  it.  It  is  numbered  CLI.  17,  State  Papers, 
Domestic,  Charles  II.,  and  was  first  brought  before  the 
public  notice  in  the  Athenceum,  April  12,  1862,  by  Mrs. 
Everett  Green,  who  opened  the  subject  by  stating  that 
during  the  war  with  Holland  the  Government  of 
Charles  II.,  fancying  that  the  English  "  fanatics  "  resident 
abroad  were  in  league  with  the  Provinces  against  their 
own  country,  came  to  the  resolution  of  fetching  them 
home  by  a  threat  of  high  treason.  An  Act  was  thereupon 
passed,  beginning  with  the  direct  attainder  of  three,  to 
wit,  Thomas  Dolman,  James  Bampfield,  and  Thomas 
Scott ;  and  further  enacting  that  any  others  who  should 
refuse  to  come  when  summoned  would  incur  the  like 
penalty.  This  was  in  1665,  and  the  next  year  it  became 
known  that  a  list  of  fugitives  had  been  nominated, 
including  Richard  Cromwell.  Mrs.  Cromwell,  his  wife, 
becoming  justly  alarmed,  sent  her  agent,  William  Mum- 
ford,  twice  up  to  London  to  procure,  if  possible,  the 
withdrawal  of  her  husband's  name  from  the  proclamation. 
As  the  opportunity  seemed  a  favourable  one  for  getting  at 
the  personal  history  of  the  ex-Protector,  the  agent  himself 
was  put  under  examination,  and  deposed  as  follows  : 

"  The  examination  of  William  Mumford  of  Hursley 
near  Winchester  Co.  Hants,  yeoman  ;  taken  this  15  March, 
1666,    before    me   Edmund   Warcupp    Esq.    one   of  his 

3 


34  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

Majesty's  Justices  of  the  peace  for  the  said  county  and 
liberties.  This  examinant  saith  that  he  is  menial  servant 
to  Mrs.  Dorothy  Cromwell,  wife  to  Richard  Cromwell, 
living  at  Hursley ;  and  hath  belonged  to  him  and  to  her 
these  eleven  years  last  past,  and  now  manageth  Mrs. 
Cromwell's  business  in  the  country  or  London  as  her 
occasions  require.  He  saith  that  he  came  to  London 
about  five  weeks  since  to  apply  to  Dr.  Wilkins  to  move 
my  Lord  Chancellor  [Hyde]  that  Richard  Cromwell's 
name  might  be  omitted  in  his  Majesty's  Proclamation  to 
call  his  English  subjects  out  of  France,  for  that  his  debts 
would  ruin  him  in  case  he  should  be  necessitated  to 
return  into  England ;  and  Dr.  Wilkins  informed  this 
examinant  that  his  lordship  the  Lord  Chancellor  told  him 
he  knew  not  of  Richard  Cromwell's  name  being  at  all 
put  into  the  proclamation,  whereupon  this  examinant 
immediately  returned  into  the  country.  But  the  rumour 
continuing  that  Richard  Cromwell's  name  would  be  in, 
he  returned  again  to  London  by  his  mistress's  order  yes- 
terday was  three  weeks,  and  then  lodged  at  one  William 
Taste's  a  baker  in  Air  Street,  Piccadilly,  and  his  horse 
stands  at  the  Bear  there ; — that  at  the  first  time  of  this 
examinant's  being  in  town  he  received  a  letter  from 
Richard  Cromwell  directed  to  himself  but  was  for  Mrs. 
Cromwell,  the  contents  whereof  was  complaints  for  money 
and  condoling  for  his  mother's  death  ;  and  saith  he 
knoweth  not  of  any  other  person,  that  Richard  Cromwell 
correspondeth  with,  but  this  examinant.  He  further  saith, 
that  this  examinant's  wife's  sister  Elizabeth  Blackstone 
having  by  distraction  murdered  her  neighbour's  child  and 
been  committed  to  Newgate  for  the  offence,  this  exam- 
inant repaired  to  Newgate  to  assist  her  in  her  distracted 
condition,  and  this  was  all  the  reason  why  he  went  to 
Newgate.  He  further  saith,  that  as  far  as  he  knows  or 
believes,  the  said  Richard  Cromwell  doth  not  hold  any 
intelligence  with  any  Fanatics  nor  with  the  King  of  France 


Richard,    Third  Son  of  the  Protector.         35 

or  States  of  Holland ;  and  that  to  avoid  any  jealousy  of 
it,  the  said  Richard  Cromwell  is  by  Dr.  Wilkins'  advice 
gone  or  going  into  Italy  or  Spain,  and  that  the  last  letter 
this  examinant  sent  to  him  five  weeks  since  was  directed 
to  John  Clarke  at  Monsieur  Bauvais'  in  Paris,  by  which 
name  the  said  Richard  Cromwell  now  passeth,  and  doth 
usually  change  his  name  with  his  dwelling,  that  he  may 
keep  himself  unknown  beyond  the  seas,  so  as  to  avoid 
all  correspondency  or  intelligence,  which  this  examinant 
knows  he  industriously  avoideth ;  for  during  last  winter 
twelve  month  he  lived  with  the  said  Richard  Cromwell  in 
Paris,  and  the  whole  diversion  of  him  there  was  drawing 
of  landscapes  and  reading  of  books ;  And  he  saw  no 
Englishman,  Scotch,  or  Irishman  in  his  company  during 
that  whole  time,  nor  any  Frenchmen  but  such  as  in- 
structed him  in  the  sciences.  This  examinant  further 
saith  that  he  hath  not  any  intelligence  with  any  person 
whatsoever  to  his  knowledge,  that  doth  intend  or  act 
anything  whatsoever  against  his  Majesty;  and  that  he 
conceives  himself  bound  in  duty  and  conscience  to  dis- 
cover all  traitors  or  traitorous  conspiracies  against  his 
Majesty  or  his  Government ;  and  that  the  estate  of 
Richard  Cromwell  in  right  of  his  wife  is  but  £600  per 
annum,  and  that  he  knoweth  Richard  Cromwell  is  not 
sixpence  the  better  or  richer  for  being  the  son  of  his 
father,  or  [for  being]  the  pretended  Protector  of  England  ; 
and  that  the  estate  of  old  Mrs.  Cromwell  lately  deceased 
was  in  the  hands  and  management  of  Jeremy  White, 
chaplain  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  now  at  Sir  John 
Russell's  at  Chippenham,  who  will  not  come  to  any 
account  for  the  same,  and  who  hath  not  yet  conformed. 
This  examinant  further  saith,  that  he  knoweth  not  of  any 
person  who  writes  to  the  said  Richard  besides  this  exam- 
inant and  Mrs.  Cromwell  his  wife  ;  and  that  he  knoweth 
not  nor  ever  heard,  that  the  Scotch  regiment  is  coming 
out  of  France ;  and  he  is  certain  that  the  said  Richard 


1162798 


36  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

never  intended  to  come  over  with  it,  but  is  gone  or  going 
into  Spain  or  Italy  as  advised.  He  further  saith,  that  he 
hath  often  heard  Richard  Cromwell  pray  in  his  private 
prayers  for  his  Majesty,  praying  God  to  make  his  Majesty 
a  nursing  father  to  his  people,  speaking  often  with  great 
reverence  of  his  Majesty's  grace  and  favour  to  himself  and 
family  in  suffering  them  to  enjoy  their  lives  and  the  little 
fortunes  they  have  ;  And  this  examinant  further  saith  that 
he  will  not  meddle  any  further  in  the  said  Richard  Crom- 
well's affairs,  if  it  be  any  way  prejudicial  to  his  Majesty's 
service ;  and  that  he  hath  not,  nor  the  said  Richard 
Cromwell,  to  this  examinant's  knowledge,  acted  directly 
or  indirectly  anything  against  his  Majesty's  Government 
since  his  Majesty's  happy  restoration,  and  that  himself 
hath  taken  the  Oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy.  And 
further  sayeth  not. 

"  William  Mumford. 

"  (Signed)  Edmund  Warcupp." 

The  falsity  of  Hyde's  statement  that  Richard  Crom- 
well's name  was  not  in  the  list  is  proved  by  another 
paper  endorsed  "  26  March,  1666,  Names  of  the  fourteen 
persons  to  be  warned  home  by  a  proclamation  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  Act."  They  were  as  follows  :  William  Scott, 
Sir  Robert  Honeywood,  jun.,  Colonel  John  Disbrowe, 
Colonel  Kilpatrick,  John  Grove,  Algernon  Sydney,  Oliver 
St.  John,  Richard  Steele,  Newcomen  and  Hickman,  two 
ministers,  Richard  Cromwell,  John  Phelps,  Colonel 
Cobbett,  Richard  Deane.  On  maturer  consideration,  all 
these  names  were  withdrawn  except  five,  Richard  Crom- 
well's being  one  of  those  withdrawn. 


Richard,   Third  Son  of  the  Protector.        37 


THE   PROTECTRESS   DOROTHY. 

Richard's  wife,  whom  he  married  in  1649,  shortly  after 
the  death  of  Charles  I.,  was  Dorothy,  eldest  daughter  and 
co-heir  of  Richard  Major,  a  wealthy  landowner  of  Hursley 
aforesaid,  and  of  Merdon,  in  Surrey.  This  was  a  marriage 
in  which  the  elder  Protector  testified  unqualified  satisfac- 
tion, on  account  of  the  personal  piety,  not  only  of  the 
father,  but  also  of  "  Dear  Doll  "  herself;  and  the  allusions 
which  he  makes  in  his  letters  to  her  on-coming  family 
look  as  though  he  cherished  the  hope  that  his  grand- 
children would  sustain  his  own  greatness.  The  few  sur- 
viving memorials  of  the  lady  herself  represent  her  as  a 
prudent,  godly,  and  practical  Christian,  much  devoted  to 
acts  of  personal  charity.  For  a  while  she  was  terribly 
cast  down  by  the  reverse  of  fortune  which  drove  her  hus- 
band and  herself  from  the  palace  of  Whitehall  to  the 
obscurity  of  the  Hursley  retreat,  an  event  aggravated 
simultaneously  by  the  decease  of  her  father,  Mr.  Major, 
and  the  flight  of  her  husband  into  prolonged  exile.  It  is 
true,  she  had  her  infant  family  to  rear,  the  birth  of  her 
youngest  child,  Dorothy,  occurring  just  as  her  husband 
left  the  English  shore  ;  but  her  bright  hopes  in  respect  of 
their  future  fortunes  were  utterly  dashed,  and  the  chagrin 
which  darkened  her  own  reflections  seems  traceable  in 
their  education.  One  result  of  affliction  was  the  strengthen- 
ing of  her  Nonconformist  principles,  and  her  active  bene- 
volence thenceforward  found  expression  in  endeavours  to 
solace  and  protect  divers  ministers  ejected  by  the  Uni- 
formity Act  of  1662.  She  died  on  January  5,  1676,  in  the 
forty-ninth  year  of  her  age,  and  lies  buried  in  the  chancel 
of  Hursley  Church.  Her  children,  nine  in  number,  were 
as  follows  : 

I.  Elizabeth,  born  in  1650.     This  is  "the  little  brat" 


38  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

after  whose  welfare  the  elder  Protector  makes  inquiry  in 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Major  on  July  17,  wherein  also  he  chides 
the  young  parents  for  neglecting  to  write  to  him,  and  says 
of  dear  Doll,  "I  doubt  not  her  husband  hath  spoiled  her. 
...  I  hope  you  give  my  son  good  counsel :  I  believe  he 
needs  it ;  he  is  in  the  dangerous  time  of  his  age,  and  it's 
a  very  vain  world."  Touching  the  baby,  Mr.  Carlyle 
thinks  "  the  poor  little  thing  must  have  died  soon,"  and 
he  adds  that  "  in  Noble's  inexact  lists  there  is  no  trace  of 
its  ever  having  lived."  But  Mark  Noble  is  strictly  exact 
in  this  matter,  and  gives  us  all  the  information  we  need. 
Oliver's  good  wishes,  too,  were  amply  fulfilled,  for  the 
little  Elizabeth  outlived  all  her  brothers  and  sisters,  and 
reached  the  age  of  eighty-one.  She  appointed  as  executors 
Richard  and  Thomas  Cromwell,  grandsons  of  Henry, 
Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  desiring  them  to  erect  in 
Hursley  Church  a  monument  setting  forth  all  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  Cromwell  and  Major  alliances,  a  task  which 
they  duteously  fulfilled.  And  as  she  was  the  last  surviving 
representative  of  her  father's  house,  a  vast  collection  of 
portraits,  letters,  and  other  family  relics,  descended  from 
her  to  her  executors.  She  will  again  come  under  our 
notice. 

II.  Anne,  born  in  165 1  ;  died  in  infancy,  and  was 
buried  at  Hursley. 

III.  A  son,  baptized  at  Hursley  November  3,  1652  ; 
buried  there  in  the  following  month. 

IV.  Mary,  born  in  1654,  died  in  infancy ;  buried  at 
Hursley. 

V.  A  fourth  daughter,  born  in  1655,  lived  only  twelve 
days. 

VI.  Oliver,  son  and  heir,  of  whom  hereafter  (p.  41). 

VII.  Dorothy,  born  in  1657;  died  next  year  during 
the  Protectorate  of  her  father,  who  prudently  refrained 
from  opening  the  Westminster  Abbey  vault,  and  caused 
the  body  to  be  quietly  buried  at  Hursley. 


Richard,    Third  Son  of  the  Protector.         39 

VIII.  Anna,  born  in  1659  during  her  father's  Pro- 
tectorate. She  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Thomas  Gibson, 
Physician- General  of  the  Army,  whom  she  survived  many 
years.  Her  own  death  occurred  in  1727,  in  the  sixty- 
ninth  year  of  her  age,  and  a  marble  monument  in  St. 
George's  Chapel  in  the  Foundling  Hospital  commemo- 
rates husband  and  wife.  Dr.  Gibson  by  will  appointed 
that  after  his  wife's  decease  the  whole  of  his  property 
should  pass  to  his  nephew,  Dr.  Edmund  Gibson,  Bishop 
of  London.  The  prelate  maintained  a  respectful  and 
intimate  correspondence  with  his  widowed  aunt  so  long 
as  she  lived,  and  it  is  conjectured  that  the  terse  and  com- 
prehensive Life  of  Oliver,  which  about  that  period  went 
through  so  many  editions,  was  the  result  of  his  honourable 
and  appreciative  attachment  to  the  family.  The  two 
surviving  sisters — that  is  to  say,  Mrs.  Gibson  and  her 
elder  sister,  Miss  Elizabeth  Cromwell — lived  together  in 
Bedford  Row,  and  after  the  death  of  their  only  brother, 
Oliver,  must  have  been  very  wealthy.  We  catch  an  inter- 
esting glimpse  of  them  in  1719  from  the  journal  of 
Thomas  Hearne,  the  antiquary,  who  long  resided  in  St. 
Edmund  Hall,  Oxford :  "  On  Saturday,  5  September, 
came  to  Oxford  two  daughters  of  Richard  Cromwell,  son 
of  Oliver  Cromwell,  Protector,  one  of  whom  is  married  to 
Dr.  Gibson,  the  physician,  who  wrote  '  The  Anatomy '; 
the  other  is  unmarried.  They  are  both  Presbyterians,  as 
is  also  Dr.  Gibson,  who  was  with  them.  They  were  at 
the  Presbyterian  Meeting-house  in  Oxford  on  Sunday 
morning  and  evening;  and  yesterday  they  and  all  the 
gang  with  them  dined  at  Dr.  Gibson's,  the  Provost  of 
Queen's,  who  is  related  to  them,  and  made  a  great  enter- 
tainment for  them,  expecting  something  from  them,  the 
physician  being  said  to  be  worth  £30,000.  They  went 
from  Oxford  after  dinner." — ("  Reliquiae  Hearneanse," 
vol.  ii.) 

Mr.  Hewling  Luson  (related  to  Henry's  line),  of  whom 


40  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


more  hereafter,  says  :  "I  have  been  several  times  in  com- 
pany with  these  ladies.  They  were  well-bred,  well- 
dressed,  stately  women,  exactly  punctilious ;  but  they 
seemed,  especially  Mistress  Cromwell,  to  carry  about 
them  a  consciousness  of  high  rank,  accompanied  with  a 
secret  dread  that  those  with  whom  they  conversed  should 
not  observe  and  acknowledge  it.  They  had  neither  the 
good  sense  nor  the  great  enthusiasm  of  Mrs.  Bendysh. 
But  as  the  daughter  of  Ireton  had  dignity  without  pride, 
the  daughters  of  Richard  Cromwell  had  pride  without 
much  dignity." 

Mr.  Luson  might  have  added  that  they  habitually 
assisted  other  branches  of  the  family  who  were  in  less 
prosperous  circumstances  than  themselves.  When  the 
death  of  their  father  had  left  these  two  ladies  at  liberty  to 
dispose  of  the  family  estate  at  Hursley,  they  sold  it  to  Sir 
William  Heathcote  for  £34,000  or  £35,000,  who  at  once 
proceeded  to  pull  down  the  old  mansion,  and  to  rebuild  it 
from  the  very  foundations.  In  1894  the  Hursley  estate 
passed  from  the  Heathcote  family  into  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Baxendale. 

IX.  Dorothy,  born  at  Hursley,  August  1,  1660.  The 
date  of  her  father's  flight  from  England  has  been  approxi- 
mately determined  by  Mark  Noble  as  in  July  or  August — 
that  is  to  say,  some  few  weeks  after  King  Charles  II.'s 
return,  and  it  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  his  object 
in  lingering  here  so  long  was  to  await  the  issue  of  this  the 
last  birth  in  the  family,  and,  as  it  proved  to  be  a  girl,  to 
give  for  the  second  time  the  beloved  name  of  Dorothy, 
which  conjecture  may  be  coupled  with  the  other  already 
made,  that  his  return  to  England  in  1680  was  in  part 
prompted  by  the  resolution  to  occupy  his  paternal  place 
at  her  wedding.  The  young  lady  married  John  Mor- 
timer, Esq.,  of  Somersetshire,  F.R.S.,  author  of  "  The 
Whole  Art  of  Husbandry,"  published  in  1708.  He  is  said 
to  have  half  ruined  himself  by  experiments  in  agricultural 


Richard,    Third  Son  of  the  Protector.         4 1 

science;  but  before  this  happened  his  wife  had  died  in 
child-bed  within  a  year  after  her  marriage.  This  was  on 
May  14,  1681.  Dorothy  therefore  is  not  to  be  credited 
with  any  share  in  that  transaction  of  her  sisters  when 
they  disputed  their  father's  rights  in  1705. 

Oliver  Cromwell,  only  surviving  son  of  the  Protector 
Richard,  was  born  at  Hursley  in  1656.  It  was  very 
natural  that  the  elder  Protector,  after  hearing  of  so 
many  deaths  among  his  grandchildren  at  Hursley,  should 
express  a  partiality  for  one  who  at  last  gave  fair  promise 
of  healthy  existence.  Little  Oliver  accordingly  was 
brought  up  from  Hampshire,  probably  to  Hampton  Court, 
and  remained  there  till  the  deposition  of  his  father,  when, 
together  with  his  sisters,  he  was  sent  down  to  Hursley. 
Of  his  early  manhood  little  is  known ;  but  at  the  period 
of  the  Revolution  in  1688,  being  then  in  possession  of  the 
estate,  which  he  inherited  from  his  mother,  he  came 
forward  with  a  patriotic  proposal  to  raise  a  regiment  of 
horse  for  service  in  Ireland,  if  he  might  be  permitted  to 
name  his  own  officers.  The  politic  William  may  have 
had  no  desire  at  that  juncture  of  affairs  to  see  a  rival  for 
popularity  in  the  person  of  a  second  Oliver  Cromwell, 
and  the  offer  was  declined.  It  was  a  like  cautious  feeling, 
perhaps,  which  gave  bias  to  the  Election  Committee,  who 
in  the  second  year  of  William  and  Mary  rejected  the  petition 
of  Oliver  Cromwell  and  Thomas  Jervoise,  Esquires,  when 
they  claimed  to  have  been  legally  returned  for  the  borough 
of  Lymington.  It  is  well  known  that  the  contested  elec- 
tions, whose  details  crowd  the  Commons'  Journals  of  that 
and  the  succeeding  age,  were  often  made  to  turn  on 
arbitrary,  diverse,  and  obsolete  customs  prevailing  in  this 
or  that  borough  ;  so  that,  as  the  law  of  one  borough  was 
no  law  for  its  neighbour,  the  returns  could  be  adjusted 
pretty  much  as  the  Government  desired. 

Mr.    Say,  the    Dissenting   minister,  to   whom   we   are 
indebted  for  so   many  reminiscences  of  the  family,  says 


42 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


he  had  seen  this  Mr.  Cromwell,  and  could  testify  that  he 
had  something  of  the  spirit  of  his  grandfather ;  while 
another  contemporary  writer  adds  that  "  he  had  his  look 
and  genius."  But  notwithstanding  that,  like  his  own 
father,  he  presented  the  marks  of  robust  manhood,  he 
passed  away  prematurely  in  1705  in  the  fiftieth  year  of 
his  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  family  vault  at  Hursley. 
His  will,  written  in  1686,  when  thirty  years  old,  makes 
mention  of  his  "  honoured  father,"  but  the  principal 
money  bequests  are  to  his  sisters,  giving  £2,000  to  each, 
if  they  married  in  their  father's  lifetime.  Legacies  are 
also  left  to  Benjamin  Disbrowe  of  London,  merchant,  to 
Paris  Slater  and  William  Wightman  of  London,  William 
Rudyard  of  Hackney,  Edward  Rayner  and  Mary  his 
wife,  John  Leigh,  Thomas  Wade,  his  cousin  Elizabeth 
Barton,  his  loving  friend  Samuel  Tomlins,  B.D.,  and 
Mrs.  Anne  Thomas. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


HENRY,   FOURTH   SON   OF  THE   PROTECTOR. 


H 


ENRY,  like  his  brothers,  received  such  brief 
education  as  the  stormy  times  would  permit, 
at  Felsted.  He  joined  his  father  in  arms 
about  the  time  of  the  remodelling  of  the  army, 
being  then  only  sixteen  years  of  age;  and  three  years 
afterwards  he  held  either  a  captaincy  in  Harrison's 
regiment  or  in  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax's  Life-Guards.  In 
the  summer  of  1648  he  served  under  his  father  in  the 
North  of  England.     Advanced  to  a  colonelcy  in  February, 

1650,  he  accompanied  his  father  in  the  short  but  decisive 
Irish  campaign,  being  present  at  the  death-bed  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Henry  Ireton,  who  died  at  Limerick  in 

165 1.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  Henry  sat  in  the  Bare- 
bones  Parliament  in  1653  as  a  representative  of  Ireland. 
On  May  10,  1653,  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
Francis  Russell  of  Chippenham,  Bart.,  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 22  in  the  year  following  entered  at  Gray's  Inn.  His 
subsequent  career  as  Lord- Lieutenant  of  Ireland  brought 
to  light  all  those  faculties  which  proved  him  the  worthy 
son  of  such  a  father.  He  remained  at  his  post  during  the 
two  Protectorates,  having  throughout  a  sore  fight  to 
maintain  with  fanatics  of  every  class,  but  harassed  prin- 


44  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

cipally  by  the  difficulty  of  getting  the  soldiers'  pay  from 
England.  Rapin's  observation,  made  after  the  event, 
has  been  accepted  by  most  subsequent  historians,  namely, 
that  if  Henry  had  succeeded  to  the  Protectorate  instead 
of  Richard,  the  Republican  officers  would  have  met  their 
match. 

A  strong  attachment  had  sprung  up  between  Henry 
Cromwell  and  his  brother-in-law,  Lord  Fauconberg,  even 
before  they  met.  Henry  and  his  wife  were  in  Ireland  at 
the  time  of  Fauconberg's  marriage  with  Mary  Cromwell ; 
but  from  and  after  that  event  the  letters  passing  between 
them  were  increasingly  cordial  and  confidential.  While 
their  brother  Fleetwood,  in  conjunction  with  Disbrowe, 
Lambert,  Berry,  and  the  rest,  were  plotting  the  fall  of 
the  Protector  Richard,  Fauconberg  supplied  Henry  with 
constant  information,  and  both  united  in  scorn  for  the 
fanaticism  which  in  Fleetwood  they  felt  to  be  but  the 
feeble  resurrection  of  an  obsolete  creed — the  theory,  as 
Henry  formulated  it,  of  "  Dominion  founded  in  Grace." 
At  the  Restoration,  Henry  retired  to  the  home  of  his 
father-in-law,  Sir  Francis  Russell,  at  Chippenham,  in 
Cambridgeshire,  there  to  await  the  outcome  of  the 
political  chaos.  After  a  residence  of  five  or  six  years  at 
Chippenham,  he  removed  to  his  own  estate  at  Spinney 
Abbey  near  Soham,  worth  about  £"500  or  £600  a  year, 
which  he  purchased  in  1661,  where  in  rural  occupations  he 
passed  the  remaining  nine  years  of  his  life.  He  died  on 
March  23,  1674,  °f  that  painful  disorder,  the  stone,  in  the 
forty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  at  Wicken 
Church,  in  Cambridge.  Though  he  is  styled  plain  "  Henry 
Cromwell "  on  his  tomb,  yet  in  his  will  he  writes  himself 
"  Sir  Henry  Cromwell  of  Spinney  in  Cambridgeshire, 
Knight,"  being  not  unwilling,  suggests  Noble,  to  let  the 
world  know,  when  he  could  not  be  called  to  account  for 
it,  that  he  thought  it  an  honour  to  have  received  knight- 
hood from  his  father.     He  had  also  been  made  one  of  the 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         45 

Lords  of  the  Upper  House  in  1657,  but  his  work  in 
Ireland  prevented  his  sitting.  In  his  will  he  mentions 
only  two  names,  those  of  his  wife  and  his  eldest  son 
Oliver,  to  the  former  of  whom  he  devises  all  his  estates  in 
England  and  Ireland  with  absolute  power  of  disposal. 

The  lands  of  Cromwell  in  Meath  and  Connaught  were 
confirmed  to  his  trustees  by  special  proviso  of  the  Act  of 
Settlement,  but  his  family  seems  to  have  lost  them  in  the 
next  generation. 

It  may  not  be  left  untold  that  after  his  retirement  into 
private  life  he  conformed  to  the  Established  Church,  and 
that,  too,  at  a  period  when  imprisonment  and  confiscation 
were  the  weapons  of  the  Church's  warfare  against  many 
of  his  personal  relations  and  political  friends.  He  had 
learnt,  it  is  true,  during  his  dictatorship  in  Ireland  the 
necessity  of  holding  the  scales  of  justice  uninfluenced  by 
polemical  distinctions ;  and  it  is  evident  that  he  acquired 
during  the  process  much  stronger  prejudices  than  his 
father  ever  entertained  against  religious  enthusiasts. 
While  this  may  partly  account  for  his  subsequent  choice, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  his  wife's  preferences  in  the 
same  direction  operated  as  a  concurrent  influence.  We 
are  told  that  an  Anglican  chaplain  was  maintained  at 
Spinney  Abbey  during  her  widowhood,  till  the  Noncon- 
formity of  the  next  generation  displaced  him.  On  the 
other  hand,  Henry  had  given  asylum  to  Richard  Parr, 
the  Vicar  of  his  own  parish  of  Chippenham,  when  ejected 
for  Nonconformity. 

Henry  Cromwell's  Petition  to  King  Charles  II. 

"  Sheweth, 

"  That  your  petitioner  doth  heartily  acquiesce  in 
the  providence  of  God  for  restoring  your  Majesty  to  the 
government  of  these  nations ; — That  all  his  actions  have 
been  without  malice  either  to  the  person  or  to  the  interest 


46  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

of  your  Majesty,  but  only  out  of  natural  duty  to  his  late 
father ; — That  your  petitioner  did,  all  the  time  of  his  power 
in  Ireland,  study  to  preserve  the  peace,  plenty  and  splendour 
of  that  kingdom,  did  encourage  a  learned  ministry,  giving 
not  only  protection  but  maintenance  to  several  Bishops 
there  ;  placed  worthy  persons  in  the  seats  of  judicature 
and  magistracy,  and  to  his  own  great  prejudice  upon  all 
occasions  was  favourable  to  your  Majesty's  professed 
friends.  He  therefore  humbly  beseeches  your  Majesty 
that  the  tender  consideration  of  the  premisses  and  of  the 
great  temptations  and  necessities  your  petitioner  was 
under,  may  extenuate  your  Majesty's  displeasure  against 
him  ; — and  that  your  Majesty,  as  a  great  instance  of  your 
clemency  and  an  acknowledgement  of  the  great  mercy 
which  your  royal  self  hath  received  from  Almighty  God, 
would  not  suffer  him,  his  wife  and  children  to  perish  from 
the  face  of  the  Earth,  but  rather  to  live  and  expiate  what 
hath  been  done  amiss  with  their  future  prayers  and  services 
for  your  Majesty.  In  order  whereunto  your  said  peti- 
tioner humbly  offers  to  your  Majesty's  most  gracious  con- 
sideration, that  since  he  is  already  outed  of  about  £2,000 
per  annum  which  he  held  in  England,  and  for  which  £4,000 
portion  was  paid  by  your  petitioner's  wife's  friends  to  his 
late  father,  he  may  obtain  your  Majesty's  grant  for  such 
lands  already  in  his  possession  upon  a  common  account 
with  many  others  in  Ireland,  as  shall  by  law  be  adjudged 
forfeited  and  in  your  Majesty's  dispose.  And  forasmuch 
as  your  petitioner  hath  laid  out  near  £6,000  upon  the  pre- 
mises, that  your  Majesty  would  recommend  him  to  the 
next  Parliament  in  Ireland  to  deal  favourably  with  him 
concerning  the  same,  and  according  to  your  petitioner's 
deportment  for  the  common  good  of  that  place.  And 
lastly  your  petitioner  most  humbly  beseeches  your  most 
excellent  Majesty, — that  no  distinction  between  himself 
and  other  your  Majesty's  good  subjects  may  be  branded  on 
him  to  posterity  ; — that  so  he  may  without  fear,  and  as 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector,         47 

well  out  of  interest  as  duty,  serve  your  Majesty  all  his 

days  ;  who  shall  ever  pray,  &c. 

"  H.  Cromwell." 

Certificate  annexed. 

"  Whereas  we  were  desired  to  testify  our  knowledge 
concerning  the  value  of  the  lands  to  be  confirmed  to 
Colonel  Henry  Cromwell,  we  do  hereby  certify  as  followeth, 
viz. — That  the  lands  in  Ireland  possessed  by  the  said 
Colonel  Cromwell  on  7  May  1659  were  in  satisfaction  of 
£12,000  in  debentures  or  near  thereabouts  ; — That  deben- 
tures were  commonly  bought  and  sold  for  four,  five,  and 
six  shillings  in  the  pound,  few  yielding  more  even  in  the 
dearest  times.  According  to  which  rates  the  said  lands 
might  have  been  had  for  between  three  and  four  thousand 
pounds.  Which  said  sum  with  the  improvements  by  him 
made  thereupon,  is  as  much  as  the  same  is  now  worth  to 
be  sold ;  and  is  all  we  know  he  hath  to  subsist  upon  for 
himself  and  family.  Given  under  our  hands  this  23  Feb- 
ruary 1661. 

"  Massereene. 

"  audley  mervyn." 

Henry's  wife  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Francis 
Russell  aforesaid,  survived  her  husband  thirteen  years. 
Elegant  in  manners  and  exemplary  in  conduct,  she  was 
long  remembered  in  the  neighbourhood  as  "  the  good 
Lady  Cromwell."  Her  grandson,  William  Cromwell,  of 
Kirby  Street,  informed  Dr.  Gibbons  that  though,  like 
many  others,  she  had  at  first  entertained  a  hostile  feeling 
towards  the  Protector  Oliver,  yet  on  becoming  his 
daughter-in-law,  closer  observation  changed  her  antipathies 
into  affectionate  esteem,  and  led  her  to  regard  him  as  the 
most  amiable  of  parents.  Her  death  occurred  on  April  7, 
1687,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  her  age  ;  and  her  monu- 
ment, with  those  of  others  of  the  family,  is  preserved  in 
Wicken  Church,  Cambridgeshire. 


48  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Issue  of  Henry  Cromwell,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and 
the  Lady  Elizabeth  Russell. 

I.  Oliver,  born  in  Dublin,  1656 ;  died  at  Spinney 
Abbey,  1685,  in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  and,  as 
is  supposed,  unmarried.  The  story  of  the  infant's  birth  is 
thus  recorded  in  a  news-letter  of  the  day  :  "  From  Dublin. 
On  the  19th  of  April  my  lord  Henry  Cromwell  became  the 
joyful  father  of  a  son  ;  which,  as  it  hath  been  matter  of 
great  joy  to  us,  so  I  presume  it  will  be  welcome  news  to 
you.  The  earnest  prayers  of  good  people  gave  his  lord- 
ship's lady  so  easy  a  deliverance  that  the  most  part  of  her 
ladyship's  travail  was  spent  in  dispatching  letters  for 
England.  The  joy  thereof  confined  not  itself  long  within 
the  walls  of  their  private  family,  but  was  straight  blazed 
by  several  bonfires  throughout  the  city ;  the  honest  towns- 
men seeming  emulous  who  should  contribute  the  greatest 
solemnity  for  so  great  a  mercy.  On  the  24th  following, 
the  joys  were  more  perfect,  there  being  more  congratula- 
tions for  the  infant's  admission  into  the  Church  by  baptism 
than  for  its  entrance  into  the  world  by  birth  ;  his  lordship 
having  openly  in  Christ-church  offered  up  his  child  that 
day  to  the  Lord  in  that  ordinance,  and  given  it  His  High- 
ness's  name.  Which  so  heightened  the  joy  of  the  con- 
gregation, that  I  never  saw  in  one  meeting  more  eyes  and 
I  believe  hearts  more  intently  lifted  up  in  prayer,  never 
heard  more  passionate  praises  for  a  blessing,  than  on  that 
day  ;  which  gives  no  small  support  to  my  faith  that  a 
child  of  such  prayers  and  praises  shall  not  miscarry." 

II.  Henry,  born  in  Dublin  in  1658  ;  of  whom  hereafter. 

III.  Francis,  born  at  Chippenham  in  1663  ;  died  un- 
married in  1719. 

IV.  Richard,  born  at  Spinney  Abbey  in  1665  ;  died 
unmarried  in  London  in  1687. 

V.  William,  born  at  Spinney  Abbey  in  1667 ;  died  un- 
married in  the  East  Indies  in  1692. 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         49 

VI.  Elizabeth,  born  at  Whitehall  in  1654 ;  died  at 
Chippenham,  1659,  in  the  house  of  her  maternal  grand- 
father, Sir  Francis  Russell.  This  is  the  "  Sweet  Betty  " 
referred  to  in  Fleetwood's  letter  to  Henry  in  1656. 

VII.  Elizabeth,  born  just  after  the  decease  of  the  pre- 
ceding, therefore  taking  her  name.  On  August  30,  1681, 
she  was  married  at  Dover  to  William  Russell,  of  Ford- 
ham,  son  of  Gerard  Russell  and  grandson  of  Sir  William 
Russell,  the  first  Baronet,  consequently  first  cousin  to  her 
mother,  the  Lady  Elizabeth.  Of  this  marriage  the  issue 
was  fourteen  children,  but  the  habits  of  the  parents  appear 
to  have  been  unthrifty.  Moving  for  awhile  among  the 
county  gentry,  and  maintaining  with  that  object  a  style  of 
living  far  beyond  their  means,  Mr.  Russell  escaped  his 
creditors  only  in  the  grave,  and  the  widow  fled  with  the 
surviving  children  to  London,  where  she  died  in  171.1. 
Her  family  was  as  follows  : 

I.  O'Brian  William,  born  1684,  fate  unknown. 

II.,  III.,  IV.,  V.,  VI.  Henry,  John,  William, 
Edward,  Thomas,  died  young  or  unmarried,  two  of 
them  at  sea. 

VII.  Francis,  born  1692 ;  became  a  hosier  in 
London.  His  son  Thomas,  born  1724,  had  issue. 
William  died  abroad  unmarried,  and  Rebecca,  who 
died  in  1832,  by  her  second  husband,  William  Dyer, 
of  Ilford,  Esq.,  a  magistrate  and  deputy-lieutenant  of 
Essex,  left  five  children,  viz. :  (1)  William  Andrew, 
sometime  of  34,  Guildford  Street,  W.C. ;  (2)  Charles 
Adams,  formerly  of  Canewdon  Hall,  Rochford,  Essex; 
(3)  Thomas  John,  in  the  East  India  Company's 
service ;  (4)  Mary  Eliza ;  (5)  Louisa. 

VIII.  Mary,  of  whom  presently. 

IX.  Sarah  became  the  wife  of  Martin  Wilkins,  a 
substantial  landowner  of  Soham,  whose  two  children 
died  in  infancy. 

4 


5<d  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

X.  Name  unknown ;  became  Mrs.  Nelson  of  Mil- 
denhall,  and  had  a  daughter,  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Redderock,  a  solicitor  of  that  place,  and  the  mother 
of  several  children. 

XI.  Margaret,  of  whom  presently  (p.  52). 

Issue  of  Mary,  eldest  married  daughter  of  William  and 
Elizabeth  Russell  of  Fordham. 

This  lady  married  Mr.  Robert  D'Aye,  of  Soham,  and 
long  outlived  him,  her  protracted  widowhood  being  passed 
at  Soham,  where  her  poverty  was  in  some  measure 
relieved  by  an  annual  grant  from  the  daughters  of  the 
ex -Protector,  Richard  Cromwell,  both  of  whom  also 
bequeathed  her  a  legacy ;  but  as  her  own  death  did  not 
occur  till  1765,  she  must  have  long  survived  her  bene- 
factors. Her  family  consisted  of :  (1)  A  son  named 
Russell,  who  died  at  sea  unmarried ;  (2)  a  daughter 
married  to  Mr.  Saunders,  from  whom  she  separated ; 
(3)  Elizabeth,  who  introduces  us  to  the 

Family  of  Addison. 

Elizabeth  D'Aye,  by  her  marriage,  in  1762,  with  Mr. 
Thomas  Addison,  of  Soham,  became  the  mother  of 

I.  Mary,  died  in  childhood. 

II.  Elizabeth,  the  wife  of  John  Hill ;  left  three  sons 
— John,  William,  and  Eden. 

III.  Mary  Russell,  born  1764;  became  the  wife  of 
Mr.  Robert  Sunman,  and  died  at  Lambeth  in  1800, 
having  had  Mary  Addison,  who  died  in  youth,  and 
Robert,  born  in  1786. 

IV.  and  V.  Russell  and  Thomas,  twins,  born  1767. 
Thomas  died  in  infancy. 

VI.  and  VII.  Frances  and  William;  both  died  in 
infancy. 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  51 

Russell,  the  only  surviving  son  of  this  family,  died  at 
the  age  of  twenty-five  in  1792.  His  wife  Anne  outlived 
him  fifty-four  years,  dying  in  1846,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five.     By  her  he  left  one  son, 

William,  a  surgeon  of  Soham,  where  he  practised 
laboriously  for  more  than  half  a  century,  being  held  in 
great  esteem  by  rich  and  poor.  Beyond  this,  his  life  may 
be  described  as  uneventful,  though  it  is  due  to  him  to 
state  that  the  Cromwell  monument,  forming  so  striking 
an  object  in  Soham  Churchyard,  and  displaying  the 
descent  of  the  Addisons  from  Henry,  the  Lord-Lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  downwards,  is  the  expression  of  his  hereditary 
homage.  It  has  been  said  that  the  career  of  his  great 
progenitor  was  not  often  made  by  Mr.  Addison  the  promi- 
nent subject  of  remark,  yet  the  writer  of  this  book  well 
remembers  the  flashing  up  of  the  old  fire  at  an  interview 
held  with  him  many  years  back,  when  the  old  gentleman 
modestly  hinted  that  the  Protector's  facial  lineaments 
were  not  yet  obliterated  in  his  descendants.  Many  will 
say  that  his  son  Thomas,  the  Ely  solicitor,  illustrates  the 
fond  belief  even  more  than  the  father  did.  Mr.  Addison 
died  in  1868,  having  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Fox,  of  the  Newlands,  in  Curdworth,  co.  Warwick, 
farmer,  by  whom  he  had  three  children. 

I.  Thomas  Russell,  born  1828,  a  solicitor  practising 
in  Ely. 

II.  William  Oliver  Cromwell,  born  1832,  a  solicitor 
practising  at  Brierley  Hill,  co.  Stafford,  married 
Charlotte,  daughter  of  Charles  Woolverton,  of  Great 
Yarmouth,  Esq.,  and  has  issue  :  (1)  Charles  William, 
1866;  (2)  Charlotte  Barnby,  1869;  (3)  Frank,  1870; 
(4)  Edith  Maud,  1871. 

III.  Henrietta  Fox,  married,  1859,  to  George  H. 
Rust,  son  of  the  late  Rev.  E.  Rust  D'Eye,  of  Abbott's 
Hall,  Stowmarket.  His  children  are  eleven  in 
number,  viz. :  (1)  Henrietta  Fanny,  1862  ;  (2)  George 


52  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

Edgar,  1863;  (3)  Agnes  Elizabeth,  1864;  (4)  Isabel, 
1866 ;  (5)  Jane  Louisa,  1868 ;  (6)  Henry,  1869 ; 
(7)  Katharine  Alice,  1870 ;  (8)  Evelyn,  1872 ;  (9) 
Anne  Georgina,  1874;  (10)  Mabel,  1875;  (11)  Emily, 
1877. 

Issue  of  Margaret,  sixth  daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth 
Russell  of  Fordham. 

She  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Edward  Peachey,  and  had 
an  only  daughter,  Elizabeth,  whose  husband  bore  the 
name  of  Richard  Peachey,  but  was  not  related  to  her 
father's  family.  By  the  will  of  her  uncle,  Martin 
Wilkins,  who  left  his  real  estate  to  his  wife  Sarah,  some 
of  the  lands  in  Horsecroft  and  the  Great  Fen  were  to 
descend  in  reversion  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward 
and  Margaret  Peachey,  besides  a  bequest  of  £500  and  an 
annuity  of  £15  till  she  attained  the  age  of  twenty-one. 
By  a  codicil  to  his  will,  in  1749,  the  £500  is  revoked,  she 
being  then  the  wife  of  Richard  Peachey.  This  marriage 
produced  three  children,  viz. : 

I.  Richard,  who  died  unmarried  at  the  age  of 
twenty. 

II.  William,  who  in  1780  was  of  Cambridge 
University. 

III.  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Rev.  Mr.  Ellis,  of  Mil- 
borne,  Cambs.,  and  the  mother  of:  (1)  Thomas,  a 
solicitor ;  (2)  William,  a  surgeon ;  (3)  Elizabeth,  died 
unmarried ;  (4)  a  daughter  married  to  Mr.  Burbage, 
practising  in  Leicestershire. 

MAJOR  HENRY  CROMWELL. 

Dismissing  the  families  descended  from  the  daughters 
of  Henry,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  we  now  revert  to 
his  son,  Major  Henry  Cromwell,  the  only  one  who  carried 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  53 

on  the  name.  The  politics  and  religious  faith  of  this 
gentleman  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  of  his  marrying 
a  young  lady  who  only  the  year  before  had  played  a  more 
conspicuous  part  than  any  other  of  her  sex  as  intercessor 
for  the  victims  of  Jeffreys'  "  Bloody  Assizes."  This  was 
Hannah,  the  daughter  of  Benjamin  Hewling  and  grand- 
daughter of  William  Kyffin,  two  names  conspicuous 
among  the  Nonconformists  of  that  period,  and  among 
the  adherents  of  the  unfortunate  Duke  of  Monmouth. 
Her  interviews  with  Churchill  and  with  King  James  II. 
in  behalf  of  her  brothers,  Benjamin  and  William  Hewling, 
are  matters  of  general  history. 

She  was  beyond  all  doubt  a  courageous  and  energetic 
woman.  Nothing  short  of  this  conviction  would  have 
secured  the  notice  and  regard  of  her  Tory  aunt,  Lady 
Fauconberg,  who  was  greatly  disconcerted  at  the  depressed 
condition  of  so  many  of  her  relatives.  After  considerable 
solicitation,  Lady  Fauconberg  was  induced  to  push  her 
nephew's  fortunes  in  the  army,  and  here  we  may  suitably 
quote  one  of  her  letters  as  a  sample  of  her  style  of  mind 
and  of  her  bearing  towards  her  niece  Hannah. 

" Lady  Fauconberg  to  Henry  Cromwell,  of  Spinney  Abbey. 
To  be  left  with  the  postmaster  of  Newmarket,  Cambridge- 
shire. 

29  January  [1693?]. 

"  Dear  Nephew, 

"  This  comes  to  congratulate  with  you  after  your 
great  fright  for  your  excellent  wife,  for  her  safe  recovery. 
And  I  hope,  although  she  has  lost  her  little  one,  God  will 
bless  you  both  with  more.  I  am  very  glad  to  find  by  my 
cousin  Hewling  you  design  shortly  for  London,  where  I 
hope  to  see  you  both,  and  give  thanks  for  your  kind 
present,  which  came  very  safe  to  my  hands.  And  pray 
tell  my  good  niece  that  her  good  housewifery  is  both  seen 
and  tasted  in  it,  and  that  it  was  as  good  as  ever  was 


54  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

eaten.  And  I  must  not  omit  telling  you  that  my  lord  as 
well  as  self  returns  thanks,  and  charges  me  to  assure  you 
both  of  his  humble  service.  All  friends  here  are,  I  bless 
God,  very  well,  and  present  you  both  with  their  service. 
And  I  am,  to  my  dear  niece  and  yourself,  a  most  affec- 
tionate aunt  and  servant. 

"  M.  Fauconberg." 

Another  fragment  of  hers,  dated  1689,  thus  refers  to 
her  efforts  in  Major  Henry's  behalf: 

"  Dear  Nephew, 

"  I  received  yours,  which  this  comes  in  answer  to. 
My  lord  was  on  Thursday  at  Hampton  Court,  where  he 
spake  to  the  King  [William  III.]  again  as  for  your  concerns, 
and  your  cousin's  [Oliver,  son  of  Richard],  But  all  the 
answer  he  could  get  was  that  he  wanted  money,  and  at 
present  did  not  think  of  raising  any  more  men, — which 
for  your  sakes  I  am  concerned  for.  .  .  ." 

He  parted  with  Spinney  Abbey  under  stress  of  pecuniary 
difficulties,  and  probably  lived  thereafter  an  unsettled  life 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  London. 

It  was  principally  by  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of 
Ormond  that  Mr.  Cromwell's  promotion  in  the  army  was 
at  last  brought  about,  "  in  acknowledgment,"  as  his  Grace 
always  declared,  "  of  the  great  service  and  benefit  which 
his  family  had  received  from  Henry  Cromwell  while  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland."  Mr.  Cromwell's  military  status 
at  the  time  of  his  death  was  that  of  Major  of  foot  in 
Fielding's  Regiment.  He  was  cut  off  by  fever  at  Lisbon 
while  serving  under  Lord  Galway  in  the  war  against 
Spain  in  Queen  Anne's  reign,  in  171 1,  being  then  in  his 
fifty-fourth  year.  His  widow,  who  survived  him  twenty- 
one  years,  appears  to  have  resided  in  or  near  London,  for 
her  burial  took  place  in  Bunhill  Fields.     The  portraits  of 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         55 

herself  and  of  her  husband — the  latter  being  represented 
as  a  very  handsome  man — are  still  extant,  being  part  of  the 
Brantingsay  Collection. 

Issue  of  Major  Henry  Cromwell  and  Hannah  Hewling. 

I.  Oliver,  born  at  Spinney  Abbey  in  1687 ;  died  at 
Gray's  Inn  in  London  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  This  was 
the  fourth  Oliver  Cromwell  who  by  celibacy  or  premature 
death  failed  to  carry  on  the  first  Protector's  name. 

II.  Benjamin  Hewling,  born  at  Spinney  Abbey  in 
1689  ;  died  at  York  in  1694. 

III.  Henry,  born  at  Spinney  Abbey  in  1692  ;  died  in 
infancy. 

IV.  William,  generally  known  as  "  Mr.  Cromwell  of 
Kirby  Street,"  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Cripplegate,  in 
London,  in  1693.  Being  bred  to  the  law,  he  passed  a 
considerable  portion  of  his  life  in  Gray's  Inn  chambers, 
and  it  was  not  till  he  reached  the  age  of  fifty-seven  that 
he  married  Mary,  the  daughter  of  William  Sherwill  of 
London,  merchant,  and  the  wealthy  widow  of  Thomas 
Westby,  of  Linton,  Cambs.,  Esq.,  consequent  on  which 
event  he  changed  his  abode  to  Booking,  in  Essex. 
The  lady  herself  was  sixty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of 
this  her  second  marriage,  and  in  the  course  of  two  years 
after  the  removal  to  Bocking  she  died,  and  Mr.  Cromwell 
thereupon  returned  to  London,  and  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  days  in  Kirby  Street,  Hatton  Garden,  where  his  own 
death  occurred  in  1772, at  the  age  of  seventy-nine.  Husband 
and  wife  both  lie  in  the  family  vault  in  Bunhill  Fields. 
Mrs.  Cromwell  shortly  before  her  second  marriage  had, 
in  conjunction  with  Mrs.  Bromsale,  built  and  endowed  at 
Hoxton  the  row  of  ten  houses  long  known  as  "  the  old 
maids'  almshouses,"  though,  in  fact,  widows  as  well  as 
single  women  were  embraced  in  the  charity,  the  only 
stipulation  being  that  they  were  Protestant  Dissenters. 
She  thoroughly  sympathized  in  the  outspoken  Noncon- 


TJie  House  of  Cromwell. 


formity  which  distinguished  her  husband's  confession  of 
faith,  who  for  fifty  years  was  a  member,  and  for  nearly 
thirty  years  a  deacon,  of  the  church  meeting  at  Haber- 
dashers' Hall ;  and  there  his  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
by  Dr.  Thomas  Gibbons.  "  He  appeared,"  says  the 
Doctor,  "  to  be  a  Christian  indeed  ;  not  only  by  abstaining 
from  what  was  gross  and  scandalous,  profane  and  un- 
godly, but  by  a  spirituality  of  temper,  and  by  attention  to 
inward  religion  and  the  pulse  of  his  soul  towards  God  ; 
and,  indeed,  his  sentiments  and  conduct  manifested  a 
happy  union  of  experimental  and  practical  godliness.  He 
met,  and  no  wonder  in  so  long  a  pilgrimage,  very  heavy 
afflictions,  but  never  did  I  hear  him  murmur  or  repine, 
though  I  am  persuaded  he  was  not  without  quick  and 
keen  sensations.  .  .  .  He  might  have  had  genteel 
provision  made  for  him  in  life  beyond  what  Providence 
had  otherwise  given  him,  if  he  could  have  qualified  as 
a  member  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  but  he  chose 
rather  to  preserve  his  conscience  inviolate,  and  to  re- 
main a  Nonconformist,  than  advance  himself  in  the 
world  and  depart  from  what  appeared  to  him  the  line 
of  duty." 

Mr.  Hewling  Luson,  a  son  of  Hannah's  younger  sister, 
bears  a  corresponding  testimony,  speaking  of  him  as  "  the 
late  Mr.  Cromwell  of  Kirby  Street,  my  near  relation,  and 
a  most  benevolent  humble  honest  man."  The  journal  of 
Thomas  Hollis,  the  virtuoso,  chronicles  under  date  1762 
an  interview  with  "  that  worthy  old  gentleman  Mr.  William 
Cromwell,  the  great-grandson  of  the  Protector,"  by  whom 
he  is  then  introduced  to  two  nieces,  Miss  Elizabeth  and 
Miss  Letitia  Cromwell,  of  Hampstead.  The  portrait- 
gallery  of  these  ladies,  and  their  museum  of  family  relics, 
are  then  inspected,  disclosing  a  variety  of  heirlooms,  which 
Mr.  Hollis  then  describes,  but  which  must  be  left  at 
present  till  the  Brantingsay  gallery  and  other  collections 
of  Cromwellian  relics  claim  a  final  notice. 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  57 

Mr.  Cromwell  was  on  friendly  terms  with  Henry  Crom- 
well the  poet,  so  well  known  by  his  published  corre- 
spondence with  Alexander  Pope ;  and  though  the  family 
relationship  between  these  two  gentlemen  was  somewhat 
remote,  yet,  as  they  both  derived  from  the  knight  of 
Hinchinbrook,  they  constantly  maintained  the  form  of 
calling  one  another  "  cousin."  One  of  William  Cromwell's 
early  reminiscences  was  his  having  dined  at  Westminster, 
when  a  youth,  with  his  great-uncle,  Richard,  the  ex- 
Protector.  There  were  present  on  that  occasion,  besides 
himself,  Jerry  White,  the  chaplain,  and  William  Penn, 
the  Quaker-founder  of  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Cromwell 
rendered  valuable  aid  to  the  compilers  of  "Thurloe's  State 
Papers  "  by  contributing  a  large  collection  of  family  docu- 
ments, which  had  come  down  to  him  from  the  original 
owners,  and  which  are  duly  notified  in  the  margin  of  that 
work. 

V.  Richard,  fifth  son  of  Major  Henry  Cromwell  and 
Hannah  Hewling,  was  born  at  Hackney  in  1695,  and 
became  an  eminent  attorney  and  solicitor  in  Chancery. 
In  1723,  on  his  great-grandfather's  auspicious  day — 
September  3  —  he  married  Sarah,  the  daughter  of 
Ebenezer  Gatton,  of  Southwark,  who  was  also  the  niece, 
and  eventually  one  of  the  co-heiresses,  of  Sir  Robert 
Thornhill,  a  wealthy  attorney  of  Red  Lion  Square.  The 
ceremony  was  performed  by  Dr.  Edmund  Gibson,  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  London  aforesaid,  and  the  place  selected 
was  the  chapel  connected  with  the  banqueting-house  in 
the  palace  of  Whitehall.  Bishop  Gibson,  whose  scholar- 
ship was  of  the  most  varied  kind — linguistic,  antiquarian, 
and  forensic — was,  moreover,  what  is  commonly  under- 
stood as aliberal-minded  Churchman;  while  in  his  character 
of  an  official  censor  he  poured  through  the  press  an  un- 
ceasing stream  of  pamphlets  and  charges,  with  a  view  to 
the  reformation  of  manners,  and  by  his  hostility  to  Court 
masquerades   provoked  the  enmity  of  King  George  II. 


58  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

Perhaps    his   admiration    for   Oliver   was    an    additional 
stimulus  to  the  royal  displeasure. 

Mr.  Richard  Cromwell,  after  his  marriage,  continued  to 
reside  in  London  as  his  place  of  business,  but  eventually 
removed  to  Hampstead,  where  he  died  in  1759,  and  was 
buried  in  the  family  vault  in  Bunhill  Fields.  He  had 
previously  erected  there  an  "  altar-monument "  to  receive 
family  inscriptions  ;  but  this  relic,  like  so  many  others 
around  it,  fell  a  prey  to  neglect,  and  the  inscriptions  are 
now  almost  obliterated,  excepting  the  names  of  his 
brother  William  and  wife.  It  has  recently  received  at  its 
foot  the  words,  deeply  chiselled,  "  RICHARD  CROM- 
WELL, HIS  VAULT.  Restored  by  the  Corporation  of 
London."  It  must  be  with  reference  to  this  gentlemen 
that  the  following  letter  was  published  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  for  July,  1777  : 

"  Mr.  Urban, 

"In  order  to  render  your  former,  as  well  as  later, 
accounts  of  Cromwell's  family  as  perfect  as  possible,  I 
must  observe  that  there  was  a  Mr.  Cromwell,  an  attorney 
by  profession,  with  whom  I  frequently  conversed,  and  who 
was  well  known  to  the  old  frequenters  of  Wills'  coffee- 
house, near  Lincoln's  Inn  Gate.  I  do  not  know  in  what 
degree  of  consanguinity  he  stood  to  Oliver,  but  that  he 
was  a  descendant  of  his  family  none  who  saw  him  could 
doubt,  for  he  was  very  like  the  best  pictures  of  Oliver  him- 
self. He  was  respected,  too,  as  an  honest  man ;  but 
he  seemed  to  have  only  the  external  marks  of  his  great 
predecessor.  I  think  about  the  time  '  I  missed  him  at  the 
accustomed  tree  '  was  near  twenty  years  ago,  and  he  then 
appeared  to  be  about  seventy  years  of  age. 

"  P  T  " 

A  subsequent  correspondent  conjectured  that  this  might 
have  been   Henry,  the  sixth  child  of  Hannah  Hewling ; 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         59 

but  Henry's  occupation  was  not  that  of  the  law,  nor  do 
the  dates  fit  so  well  as  with  Richard.  Mr.  Richard 
Cromwell  had  two  sons  and  four  daughters  : 

I.  Robert,  born  at  Bartlett's  Buildings.  This 
gentleman  inherited,  in  right  of  his  mother,  Sarah 
Gatton,  a  moiety  of  the  manor  of  Cheshunt  Park  or 
Brantingsay  aforesaid ;  but  dying  unmarried  in  1762, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  the  said  moiety  went  to  his 
sisters  ;  and  the  other  moiety  also  came  to  them 
eventually  through  the  decease  s.p.  of  their  cousin 
Peter  Hynde,  only  son  and  heir  of  Eleanor  Gatton. 

II.  Oliver,  died  in  infancy. 

III.  Elizabeth,  died  at  Hampstead  in  1792. 

IV.  Anne,  died  at  Berkhampstead  in  1777. 

V.  Eleanor,  died  in  infancy. 

VI.  Letitia,  died  at  Hampstead,  1789. 

The  survivors  of  these  ladies,  namely,  Elizabeth  and 
Letitia,  on  inheriting  their  brother  Robert's  estate,  quitted 
Berkhampstead,  and  reoccupied  the  paternal  mansion  at 
Hampstead  in  Middlesex.  Among  the  personal  property 
which  in  like  manner  descended  to  them,  they  came  into 
possession  of  a  complete  museum  of  historical  relics,  in- 
cluding a  series  of  family  portraits,  dating  from  the  six- 
teenth century  downwards,  all  which  subsequently  found 
a  fitting  receptacle  at  Cheshunt.  Elizabeth's  death  is  thus 
recorded  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  November,  1792  : 

"At  Hampstead,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  eldest 
daughter  and  last  surviving  child  of  Mr.  Richard  Cromwell, 
grandson  of  Henry,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  She  has 
left  the  bulk  of  her  fortune  to  Mr.  Oliver  Cromwell,  attorney, 
clerk  of  the  Million  Bank  ;  £500  to  the  children  of  Mr. 
Field  of  Newington,  late  an  apothecary  of  Newgate  Street, 
who  married  her  cousin,  her  uncle  Thomas's  daughter  ;  and 
a  handsome  legacy  to  Mrs.  Moreland,  relict  of  Richard 
Hynde,  Esq.,  whose  mother  was  her  maternal  aunt,  and 


60  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

who  with  her  brother  jointly  possessed  Cheshunt  Park,  the 
moiety  of  which  on  his  death  devolved  to  them,  subject  to 
his  widow's  jointure." 

VI.  Henry,  sixth  son  of  Major  Henry  Cromwell  and 
Hannah  Hewling,  born  1698 ;  was  for  some  time  in 
partnership  with  his  brother  Thomas  as  a  wholesale  pro- 
vision merchant,  though  he  subsequently  held  a  post  in  the 
Excise  Office.  He  died  unmarried  in  1769,  and  was  buried 
in  Bunhill  Fields,  in  the  vault  of  his  brother  Thomas. 
The  inscriptions  on  this  tomb,  like  those  on  Richard's,  are 
now  also  defaced,  but  the  name  HENRY  CROMWELL 
has  been  recently  cut  in  strong  relief,  and  the  following 
words :  "  Discovered  seven  feet  beneath  the  surface,  and 
restored  by  the  Corporation  of  London,  1869."  The  ruin 
which  some  few  years  ago  had,  with  increasing  rapidity, 
been  overspreading  the  memorials  of  Bunhill  Fields  through 
overcrowding,  was  happily  brought  to  an  end  when  all 
future  interments  were  forbidden.  Amongst  many  others, 
one  of  the  Cromwell  monuments,  and  also  that  of  Lieu- 
tenant-General  Fleetwood  and  Lady  Hartopp,  had  gone 
quite  out  of  sight,  although  both  of  them,  especially  that 
of  Fleetwood,  were  capacious  structures. 

VII.  Thomas,  the  only  one  of  the  eight  sons  of  Major 
Henry  Cromwell  and  Hannah  Hewling  whose  descendants 
survive,  of  whom  presently  (p.  61). 

VIII.  Oliver,  born  in  Gray's  Inn  in  London,  in  1704, 
just  after  the  death  of  his  eldest  brother  Oliver,  and  there- 
fore made  to  succeed  him  in  name.  He,  like  his  father, 
served  in  the  British  Army,  and  held  an  ensigncy  in  an 
Irish  regiment ;  but  disliking  the  situation,  he  resigned  his 
commission,  and  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  in  privacy, 
dying  unmarried  in  1748. 

IX.  Mary,  born  at  Newington  Green  in  1691 ;  died  un- 
married in  1731  ;  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields. 

X.  Hannah,  born  at  Hackney  in  1697 ;  died  unmarried 
in  1732. 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         6 1 

VII.  Thomas,  seventh  son  of  Major  Henry  Cromwell 
and  Hannah  Hewling,  born  at  Hackney  in  1699  ;  became, 
in  partnership  with  his  brother  Henry,  a  wholesale  pro- 
vision merchant  and  sugar -refiner,  on  Snowhill.  On 
quitting  business  he  retired  to  Bridgwater  Square,  dying 
in  1748  (or  1752  ?),  and  was  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields. 
He  was  twice  married ;  first  to  Frances,  daughter  of 
John  Tidman  of  London,  merchant ;  and  secondly  to 
Mary,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Skinner  of  London,  mer- 
chant, of  whom  hereafter.  The  issue  of  the  first  marriage 
were : 

Oliver,  Henry,  Thomas,  and  Elizabeth,  who  all 
died  young  or  unmarried;  and  Anne,  who  in  1753  was 
married  at  Edmonton  to  John  Field,  an  apothecary, 
at  that  time  of  Newgate  Street,  but  afterwards  of 
Stoke  Newington,  of  whom  hereafter. 

Mr.  Thomas  Cromwell  by  his  second  wife,  Mary  Skinner, 

had: 

I.  Oliver,  his  heir,  of  whom  hereafter. 

II.  Thomas,  who  in  1771  or  1773  died  in  the  East 
India  Company's  service,  just  after  obtaining  a  lieu- 
tenancy. 

III.,  IV.,  V.,  VI.  Richard,  Elizabeth,  and  Hannah 
Hewling,  who  all  died  young ;  and  Susanna,  who  for 
many  years  lived  with  her  widowed  mother  in  Carey 
Street,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  subsequently  at  Ponders 
End.  Leaving  there  after  her  mother's  death,  she 
occupied  a  cottage  at  Flamstead  End  in  her  brother 
Oliver's  parish,  and  is  supposed  to  have  died  there 
unmarried  in  1834,  but  to  have  been  buried  in  Bun- 
hill  Fields. 

As  for  the  widowed  mother  herself,  she  survived  her 
husband  more  than  sixty  years,  reaching  at  last  the 
patriarchal  age  of  one  hundred  and  four;  in  fact,  she 
was  nearly  one  hundred  and  five.     About  the  year  1783, 


62  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


being  then  seventy  -  four  years  of  age,  she  quitted 
London  in  company  with  her  daughter  Susanna,  and 
took  up  her  final  residence  at  Ponders  End  in  the  house 
of  her  deceased  aunt,  Lady  Collett,  who  had  long  been  a 
principal  supporter  of  the  Nonconformist  interest  in  that 
village. 

Mrs.  Cromwell's  communion  with  her  new  friends  as  a 
church-member  was  considerably  hindered  by  her  loss  of 
hearing,  but  she  found  a  partial  resource  in  the  habitual 
record  of  her  feelings  in  the  form  of  a  diary  which  must 
have  covered  a  vast  space  of  time.  This  chronicle  of  her 
hidden  life  was  destroyed,  in  fulfilment  no  doubt  of  her 
own  wishes ;  but  a  fragment  or  two  from  its  earlier  pages 
have  been  rescued,  from  the  tenor  of  which  we  may 
gather  that  the  successive  loss  of  her  husband  and  children 
had  been  felt  by  her  as  a  very  sore  affliction.  Referring 
to  the  death  of  her  daughter  Elizabeth,  above  mentioned, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  she  makes  the  following 
reflection  :  "  My  God  has  seen  fit  in  His  infinite  wisdom  to 
remove  another  dear  creature-comfort,  a  first-born ;  one 
whom  His  grace  made  to  differ,  whose  early  piety  appeared 
in  her  fear  of  offending  God,  her  love  to  every  duty  of 
religion,  her  strict  regard  to  truth,  always  dutiful,  and 
conscientiously  careful  against  sin.  Her  life  was  short, 
but  well  improved :  she  made  haste  and  delayed  not  to 
keep  the  commandments  of  the  Lord.  Could  I  follow 
my  dear  delights  no  farther  than  the  grave,  I  must  sink 
under  my  afflictions — to  see  my  comforts  dropping  off 
like  leaves  in  autumn,  wave  after  wave  rolling  over  me, 
and  leaving  me  a  lonely  survivor.  But  religion  teaches 
me  to  converse  with  things  above,  leads  me  to  see  where 
real  and  lasting  joys  are  to  be  found,  and  calls  me  to  recol- 
lect my  covenant-engagements.  I  then  resolved  to  take 
up  my  cross."  On  the  death  of  her  husband,  in  October, 
1752,  she  had  written,  " .  .  .  .  Ere  long  my  change  will 
come.     I  think  I  am  as  weary  of  sin  as  of  sorrow,  though 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         63 

Death  has  been  my  worst  enemy.  May  his  next  visit  be 
in  mercy,  and  may  every  wave  of  affliction  leave  me  nearer 
the  heavenly  shore.  Afflictions  have  drunk  up  my  spirits. 
Thine  arrows  stick  fast  in  me,  and  Thine  hand  presseth 
me  sore.  Therefore  is  my  spirit  overwhelmed  within  me ; 
my  heart  within  me  is  desolate.  Unless  Thy  law  had 
been  my  delight  I  should  have  perished  in  my  affliction." 
She  had,  however,  after  her  retreat  to  Ponders  End,  an 
abiding  consolation  in  the  character  and  creditable  career 
of  her  son  Oliver,  who,  residing  in  the  neighbouring  parish 
of  Cheshunt,  often  came  over  to  see  her,  and  was  able 
before  she  died  to  invoke  her  blessing  on  seven  of  his  own 
grandchildren.  That  he  also  took  an  interest  in  the 
religious  community  to  which  his  mother  was  attached  is 
evidenced  by  the  appearance  of  his  name  in  a  subscrip- 
tion list  preserved  in  the  records  of  that  church  for  en- 
larging the  building  in  1815,  towards  which  object  "  Oliver 
Cromwell  "  gives  ten  guineas,  and  "  Susannah  Cromwell  " 
five  guineas. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  Mrs.  Cromwell's  decease 
at  so  advanced  an  age  was  a  very  gradual  process.  Dim- 
ness of  sight,  so  far  as  to  preclude  the  faculty  of  reading, 
had  been  added  to  her  other  infirmities,  so  that,  shut  out 
from  the  external  world,  the  attitude  of  her  soul  expressed 
itself  in  a  constant  desire  to  depart,  and  her  attendants  on 
entering  her  chamber  usually  found  her  on  her  knees. 
January  29,  1813,  saw  the  close  of  her  long  pilgrimage ; 
and  her  surviving  children,  Oliver  and  Susannah,  selected 
as  an  appropriate  motto  for  her  funeral  sermon  the  dying 
song  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  "  I  have  fought  the  good  fight," 
etc.,  which  sermon,  entitled  "  The  Triumph  of  Faith,"  was 
accordingly  delivered  by  John  Knight,  the  then  minister 
of  Ponders  End  Chapel.  Her  portrait,  taken  shortly 
before  her  death,  is  in  the  hands  of  her  descendants,  the 
Prescott  family.  Mrs.  Cromwell,  as  also  her  daughter 
Susanna,  who  survived  her  some  years,  are  believed  to 


64  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

have  been  both  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields.     We  have  now 
to  treat  of  her  only  surviving  son, 

OLIVER  CROMWELL  OF  CHESHUNT. 

Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq.,  born  in  1742,  commenced  life 
as  a  solicitor.  He  practised  for  many  years  as  a  solicitor 
in  Essex  Street,  Strand,  and  was  also  clerk  to  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital.  But  on  inheriting  the  Cheshunt  estate  under 
the  will  of  his  cousins  Elizabeth  and  Letitia,  he  adopted 
Brantingsay  as  his  habitual  residence.*  On  August  8, 
1771,  Mr.  Cromwell  espoused  Mary,  daughter  and  co-heir 
of  Morgan  Morse,  Esq.,  and  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 
The  first  child  died  in  infancy.  The  birth  of  the  second, 
named  Oliver,  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Annual  Register  for 
1782  :  "  Birth, — The  lady  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq.,  of  a 
son  and  heir,  at  his  house  in  Nicholas  Lane.  This  child 
is  the  only  male  heir  of  the  Cromwell  family  in  a  lineal 
descent  from  the  memorable  Protector  of  that  name." 
But  little  Oliver,  alas  !  like  so  many  of  his  predecessors, 
once  more  disappointed  the  hopes  of  his  friends.  He  lived 
but  three  years  ;  and  now  the  only  surviving  child  was  a 
daughter,  Elizabeth  Oliveria,  born  in  1777,  and  married  in 
1801  to  Thomas  Artemidorus  Russell,  Esq. 

Mr.  Cromwell  of  Cheshunt  wished  his  daughter  to  carry 
on  his  name,  in  accordance  with  the  course  usually  pursued 
in  such  cases,  by  her  husband's  adopting  the  surname  and 
arms  of  Cromwell,  either  in  addition  to,  or  in  exchange 
for,  those  of  Russell.  Such  a  procedure  is  technically  said 
to  be  "  by  royal  permission."  The  issue  of  the  affair  is 
thus  recorded  by  Mr.  Burke,  the  herald :  "  Mr.  Cromwell 
wishing  to  perpetuate  the  name  of  his  great  ancestor, 

*  This  estate  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Theobald's  Park,  which  was  never 
in  the  possession  of  the  Cromwell  family.  Theobald's  Park  and  the  Manor  of 
Cheshunt  belonged  to  the  Prescott  family,  while  Cheshunt  or  Brantingsay  Park 
and  Manor  at  Theobald's  belonged  to  the  Cromwell  party.  The  name  was 
formerly  spelt  Brantingshaye. 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         65 

applied,  it  is  said,  in  the  usual  quarter  for  permission  that 
his  son-in-law  should  assume  the  surname  of  Cromwell ; 
when,  to  his  astonishment,  considering  that  such  requests 
are  usually  granted  on  the  payment  of  certain  fees  as  a 
matter  of  course,  the  permission  was  refused.  Such  a 
course  of  proceeding  is  too  contemptible  for  comment."* 
The  credit  of  the  refusal  has  been  variously  ascribed  to  the 
old  King,  to  the  Prince  Regent,  and  to  William  IV.  Sir 
Robert  Heron,  writing  in  1821,  makes  mention  of  it  thus  : 
"  Within  the  last  two  or  three  years  died  the  last  male 
direct  descendant  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  He  was  well 
known  to  my  father  and  to  Sir  Abraham  Hume,  who  lived 
near  him.  They  represented  him  as  a  worthy  man  of  mild 
manners,  much  resembling  in  character  his  immediate 
ancestor,  Henry,  the  Lord- Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  Early 
in  life  his  pecuniary  circumstances  were  narrowed,  but 
latterly  he  possessed  a  comfortable  income.  He  was 
desirous  of  leaving  his  name  to  his  son-in-law  Mr.  Russell, 
and  applied  for  his  Majesty's  permission  that  Russell 
should  assume  it ;  but  the  old  King  positively  refused  it, 
always  saying,  '  No,  no  —  no  more  Cromwells  '  "  (Sir 
Robert  Heron's  Notes).  Another  version  of  the  affair  is, 
that  Mr.  Cromwell,  becoming  apprehensive  that  the  change 
of  name  might,  after  all,  prove  a  hindrance  rather  than 
otherwise  to  his  grandchildren's  advance  in  life,  allowed 
the  matter  to  remain  in  abeyance  ;  but  that  the  scheme 
was  revived  by  another  member  of  the  family  in  a 
memorial  addressed  to  William  IV.,  and  that  it  was  this 
King,  and  not  George  III.,  who  uttered  the  energetic  veto 
above  recorded. 

Mr.  Cromwell,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the 
"  Memoirs  of  the  Protector  Oliver  Cromwell  and  of  his 
Two  Sons,  Richard  and  Henry,"  died  on  May  31,  1821, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-nine.  His  excellent  wife,  whose 
charitable  deeds  were  long  remembered  in  the  neighbour- 

*  "  History  of  the  Commoners,"  vol.  i.,  p.  433. 


66  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

hood,  lived  on  to  her  eighty-seventh  year.  On  Sundays 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  attending  the  chapel  of  the  neigh- 
bouring college  (founded  by  Lady  Huntingdon),  in  which 
she  was  joined  by  her  husband  and  by  her  sister-in-law, 
Miss  Susanna  Cromwell. 

The  family  monument  at  Cheshunt  Church  records  only 
the  following  names  : 

Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq.,  1821,  aged  seventy-nine. 

Mary  Cromwell,  his  wife,  1831,  eighty-seven. 

Lieutenant-General  Armstrong,  his  son-in-law,  sixty- 
three. 

Thomas  Artemidorus  Russell,  Esq.,  1858,  eighty- 
three. 

Eliza  Oliveria,  his  wife,  1849,  seventy-two. 

Artemidorus  Cromwell  Russell,  1830,  twenty-seven. 

Avarilla  Aphra,  his  wife,  1827,  twenty-one. 

John  Russell,  Esq.,  1830,  eighty-two. 

Eliza,  wife  of  John  Henry  Cromwell  Russell,  1876, 
seventy. 

Family  of  Russell,  of  Cheshunt  Park. 

Elizabeth  Oliveria  Cromwell,  only  surviving  child 
of  Oliver  Cromwell,  of  Cheshunt,  was  born  in  1777,  mar- 
ried in  1801  to  Thomas  Artemidorus  Russell,  of  Thurston, 
co.  Hereford,  Esq.  She  died  in  1849  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two,  and  in  her  death  the  English  nation  had  to 
contemplate  the  final  extinction  of  the  Protector's  house- 
hold inheriting  the  name  of  Cromwell  by  blood.  To  the 
present  writer,  his  personal  intercourse  with  the  venerable 
lady  is  the  most  interesting  fact  connected  with  the 
labours  of  this  family  history.  To  watch  her  passing 
from  portrait  to  portrait  through  the  Brantingsay  gallery, 
and  hear  her  with  tremulous  voice  dwelling  on  the  virtues 
of  each  successive  representative  of  the  house  from  the 
Protector's  parents  down  to  her  own  father,  was  to  become 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         67 


for  awhile  the  passive  recipient  of  very  pleasant  sensations 
— sensations,  it  may  be,  too  thronging  for  description, 
too  complex  for  analysis.  By  her  husband  she  left  nine 
children : 

I.  Elizabeth  Oliveria,  born  1802  ;  married  1823  to 
Frederick  Joseph,  son  of  George  Frederick  Prescott,  of 
Theobalds,  Herts,  Esq.  By  her  husband,  formerly  of  the 
War  Office,  and  who  died  in  1888,  aged  ninety-one,  she 
became  the  mother  of  ten  children  : 

I.  Frederick  George,  born  1824  ;  died  in  infancy. 

II.  Emma  Elizabeth,  born  1826  ;  married,  1853,  to 
Herbert  Calthorpe,  son  of  Lieutenant-General  Wil- 
liam Gardner,  R.A.,  and  by  him  (who  died  1857)  had, 
surviving  issue,  Herbert  Prescott,  born  1854,  and 
Emma  Louisa,  born  1857. 

III.  George  Frederick,  Vicar  of  St.  Michael's,  Pad- 
dington,  M.A.  Cantab.,  born  1827  >  married,  1863, 
to  Sarah,  daughter  of  John  Horsley,  Esq.,  Madras 
Civil  Service,  and  had  :  Mary,  1864 ;  Edward,  1866  ; 
Ernest,  1867  ;  Mildred,  1871. 

IV.  Charles  Andrew,  banker  and  M.A.  Cantab., 
born  1829  5  married,  1864,  to  Emma  Catharine, 
daughter  of  William  Harrison,  Esq.,  of  Westbourne 
Terrace,  by  whom  he  had  four  children  :  Charlotte 
Cromwell,  1865  ;  Charles  Cave  Cromwell,  1867,  died 
in  childhood ;  Oliveria  Cromwell,  1872 ;  Kenneth 
Loder  Cromwell,  1874. 

V.  Edward  Barker,  Captain  33rd  Regiment  (Wel- 
lington's), wounded  in  the  Crimea.  Medal  and  clasps. 
Married,  1857,  to  Sophia  Victoria,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Cox,  of  Gloucester  Crescent,  Esq.,  and  has  a 
son,  Edward  Frederick  William,  born  1858. 

VI.  Lucy  Esther,  born  1833. 

VII.  Augusta  Sophia,  born  1835  ;  married,  1873, 
to  Robert  Burn,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 


68  The  Hotise  of  Cromwell. 


VIII.  Henry  Warner,  a  banker,  born  1837. 

IX.  Edgar  Grote,  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  B.A. 
Oxon.,  born  1839  ;  married,  1865,  to  Jane  Katharine, 
daughter  of  Edgar  Barker,  Esq.,  of  Oxford  Square, 
and  had  seven  children  :  Henry  Frederick,  1866  ; 
Edward  Barker,  1867 ;  Edgar  Evelyn,  1869 ;  Mar- 
garet Oliveria,  died  in  infancy,  1871 ;  Herbert,  1872  ; 
Nelly  Margaret,  1875  ;  Isabel  Katharine,  1878. 

X.  Oliveria  Louisa,  born  1842. 

II.  Artemidorus  Cromwell,  born  1803;  died  1830, 
having  married  Avarilla  Aphra  Armstrong,  by  whom  (who 
died  1827)  he  had  one  daughter,  Avarilla  Oliveria  Crom- 
well, born  1826 ;  married,  1849,  to  Rev.  Paul  Bush,  of 
South  Luffenham,  now  [1890]  Rector  of  Duloe,  near 
Liskeard  ;  died  November  25,  1895.  By  her  husband  she 
had  issue: 

I.  Thomas  Cromwell,  B.A.  Oxon,  born  1851, 
Vicar  of  Camel  Queen,  Bath. 

II.  Elizabeth  Oliveria,  1852. 

III.  James  Graham,  in  India,  1854. 

IV.  Paul  Warner,  Lieutenant  in  the  Royal  Navy, 
born  1855. 

V.  Charles  Cromwell,  in  India,  born  1857. 

VI.  Charlotte  Mary  Avarilla,  1858. 

VII.  Beatrice  Maud,  i860. 

VIII.  Herbert  Cromwell,  1861. 

IX.  Ethel  Julia,  1863. 

X.  Gertrude  Harriet  Cromwell,  1865. 

XI.  Mabel  Ottley,  1868. 

III.  Mary  Esther,  born  1805 ;  married,  1832,  to 
General  George  Andrew  Armstrong,  of  Hereford,  In- 
spector-General of  the  Hereford  Volunteers.  She  married 
secondly,  in  1836,  Thomas  Huddlestone,  Esq. 

IV.  John  Henry  Cromwell,  of  Sittingbourne,  born 
1806 ;  married,  1832,  to  Eliza,  only  daughter  of  Maurice 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         69 

Lievesley,  Esq.,  and  had  one  daughter  :  Eliza  Clementina 
Frances  Cromwell,  born  1835. 

V.  Thomas  Artemidorus  Cromwell,  born  1808 ; 
died  in  infancy. 

VI.  Thomas  Artemidorus,  born  1810  ;  married  1862  ; 
died  1863. 

VII.  Letitia  Cromwell,  born  1812  ;  married,  1847, 
to  Frederick  Whitfield,  of  4,  Vane  Street,  Bath,  M.D., 
and  had  two  daughters  :  Amy,  1848,  and  Elizabeth  (?). 
Mrs.  Whitfield  died  in  1863. 

VIII.  Charles  William  Cromwell,  born  1814;  died 
1859. 

IX.  Emma  Bridget,  born  1816 ;  married,  1834,  to 
Captain  Richard  Warner,  5th  Foot,  a  descendant  of  Sir 
Thomas  Warner,  who,  as  one  of  the  early  explorers  of 
Antigua,  obtained  a  grant  of  land  there  from  James  I., 
who  also  presented  him  with  the  celebrated  ring  which 
Queen  Elizabeth  had  given  to  Essex.  This  gem,  we  are 
informed,  belonged  originally  to  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
and  King  James's  gift  of  it  to  Sir  Thomas  Warner  was 
designed  as  an  especial  mark  of  favour.  Since  that  time 
it  has  descended  from  father  to  son  in  the  elder  branch  of 
the  Warner  family.  Captain  Richard  Warner  died  1863. 
The  issue  of  the  above  marriage  was  as  follows : 

I.  Ashton  Cromwell,  born  1835.  He  served  through- 
out the  Indian  Mutiny  campaign  in  1857-58,  received 
a  medal  with  clasps  for  "  Defence  of  Lucknow  "  and 
"  Lucknow,"  and  a  brevet  majority  ;  retired  from  the 
20th  Hussars  in  1868  ;  appointed  Chief  Constable  of 
Bedfordshire  in  1871.  Major  Warner,  married  first 
— 1868 — Anne  Geraldine,  only  daughter  of  M.  B. 
Jeffreys,  Esq.,  and  by  her  (who  died  1871)  had  one 
son,  Ashton  Darell  Cromwell,  who  died  in  infancy. 
He  married  secondly — 1872 — Florence  Louisa,  fourth 
daughter  of  the  late  W.  Stapleton  Piers,  Esq.,  and 
grand-daughter  of  Sir  John  Bennett  Piers,  of  Trister- 


jo  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


nagh  Abbey,  co.  Westmeath,  Bart.,  and  has  issue : 
Bridget  Nora  Cromwell,  1874  ;  Lionel  Ashton  Piers, 
1875  ;  Marjorie  Ellin,  1877  ;  Esther  Hastings,  1878. 

II.  Richard  Edward,  born  1836;  married,  1864,  to 
Mary  Jametta  Hale,  daughter  of  Major  Constantine 
Yeoman,  of  Sibron,  and  had  issue  :  Constance  Emma 
Cromwell,  Leonard  Ottley,  Mary  Challoner,  Basil 
Hale,  Richard  Cromwell,  Lawrence  Dundas,  Wynyard 
Alexander,  Marmaduke. 

III.  Wynyard  Huddleston,  named  after  his  uncle, 
General  Wynyard,  of  the  Grenadier  Guards,  who 
distinguished  himself  in  the  Crimea.  He  married 
Jane,  daughter  of  Mr.  Bell,  of  the  Civil  Service,  East 
India  Company. 

We  now  pass  to  the  families  deriving  from  Anne  Crom- 
well (p.  61). 

Family  of  Field. 

Anne,  only  surviving  daughter  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  of 
Bridgwater  Square,  by  his  first  marriage,  married,  in  1753, 
at  Edmonton,  John  Field,  an  apothecary,  at  that  time  of 
Newgate  Street,  but  afterwards  of  Stoke  Newington. 
There  is  reason  to  think  that  this  was  a  union  prompted 
by  cordiality  of  religious  sentiment,  the  Fields  being  of 
a  Puritan  stock,  and  Mr.  Field  himself  attached  to  Stoke 
Newington  society.  Mr.  Field,  whose  medical  practice 
was  extensive,  was  the  founder,  in  1765,  of  the  London 
Annuity  Society,  established  for  the  benefit  of  the  widows 
of  its  members.  This  institution,  now  located  at  3,  Ser- 
geants' Inn,  possesses  half-length  portraits  of  himself 
and  of  his  son  Henry,  who  succeeded  him  professionally. 
His  living  presence,  we  are  told,  was  a  familiar  and  grate- 
ful object  to  all  the  dwellers  in  and  about  Stoke  Newing- 
ton, who  believed  his  good  nature  to  be  inexhaustible,  the 
capacious  coach  in  which  he  performed  the  daily  journey 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  71 

into  town  being  apparently  at  the  service  of  the  public, 
for  while  his  personal  friends  occupied  the  interior,  some 
poor  neighbour  was  generally  to  be  seen  on  the  box.  The 
religious  coterie  of  that  suburban  district,  clustering  round 
the  household  of  the  ex-General  Fleetwood,  will  be  noticed 
more  at  large  hereafter.  Mr.  Field's  intercourse  must 
have  been  with  their  succeeding  generation.  His  own 
ancestry  derived  from  Cockenhoe,  in  Herts,  where  he  was 
born  in  1719.  His  death  occurred  in  1796,  the  year 
before  that  of  his  wife.  Their  children  now  to  be  noticed 
are  nine  in  number  : 

I.  Henry,  an  apothecary,  born  September  29,  1755, 
rose  to  high  esteem  among  the  brethren  of  his  profession, 
as  testified  by  the  offices  which  from  time  to  time  he 
filled.  In  1807  he  was  elected  apothecary  to  Christ's 
Hospital.  He  was  also  lecturer  and  treasurer  to  the 
Society  of  Apothecaries,  one  of  the  Board  of  Health  in 
1 83 1  for  prevention  of  cholera,  the  city  of  London  pre- 
senting him  with  a  silver  centre  for  his  table.  He  was 
also  for  many  years  treasurer  of  the  London  Annuity 
Society  for  the  benefit  of  widows  of  apothecaries,  in  Chat- 
ham Place,  Blackfriars,  which  his  father  had  founded. 
Among  his  writings  may  be  mentioned  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Botanick  Garden  "  at  Chelsea.  He  maintained  his  powers 
till  his  eighty-third  year,  when  he  died  at  Woodford, 
Essex,  December  19,  1837,  and  was  buried  at  Cheshunt. 
His  portrait  was  painted  for  the  Apothecaries  by  R. 
Pickersgill,  and  for  the  Annuity  Society  by  Samuel  Lane, 
and  an  engraving  from  the  latter  was  so  skilfully  executed 
by  Charles  Turner  that  the  family  regard  it  as  a  better 
likeness  than  the  original  painting.  Mr.  Field  married, 
on  September  2,  1784,  Esther,  daughter  of  E.  Barron,  of 
Woolacre  House,  near  Deptford,  Esq.,  and  by  her  (who 
died  January  16,  1834)  ^e^  s*x  sons  and  two  daughters : 

I.  Henry  Cromwell,  born  1785.     Succeeded  to  his 
father's  professional  position  in  Newgate  Street,  and 


J  2  The  House  of  Cromzvell. 

became  chairman  of  the  Court  of  Examiners  of  the 
Apothecaries'  Company.  His  personal  tastes  took 
an  artistic  turn,  and  led  to  his  becoming  an  occasional 
exhibitor  at  the  Royal  Academy.  Shortly  before  his 
death  he  was  preparing,  in  co-operation  with  the 
chaplain  of  Charterhouse,  a  book  in  illustration  of 
that  establishment.  It  was  whilst  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty  as  resident  medical  officer  there  that  his 
death  occurred  instantaneously  in  1840.  He  was 
buried  in  the  vault  of  Charterhouse  Chapel.  He 
married  his  cousin  Anne,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Gwinnel,  of  whom  hereafter. 

II.  Barron,  born  October  23,  1786;  died  s.p. 
April  11,  1846,  at  his  residence  at  Meadfoot  House, 
Torquay.  He  entered  the  Inner  Temple  1809,  and 
was  called  to  the  Bar  on  June  23,  1814.  He  became 
Advocate  -  Fiscal  at  Ceylon,  Chief  Justice  in  New 
South  Wales,  and  finally  Chief  Justice  at  Gibraltar. 
It  was  at  Gibraltar  that  the  late  Earl  of  Beaconsfield, 
then  a  young  man  on  his  travels,  met  the  Chief 
Justice  in  1830.  He  characteristically  describes  the 
Judge-Advocate  as  "noisy,  obtrusive,  jargonic,  a  true 
lawyer,  ever  illustrating  the  obvious,  explaining  the 
evident,  and  expatiating  on  the  commonplace."  Like 
his  brother,  he  sought  and  found  a  solatium  in  studies 
less  rigid  than  the  law.  Dramatic  literature  became 
his  favourite  pursuit.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
Charles  Lamb,  Leigh  Hunt,  and  Crabb  Robinson, 
and  for  a  time  held  the  post  of  theatrical  critic  for 
the  Times.  He  edited  some  of  the  issues  of  the 
Shakspeare  Society,  and  was  meditating  a  complete 
collection  of  Heywood's  works  with  a  biography  at 
the  time  of  his  own  decease.  His  widow,  Jane, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Carncroft,  whom  he  had  married  in 
1816,  died  at  Wimbledon  in  1878,  aged  eighty- 
six. 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  y$ 

III.  Francis  John,  born  1791 ;  died  suddenly,  in 
1857,  at  his  residence,  88,  Chester  Place,  Regent's 
Park.  He  held  in  the  India  House  the  office  of 
Accountant-General,  and  was  the  last  of  that  title. 
He  married,  1841,  Anne,  daughter  of  Edward  Barron, 
of  Northiam,  in  Sussex.  Charles  Lamb,  in  one  of 
his  letters  to  Bernard  Barton,  while  humorously  re- 
cording his  neglect  of  some  of  the  details  of  social 
life,  says :  "  All  the  time  I  was  at  the  East  India 
House  I  never  mended  a  pen.  When  I  write  to  a 
great  man  at  the  Court  end,  he  opens  with  surprise 
upon  a  naked  note  such  as  Whitechapel  people  inter- 
change, with  no  sweet  degrees  of  envelope.  I  never 
enclosed  one  bit  of  paper  in  another,  nor  understood 
the  rationale  of  it.  Once  only  I  sealed  with  borrowed 
wax,  to  set  Sir  Walter  Scott  a-woridering,  signed 
with  the  Imperial  quartered  arms  of  England,  which 
my  friend  Field  bears  in  compliment  to  his  descent 
in  the  female  line  from  Oliver  Cromwell.  It  must 
have  set  his  antiquarian  curiosity  upon  watering " 
(Talfourd's  "  Life  and  Letters  of  Lamb"). 

IV.  Esther,  born  1792,  resided  near  her  brother, 
Frederick  Field,  the  Rector  of  Reepham,  in  Norfolk, 
and  died  1871. 

V.  Edmund,  born  1799,  a  Russia  merchant  of  the 
firm  of  Brandt  and  Co.,  retired  to  Hastings,  where 
he  became  active  in  works  of  benevolence  and  in 
pictorial  studies.     He  died  in  1880. 

VI.  Frederick,  born  in  London  July  20,  1801.  In 
1824  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  in  company  with  T.  B.  Macaulay. 
Among  his  private  pupils  was  F.  D.  Maurice.  He 
was  Rector,  first  of  Great  Saxham,  Suffolk,  and  after- 
wards, from  1842,  of  Reepham,  Norfolk.  He  resigned 
this  living  in  1863,  and  removed  to  Norwich,  where 
he  continued  to  reside  till  his  death,  which  occurred 


74  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

on  April  ig,  1885.  His  name  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  Chrysostom  and  Origen,  and  his  edition 
of  Origen's  "Hexapla"  is  recognised  as  the  most 
important  contribution  to  Patristic  theology  which 
has  appeared  for  a  century. 

VII.  Marriott,  born  1803,  emigrated  to  America, 
where  he  was  drowned.  His  taste  was  for  music, 
but  he  also  produced  three  poems,  entitled  "Job," 
"  Ecclesiastes,"  and  the  "  Story  of  Esther." 

VIII.  Maria  Letitia,  born  1805,  has  long  con- 
stituted one  of  the  Field  colony  at  Hastings. 

II.  Oliver,  born  1761,  left  Worcester  for  America  in 
1799,  and  died  at  New  York  in  1835.  His  wife  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Gittings,  of  Shropshire. 
Their  family  when  they  left  England  were  very  young ; 
of  these,  Oliver  died  in  childhood.  Of  the  survivors, 
John,  Joseph,  and  Thomas,  two  of  them  and  the  mother 
paid  a  visit  to  England  many  years  ago,  but  are  now 
[1879],  together  with  their  sisters,  believed  to  have  all 
married  in  America. 

III.  John,  born  1764,  commenced  business  as  a  Russia 
merchant,  but  discovered  before  long  a  remarkable  aptitude 
for  astronomy  and  the  construction  of  scientific  apparatus. 
These  qualities,  combined  as  they  were  with  a  character 
for  high  integrity,  becoming  known  to  the  Government, 
his  services  were  secured  for  the  Royal  Mint,  where  he 
held  the  office  of  Umpire  between  the  several  departments 
on  the  precious  metals  passing  between  the  officers  and 
the  Bank  of  England.  Among  his  mechanical  inventions, 
some  of  which  were  adopted  in  America  and  France,  may 
be  mentioned  a  counting -machine  and  an  improved 
system  of  assay-beams  and  weights.  He  died,  in  1843, 
at  his  residence,  Bayswater  Hill,  in  his  seventy-ninth 
year.  His  portrait,  reminding  one  of  Pascal,  is  in  the 
possession   of  his  son   Henry.     He   married   Mary,  only 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  75 

child  of  Charles  Pryer,  of  Tichfield,  Hants,  Esq.,  and  by 
her,  who  died  1859,  nad  eight  children : 

I.,  II.,  and  III.  Henry,  Charles,  and  Frederick, 
who  all  died  young  of  typhus  fever. 

IV.  Henry  William,  born  1803.  Was  for  fifty-one 
years  an  able  servant  of  the  Crown  at  the  Mint,  and 
about  seven  years  ago  retired  to  his  estate  of  Munster 
Lodge,  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  near  Tedding- 
ton.  He  entered  the  Mint  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  at 
the  time  of  Lord  Maryborough's  Mastership,  and 
assisted  at  the  great  recoinage,  then  in  progress. 
The  chemical  skill  which  he  inherited  from  his  father 
eventually  found  fuller  scope  when,  in  1850,  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  office  of  Queen's  Assay -Master  (an 
ancient  appellation  subsequently  disused).  This  was 
also  the  period  of  Sir  John  Herschell's  appointment 
to  the  Mastership,  marking  an  economical  crisis  in 
the  history  of  that  establishment,  which  was  long 
remembered  as  "the  revolution  of '51."  In  the  labora- 
tory Mr.  Field  was  ever  Sir  John's  able  auxiliary, 
more  especially  when  it  was  resolved  to  establish  and 
apply  more  incontrovertible  tests  to  the  quality  of 
bullion  devoted  to  coinage.  The  scientific  details  of 
Mr.  Field's  new  system  of  working  the  assays  cannot 
here  be  displayed ;  it  must  suffice  to  say  they  re- 
ceived Herschell's  emphatic  approbation.  A  parting 
message  which  came  from  his  old  friend  many  years 
after  will  form  a  suitable  voucher.  "  I  am  suffering," 
says  Sir  John,  "  under  an  attack  of  bronchitis  which 
has  lasted  me  all  the  winter,  so  excessively  severe 
that  I  can  hardly  hold  the  pen,  which  must  excuse 
the  brevity  of  this,  and  being  now  in  my  eightieth 
year,  I  can  hope  for  no  relief.  I  shall  retain,  how- 
ever, to  the  last  a  pleasing  recollection  of  aid  and 
support  I  received  from  you  during  the  period  of  my 
administration  of  the  Mint.     And   I   know  you  will 


j6  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

believe  me  ever,  my  dear  sir,  yours  most  truly, 
J.  F.  W.  Herschell." — Mr.  Field,  in  1840,  married 
Anna,  daughter  of  T.  Mills,  of  Coval  Hall,  Chelms- 
ford, and  Vicar  of  Hellions-Bumpstead,  Essex,  and 
by  her,  who  died  in  1868,  had : 

I.  Mary  Hester  Katherine,  born  1841 ;  married, 
1864,  to  Arthur  Evershed,  of  Ampthill,  M.D.,  and 
has  issue  seven  children. 

II.  Katharine  Anne  Russell,  born  1842  ;  married, 
1866,  to  William  Henry  Snelling  of  the  Admiralty, 
of  Ashton  Lodge,  Selhurst,  Esq.,  and  has  issue. 

III.  Harriet  Elizabeth  Pryer,  born  1843. 

IV.  Frances  Anna  Ollyffe,  born  1847. 

V.  Henry  Cromwell  Beckwith,  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  Curate  of  St.  Jude's,  Liverpool ; 
born  1850. 

VI.  Letitia  Eliza,  married,  1876,  to  Ralph 
Thomas,  of  Doughty  Street,  solicitor,  and  has 
issue. 

VII.  Minnie,  died  1878. 

V.  Emma  Katharine,  born  1809,  lived  with  her 
widowed  mother  at  Notting  Hill,  and  after  her 
mother's  decease  removed  to  Barnes. 

VI.  Charles  Frederick,  born  1813  ;  held  office  in 
the  Admiralty ;  married,  in  1868,  Flora  Helen,  daughter 
of  Charles  A.  Elderton  of  the  Bengal  Medical  Staff, 
and  had  issue :  (1)  Charles  John  Elderton,  1869 ; 
(2)  Flora  Georgiana,  1870 ;  (3)  Oliver  Cromwell, 
1871  ;  (4)   Katharine  Mary  Ida,  1875. 

VII.  Oliver  Cromwell,  born  1815,  a  Commander 
in  the  Royal  Navy,  having  much  in  common  with 
his  renowned  ancestor ;  a  man  of  energy,  humanity, 
and  prompt  action,  shown  on  various  occasions  in  the 
rescuing  of  wrecked  crews  during  his  several  voyages 
to  and  from  India.     His  wife  died  in  1884. 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  jj 

VIII.  Samuel  Pryer,  M.A.,  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  Vicar  of  Sawbridgeworth,  born  in  1816 ; 
died  1878 ;  so  devoted  to  the  study  of  ecclesiastical 
architecture  that  he  lavished  much  of  his  income  in 
restoring  the  church  fabrics  successively  under  his 
care.  By  his  wife,  Jane,  daughter  of  Admiral  Sir 
W.  H.  Pierson,  of  Langton,  Hants,  he  had  four 
children:  (1)  Cyril,  in  the  Royal  Marines;  (2)  Bertha; 
(3)  Oliver,  in  New  Zealand;  (4)  Maud,  died  1885. 

IV.  William,    fourth   son   of   John    Field   and   Anne 
Cromwell,  born  1767;  died  1851;  of  Learn,  near  Warwick. 
In  accordance  with  the  Calvinistic  theology  of  his  parents, 
he  was  educated  as  a  Protestant  Dissenting  minister,  first 
at  Daventry  and  afterwards  at  Homerton ;  but  adopting 
Unitarian  principles,  he  was  ordained  by  Dr.  Priestley  and 
Mr.  Belsham  to  the  pastorate  of  the  ancient  Presbyterian 
congregation    of  High    Street   Chapel  in  Warwick,    and 
with  this  was  combined  for  twenty-two  years  the  over- 
sight of  a  similar  community  at  Kenilworth.     He  early 
displayed  that  literary  power,  both  political  and  polemical, 
which  he  was  ever  afterwards   prompt  to  wield  in  the 
advocacy  of  popular  rights,  and  which  resulted  in  a  vast 
variety  of  pamphlets  belonging  chiefly  to  the  period  of 
Lord  Grey's  first  Reform  Bill.     Other  works  from  his  pen 
are  the  Life  of  his  friend,  Dr.  Parr  of  Hatton,  and  an 
"  Account  of  the  Town  and  Castle  of  Warwick."      His 
activity  also   resulted  in  the  establishment   of  a  public 
library,   and   of  the    Warwick  Advertiser.      His  portrait, 
painted  by  Henry  Wyatt,  and  exhibited  in  1838,  has  been 
well  engraved  in  large  quarto  by  Charles  Turner.     The 
Diary  of  Henry  Crabb  Robinson  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the 
domestic  life  of  this  family  in  1839.     Mr.  Robinson  had 
been  spending  a  fortnight  with  his  friends,  the  Masqueriers, 
of  Leamington,  and  adds:  "This  excursion  has  left  several 
very  agreeable  recollections.    Among  them  the  most  promi- 
nent was  my  better  acquaintance  with  the  Field  family.    I 


78  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

then  knew  Edwin  Field  chiefly  as  the  junior  partner  of 
Edgar  Taylor,  who  was  at  that  time  approaching  the  end 
of  an  honourable  and  useful  life.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Field 
senior  were  then  living  in  an  old-fashioned  country-house 
between  Leamington  and  Warwick.  He  had  long  been 
the  minister  at  Warwick,  and  also  kept  a  highly-respect- 
able school.  He  was  known  by  a  Life  of  Dr.  Parr,  whose 
intimate  friendship  he  enjoyed.  His  wife  was  also  a  very 
superior  woman ;  I  had  already  seen  her  in  London.  I 
heard  Mr.  Field  preach  on  July  21 ;  his  sermon  was 
sound  and  practical,  opposed  to  metaphysical  divinity. 
He  treated  it  as  an  idle  question  (he  might  have  said, 
a  mischievous  subtlety),  whether  works  were  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  justifying  cause  of  salvation,  or  the  certain 
consequence  of  a  genuine  faith  "  (vol.  iii.,  178).  The  lady 
here  mentioned  was  Mary,  daughter  (by  his  first  wife, 
Elizabeth  North)  of  William  Wilkins,  Baptist  minister  of 
Bourton-on-the-Water.  She  was  married  to  Mr.  Field  in 
1803,  and  died  in  1848,  having  had  thirteen  children, 
eleven  of  whom  survived  their  parents  in  1851,  namely: 

I.  Edwin  Wilkins,  born  1804,  an  eminent  solicitor, 
practising  first  in  Bedford  Row,  and  afterwards  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  His  life  will  be  given  presently. 
He  married,  first,  Mary  Sharpe,  niece  of  Samuel 
Rogers,  the  poet,  and  had  one  son  named  Rogers,  after 
this  great-uncle.  Mr.  Field  married,  secondly,  Letitia, 
daughter  of  Robert  Kinder  of  London,  Esq.,  who  died 
in  1890,  aged  eighty-eight.  She  became  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  namely:  (1)  Basil,  1834,  successor 
to  his  father  ;  (2)  Allan,  1835,  married  Miss  Phillips, 
and  has  five  daughters ;  (3)  Walter,  1837,  an  eminent 
landscape  and  genre  painter,  married  Miss  Cookson, 
daughter  of  W.  Strickland  Cookson,  solicitor,  and 
has  seven  children ;  (4)  Mary,  1839;  (5)  Grace,  1841  ; 
(6)  Susan,  1843  ;  (7)  Emily,  1845. 

II.  Arthur,  born  1806,  died  unmarried  about  (1845?) 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.  79 

III.  John  Hampden,  born  1807;  settled  and  married 
in  America. 

IV.  Emma,  born  1809 ;  died  1816. 

V.  Ferdinand  Emmans,  born  1810 ;  a  merchant  in 
Birmingham. 

VI.  Laura,  born  1811  ;  married  W.  Langmead  of 
Plymouth,  and  died  1879. 

VII.  Algernon  Sidney,  born  1813 ;  a  solicitor  at 
Leamington,  and  clerk  of  the  peace  for  Warwickshire  ; 
married  Sarah  Martin,  of  Birmingham,  and  has  issue 
three  sons  and  two  daughters.  The  two  daughters 
both  married,  the  latter  in  1886. 

VIII.  Alfred,  born  1814;  merchant  in  New  York, 
where  he  married  the  daughter  of  another  emigrant, 
viz.,  Charlotte  Errington,  whose  father,  a  native  of 
Yarmouth  in  Suffolk,  left  England  in  consequence  of 
failure  in  business.  Miss  Errington's  mother,  named 
Notcutt,  was  descended  from  an  old  Puritan  family 
long  known  at  Ipswich  in  Suffolk.  Alfred  Field  had 
issue  one  son,  named  Henry  Cromwell,  and  one 
daughter,  named  Rosa. 

IX.  Caroline,  born  1816 ;  married  Reginald  A. 
Parker,  solicitor,  and  has  seven  children. 

X.  Alice,  born  1817. 

XI.  Lucy,  born  1821  ;  died  1822. 

XII.  Horace,  born  1823  ;  architect;  married  Chris- 
tina, daughter  of  Edward  White,  of  Glasgow,  and  had 
two  children. 

XIII.  Leonard,  born  1824  I  barrister. 

V.  Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  John  Field  and  Anne 
Cromwell ;  born  1756  ;  died  1820,  having  married  in  1787 
Thomas  Gwinnel,  of  Worcester,  merchant.  Mr.  Gwinnel, 
who  died  in  1818,  aged  sixty-eight,  left  fivechildren,  namely : 

I.  Thomas  Cromwell,  a  solicitor  at  Worcester ; 
died  1835. 


8o  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

II.  Anne  Sophia  ;  married  her  cousin,  Henry  Crom- 
well Field. 

III.  Amelia  ;  lived  at  Hastings  with  her  cousin, 
Letitia  Field. 

IV.  Diana ;  married  Mr.  Roberts,  of  Worcester. 

V.  Eliza  ;  married  Patrick  Johnston,  of  the  firm  of 
Praed,  Fane  and  Johnston,  bankers  in  Fleet  Street. 
Their  children  are :  (i)  Patrick,  a  solicitor  (both  he 
and  his  wife  died  July,  1884,  and  were  buried  at 
Thames  Ditton) ;  (2)  Janet  Eliza ;  (3)  Henry  Crom- 
well, in  Holy  Orders  (subsequently  of  163,  Ladbroke 
Grove  Road,  and  chaplain  of  Kensal  Green  Cemetery  ; 
he  died  1892,  aged  fifty-seven)  ;  (4)  Thomas,  of 
Kingston-on-Thames. 

VI.  Letitia,  second  daughter  of  John  Field  and  Anne 
Cromwell,  became  the  second  wife  of  Rev.  William 
Wilkins,  of  Bourton-on-the-Water,  and  had  four  children, 

viz. : 

I.  William,  who  died  young. 

II.  Letitia  ;  married  William  Kendall,  of  Bourton, 
solicitor,  by  whom  she  has  six  children  :  Herbert 
William,  Amelia  Letitia,  Edmund,  Agnes,  Harriet, 
Henry. 

III.  Henry  Field,  a  solicitor  at  Chipping-Norton  ; 
married  Miss  Spence,  of  that  place. 

IV.  Harriet,  married  George  Tilsley,  a  solicitor  at 
Chipping-Norton. 

VII.,  VIII.,  IX.  Elizabeth,  Sophia,  Mary,  three 
unmarried  daughters  of  John  Field  and  Anne  Cromwell. 
Elizabeth  died  at  Stoke  Newington,  1781,  aged  twenty-two; 
buried  at  Cheshunt.  Mary,  who  resided  at  Worcester, 
died  in  1840. 

Life  of  Edwin  Wilkins  Field. 

If  Edwin  Field  was  not  a  statesman  in  the  popular 
sense,  he  was  the  stimulating   agent    in    bringing  about 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         81 

many  reforms  for  which  professed  statesmen  have  reaped 
the  credit.  Yet  neither  was  he  a  law-reformer  only ;  he 
was  a  man  of  unbounded  sympathies,  and  his  Cromwellian 
energy  was  combined  with  versatile  capacity. 

Born  at  Learn,  near  Warwick,  on  October  12, 1804,  and 
educated  at  his  father's  school,  he  was  articled,  on  March  19, 
1821,  to  Taylor  and  Roscoe,  of  King's  Bench  Walk,  in 
the  Temple.  He  was  admitted  attorney  and  solicitor  in 
the  Michaelmas  term,  1825.  He  joined  his  fellow-clerk, 
William  Sharpe,  to  form  the  firm  of  Sharpe  and  Field,  in 
Broad  Street,  Cheapside,  but  in  1835  Taylor,  who  was 
then  alone,  took  Sharpe  and  Field  into  partnership  with 
him.  The  office  of  the  firm  was  long  in  Bedford  Row, 
but  was  subsequently  removed  to  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 
"  I  remember  as  if  it  were  yesterday,"  says  he  in  after- 
life, "  my  good  old  father's  wistful  look  as  he  left  me 
there.  That  look  has  stood  me  in  fast  stead  many  a  time 
since."  His  first  action  in  life  was  to  repay  that  father 
the  expenses  incurred  in  his  outsetting.  The  father 
refused,  but  the  pious  dexterity  of  the  son  contrived  to 
fulfil  the  intention.  This  generous  impulse  was  the 
animus  which  pervaded  all  his  subsequent  schemes.  His 
object  was  to  make  the  practice  of  the  law  square  with 
consciences  as  upright  and  scrupulous  as  his  own.  To 
become  a  law-reformer  was  therefore  with  him  a  moral 
necessity,  and  to  see  those  reforms  carried  to  a  triumphant 
issue  was  but  the  fair  reward  of  one  who  thought  it  more 
heroic  to  abolish  abuses  than  to  run  away  from  them. 
His  first  essays  in  the  Legal  Observer  had  reference  to  the 
law  respecting  marriages  abroad  between  English  subjects 
within  the  prohibited  degrees.  This  was  in  1840  ;  but  his 
grand  attack  during  the  same  year  was  directed  against 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  the  Six-Clerks  and  Sworn- 
Clerks  Office  in  particular.  Lords  Brougham  and 
Cottenham  had  begun  to  clear  the  ground,  but  the  crisis 
was  not  precipitated  until  Mr.  Field  led  the  public  voice. 

6 


82  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Details  cannot  be  enlarged  on  here,  but  the  judgment  of 
contemporaries  may  establish  the  verdict.  Spence,  in  his 
"  Equity  Jurisprudence,"  says  :  "  To  Mr.  Field's  exertions, 
enforced  by  Mr.  Pemberton,  the  Court  of  Chancery  is  in 
great  part  indebted  for  the  late  improvements."  John 
Wainewright,  formerly  one  of  the  sworn  clerks,  and  now 
[1879]  taxing-master,  says  in  a  letter  written  since  Mr. 
Field's  death  that  his  friend  was  "  the  first  person  who 
practically  brought  about  this  change."  And  Robert 
Bayley  Follett,  also  a  taxing-master,  says  :  "I  always 
considered  the  abolition  of  the  Six-Clerks  Office  due  to 
E.  W.  Field." 

The  removal  of  one  monster  grievance  ensures  the  fall 
of  many  parasitical  institutions.  In  1844  Field  was  in 
communication  with  the  Board  of  Trade  on  the  subject  of 
a  winding-up  Act  for  joint-stock  companies.  The  Act  of 
1848  substantially  embodied  the  proposals  contained  in  a 
draft  Bill  laid  before  the  legal  adviser  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  on  April  27,  1846,  by  Field  and  his  friend  Rigge, 
who  had  formerly  been  in  his  office.  His  views  on  the 
question  of  legal  remuneration  were  practically  embodied 
in  the  Act  of  1870.  Mr.  Field  had  abundance  of  work 
before  him  ;  but  success  had  now  energized  his  arm  and 
inspired  his  friends  with  confidence.  After  the  year  1840 
there  was  scarcely  a  Royal  Commission  or  Parliamentary 
Committee  on  Chancery  reform  or  general  legal  questions 
before  which  he  was  not  called  upon  to  give  evidence. 
Extracts  from  the  list  of  his  published  writings  may  serve 
as  an  index  to  his  subsequent  services.  Thus,  in  the 
Westminster  Review,  February,  1843,  we  have:  "Recent 
and  Future  Law  Reforms,"  "Judicial  Procedure  a  Single 
and  Inductive  Science  ";  in  the  Law  Review,  August,  1848, 
"  Comparative  Anatomy  of  Judicial  Procedure,"  reprinted 
in  the  New  York  Evening  Post.  Mr.  Field  also  wrote 
papers,  etc.,  "  On  the  Right  of  the  Public  to  form  Limited- 
Liability  Partnerships,  and  on  the  Theory,  Practice,  and 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         83 

Costs  of  Commercial  Charters " ;  "  On  the  Roots  and 
Evils  of  the  Law  "  ;  "  Economical  Considerations  on  the 
Autocracy  of  the  Bar,  and  on  the  System  of  Prescribed 
Tariffs  for  Legal  Wages."  A  paper  was  read  by  him  at 
Manchester  in  1857,  entitled  "What  should  a  Minister  of 
Justice  do  ?"  ;  one  before  the  Metropolitan  and  Provincial 
Law  Association,  held  in  London,  1859,  on  "  Legal  Educa- 
tion and  the  Comparative  Anatomy  of  Legal,  Medical, 
and  other  Professional  Education";  he  had  also  some 
correspondence  with  C.  G.  Loring,  the  eminent  American 
advocate,  on  the  present  relations  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States ;  and  "  On  the  Property  of  Married 
Women,"  published  in  the  Times. 

Brought  up  among  the  English  Presbyterians,  Mr. 
Field  was  not  disposed  to  sit  down  quietly  under  the 
partial  legislation  which  was  still  enforced  against 
Unitarians  under  cover  of  the  notorious  Lady  Hewley 
case,  and  accordingly,  by  the  Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill  of 
1844,  he  upset  that  legislation  for  ever.  This  is  quickly 
told,  but  the  struggle  while  it  lasted  was  arduous,  and  to 
many  appeared  hopeless.  Even  his  constant  friend  and 
ally,  Crabb  Robinson,  despaired  of  attacking  entrenched 
orthodoxy  ;  but  a  band  of  resolute  men,  who  for  many 
months  sat  on  the  question  de  die  in  diem,  had  at  length 
a  long  conference  with  the  Minister,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  Mr. 
Field  acting  as  spokesman.  Sir  Robert,  though  a  political 
opponent,  promptly  undertook  to  make  it  a  Government 
measure  ;  while  the  elaborate  historical  argument  with 
which  Mr.  Gladstone  swayed  the  Commons  on  that 
occasion  was  mainly  furnished  by  Mr.  Field. 

It  was  Mr.  Field's  belief  that  few  schemes  would  more 
tend  to  simplify  and  quicken  legal  operations  than  the 
concentration  of  all  the  courts  of  justice  and  offices  of  the 
law  into  one  building.  For  thirty  years  before  the  passing 
of  the  Courts  of  Justice  Building  Act  of  1865,  he  had 
urged  the  measure  ;  and  when  at  last  a  Royal  Commission 


84  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

was  issued  to  obtain  and  approve  a  plan  upon  which  the 
new  Courts  should  be  built,  it  was  natural  that  her  Majesty 
should  appoint  "  her  trusty  and  well-beloved  Edwin  Wil- 
kins  Field  to  be  the  secretary  to  the  Commission."  For 
his  arduous  duties  in  this  capacity,  extending  over  three 
years,  embracing  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  details  of  the 
vast  fabric,  preparing  instructions  for  the  competing 
architects,  and  drawing  up  elaborate  reports,  Mr.  Field 
refused  all  remuneration.  But  the  firm  of  which  he  was 
the  head  were  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Works  solicitors 
for  acquiring  the  new  site  ;  and  under  his  vigorous  super- 
intendence a  very  short  time  sufficed  to  clear  the  ground 
for  an  architectural  pile  which  will  not  be  complete  with- 
out some  artistic  memorial  of  the  enthusiastic  secretary. 

He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  Nature,  and  of  the  pictorial 
renderings  by  which  true  poetry  alone  can  apprehend  her. 
Much  of  the  interest  which,  as  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  University  College,  he  took  in  that  institution,  assumed 
this  form,  as  shown  in  his  co-operating  with  Henry  Crabb 
Robinson  in  the  formation  of  the  Flaxman  Gallery,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  Slade  School  of  Art,  in  all  which, 
as  well  as  in  the  legislation  which  from  time  to  time  he 
put  into  motion  for  the  furtherance  of  art  and  its  pro- 
fessors, his  advice  and  assistance  were  spontaneous. 
"  No  labour,"  says  he,  "  that  I  can  ever  give  on  this 
subject  will  repay  the  obligations  I  am  under  to  art  and 
to  artists  for  a  great  deal  of  the  pleasure  of  my  life.  I 
reverence  art.  I  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the  divinest  gifts 
of  our  nature.  Develop  a  love  of  art  in  every  way.  It 
will  give  you  new  eyes  wherewith  to  draw  in  and  make 
part  of  yourself  the  very  beauty  of  Nature,  and  new,  un- 
dreamt-of capacities  for  enjoying  it.  It  will  assuredly 
improve  and  elevate  your  character."  Accustomed  as  he 
was  to  be  consulted  in  matters  of  taste,  it  awoke  no 
suspicion  when  Mr.  T.  Cobb,  one  of  his  former  clerks, 
asked  him  one  day  what  painter  he  would  recommend 


Henry,  Fourth  Son  of  the  Protector.         85 

under  the  following  circumstances  :  A  number  of  clerks 
in  a  London  office  had  subscribed  to  get  the  portrait  of 
their  master  executed  in  the  best  style,  and  it  was  thought 
they  could  not  have  a  better  adviser  than  Mr.  Field. 
After  a  little  further  explanation  he  replied  :  "  Watson 
Gordon  is  your  man."  "  But,  sir,"  said  Cobb,  "  Sir 
Watson  paints  only  in  Edinburgh,  and  we  doubt  whether 
his  sitter  would  consent  to  travel  so  far."  "  Then," 
rejoined  Mr.  Field,  "  tell  the  young  men  to  drag  him 
there.  He  ought  to  be  proud  of  such  a  request."  In  due 
time  Mr.  Field  was  himself  requested  to  go  to  Edinburgh 
and  sit  to  Sir  Watson  Gordon  for  a  painting  to  be  pre- 
sented to  Mrs.  Field.  "  Congratulate  me,"  he  wrote  to 
Crabb  Robinson.  "  A  hundred  of  my  old  clerks  have 
subscribed  to  have  my  portrait  painted — men  I  have 
tyrannized  over — bullied — taken  the  praise  from,  which 
they  really  had  earned — who  knew  every  bit  of  humbug 
in  me — no  sense  of  favours  to  come.  Regard  from  such  a 
body  is  worth  having."  The  picture  is  now  at  the  family 
residence  at  Squire's  Mount,  Hampstead,  with  the  names 
of  the  hundred  subscribers  displayed  on  the  frame. 
Another  characteristic  likeness  is  preserved  in  a  picture 
painted  by  his  son  Walter — a  river  scene,  in  which  Mr. 
Field,  together  with  part  of  his  family,  is  represented  in 
the  enjoyment  of  one  of  his  favourite  pursuits — that  of 
boating  on  the  Thames.  It  has  been  said  of  him  that 
"  not  Izaac  Walton  loved  his  favourite  river  more  than 
Mr.  Field  loved  the  Thames."  Like  the  painter  Turner, 
he  descried  in  its  varied  aspects  suggestive  material  for 
boundless  poetry ;  and  in  order  fully  to  drink  in  its  in- 
fluences, he  took  for  holiday  purposes  a  lease  of  the  Mill 
House,  Cleve,  near  Goring.  Yet  the  Thames  became  the 
disastrous  scene  of  his  death.  On  July  30,  1871,  the  boat 
in  which  he  was  sailing  with  two  of  his  clerks  was  upset 
by  a  gale  of  wind.  One  of  the  party,  named  Ellwood,  as 
well  as  Mr.  Field  himself,  was  a  swimmer  ;  the  third  who 


86  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

could  not  swim,  was  the  sole  survivor.  And  all  that  this 
survivor  could  recollect  about  the  affair  was  that  he  had 
at  first  gone  down,  but  afterwards  found  himself  sup- 
ported by  his  two  friends,  who  held  on  to  the  boat,  and 
were  making  for  the  shore  ;  that  eventually  Mr.  Ellwood 
sank,  and  soon  afterwards  Mr.  Field  also.  Five  days 
later,  at  the  Highgate  Cemetery,  Edwin  Field  was  laid  in 
a  vault  next  to  that  in  which  sleeps  his  friend  Henry 
Crabb  Robinson.  His  age  was  sixty-seven.  The  above 
facts  are  derived  from  "  A  Memorial  "  drawn  up  by  his 
friend  Thomas  Sadler,  Ph.D.,  and  published  by  Mac- 
millan  in  1872,  abounding  with  anecdotes  and  details  of  a 
highly  interesting  nature,  but  far  too  copious  for  adoption 
in  this  place.  It  may  also  be  here  stated  that  notices  of 
the  various  members  of  the  Field  family  will  be  found 
scattered  up  and  down  the  biographies  of  Crabb  Robinson, 
Serjeant  Talfourd,  and  Charles  Lamb. 


J 


CHAPTER  VII. 

JAMES,  FIFTH   SON   OF  THE   PROTECTOR. 

AMES,  named  after  his  maternal  grandfather,  Sir 
James  Bourchier ;  was  baptized  January  8,  1632, 
at  St.  John's  Church  in  Huntingdon,  where  also 
he  was  buried  on  the  following  day. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BRIDGET,  ELDEST  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  PROTECTOR. 

BAPTIZED  at  St.  John's  Church,  Huntingdon, 
August  5,  1624,  Bridget  was  married  first  to 
Henry  Ireton  in  1646,  and  secondly  to  Charles 
Fleetwood,  probably  in  the  early  part  of  1652. 
Her  marriage  with  Ireton  took  place  just  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  first  Civil  War,  while  Fairfax  was  investing 
the  city  of  Oxford  ;  and  at  Holton  St.  Bartholomew,  some 
six  miles  distant  from  the  walls,  and  conjectured  to  have 
been  the  General's  headquarters,  the  marriage  is  thus 
chronicled  in  the  parish  register  :  "  15  June,  1646.  Henry 
Ireton,  Commissary-General  to  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  and 
Bridget,  daughter  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lieutenant-General 
of  the  Horse  to  the  said  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  were  married 
by  Mr.  Dell  in  the  Lady  Whorwood's  house  in  Holton. 
Alban  Eales,  rector."  Dell  was  Fairfax's  chaplain.  The 
ancient  manor-house,  which  was  surrounded  by  a  moat, 
was  taken  down  in  1804,  and  the  present  mansion  built 
upon  its  site. 

Henry  Ireton,  descended  from  a  good  family,  seated  at 
Attenborough,  co.  Nottingham,  born  161 1,  was  educated 
at  Oxford  (Trinity  College)  and  the  Middle  Temple.  He 
was  brought  up  to  the  law,  but  when  the  civil  contests 


88  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


commenced,  his   Puritan   and    patriotic  principles  found 
more  congenial  play  in  the  Parliament's  army,  where  the 
inflexible  character  of  his  mind  acted  as  a  buttress  and 
stimulant  even  to  that  of  Cromwell.     Strong  sympathies 
early  drew  the  men  together,   and  during  the   principal 
passages  of  the  war  they  acted  in  concert.      After  the 
King's   death    Ireton    accompanied    his   father-in-law   to 
Ireland,  and  being  left  by  him  there  in  the  capacity  of 
Lord-Deputy,  he  completed  the  subjugation  of  the  natives 
with  rare  vigour  and  ability.     Having  crowned  his  career 
with  the  capture  of  Limerick  in  1651,  he  was  seized  with 
a   pestilential   disease,  and   died   there,  in   the   presence 
of  his  brother-in-law,  Henry  Cromwell,  sincerely  lamented 
by  the  Republicans,  who  revered  him  as  a  soldier,  a  states- 
man, and  a  saint.     He  received  a  public  funeral  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  Oliver  Cromwell  walking  as  chief  mourner, 
attended  by  several  members  of  Parliament.     The  House 
passed  a  Bill  for  settling  an  estate  of  £2,000  per  annum  on 
the  widow  and  children,  a  gift  which  had,  in  fact,  been 
offered  a  few  months  previously  to   Ireton  himself,  but 
which  he  had  nobly  refused,  urging  that  the  Parliament 
had   many  just  debts  which  he  desired  they  would  pay 
before  they  made  any  such  presents.     For  himself,  he  had 
no  need  of  their  land,  and  would  be  far  better  pleased  to 
see  them  doing  the  service  of  the  nation  than  so  liberal  in 
disposing  of  the  public  treasure.     "  And  truly,"  adds  his 
friend  Ludlow,  "  I  believe  he  was  in  earnest,  for  as  he  was 
always  careful  to  husband  those  things  that  belonged  to 
the  State  to  the  best  advantage,  so  was  he  most  liberal  in 
employing  his  own  purse  and  person  in  the  public  service  " 
(Ludlow's  "  Memoirs,"  i.  286). 

At  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II.,  Ireton's  body,  like 
that  of  his  father-in-law  and  of  Bradshaw,  was  taken  from 
its  tomb  in  Westminster  Abbey  and  hung  on  the  Tyburn 
gallows.  The  sermon  preached  at  his  funeral  in  West- 
minster Abbey  by  Dr.  John  Owen,  February  6,  1652,  con- 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.    89 

tains  a  fitting  eulogium  of  him,  and  with  the  recital  of  the 
dedication  of  that  performance  to  Henry  Cromwell  his 
character  may  be  dismissed.  The  text  was  from  Daniel 
xii.  13  :  "  But  go  thou  thy  way  till  the  end  be,  for  thou 
shalt  rest  and  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the  end  of  the  days." 


(Slightly  Abridged.) 

"  To  the  Honourable  and  my  very  worthy  friend,  Colonel 
Henry  Cromwell. 

"  Sir, 

"  The  ensuing  sermon  was  preached  upon  as  sad  an 
occasion  as  on  any  particular  account  hath  been  given  to 
this  nation  in  this  our  generation.  It  is  now  published 
at  the  desire  of  very  many  who  love  the  savour  of  that 
perfume  which  is  diffused  with  the  memory  of  the  noble 
person  particularly  mentioned  herein.  It  was  in  my 
thoughts  to  direct  it  immediately  to  her  [the  widow]  who 
was  most  nearly  concerned  in  him  ;  but,  having  observed 
how  near  she  hath  been  to  be  swallowed  up  of  sorrow,  and 
with  what  slow  progress  He  who  took  care  to  seal  up 
instruction  to  her  soul  by  all  dispensations  hath  given  her 
hitherto  towards  a  conquest  thereof,  I  was  not  willing  to 
offer  a  new  occasion  to  the  multitude  of  her  perplexed 
thoughts.  In  the  meantime,  sir,  these  lines  are  to  you. 
Your  near  relation  to  that  rare  example  of  righteousness, 
faith,  holiness,  zeal,  courage,  self-denial,  love  to  his 
country,  wisdom  and  industry,  the  mutual  tender  affec- 
tion between  you  whilst  he  was  living,  your  presence  with 
him  in  his  last  trial  and  conflict,  your  design  of  looking  into 
and  following  his  steps  and  purpose  in  the  work  of  God 
and  his  generation,  as  such  an  accomplished  pattern  as 
few  ages  have  produced  the  like — [all  these]  did  easily 
induce  me  hereunto.  I  have  nothing  to  express  concern- 
ing yourself,  but  only  my  desires  that  your  heart  may  be 
fixed  to  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers,  and  that  in  the 


90  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

midst  of  all  the  temptations  and  opposition  wherewith 
your  pilgrimage  will  be  attended,  you  may  be  carried  on 
and  established  in  your  inward  subjection  to,  and  outward 
contending  for,  the  kingdom  of  the  Dearly  Beloved  of  our 
souls,  not  fainting  nor  waxing  weary  until  you  also  receive 
your  dismission  to  rest  for  your  lot  in  the  end  of  the  days. 
"  Sir,  your  most  humble  and  affectionate  servant, 

"John  Owen." 

Upon  Ireton's  death,  Cromwell  fixed  upon  Charles 
Fleetwood  to  marry  his  widow.  The  Fleetwoods,  deriving 
from  an  ancient  stock  in  Lancashire,  had  recently  made 
rapid  progress  in  honours.  Charles  was  the  third  son 
of  Sir  Miles  Fleetwood,  of  Aldwinkle,  Northamptonshire. 
In  the  Civil  War  the  family  became,  like  many  others, 
divided,  for  while  Sir  William  Fleetwood,  of  Aldwinkle, 
suffered  for  the  King,  his  brother  Charles  was  in  the 
opposite  ranks,  becoming  Oliver  Cromwell's  son-in-law 
and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Forces  in  England,  and 
both  were  nominated  lords  in  his  Upper  House — nay,  it 
has  always  been  a  sort  of  conjectural  creed  with  many 
that  Oliver  designed  Charles  Fleetwood  as  successor  to 
himself  in  the  Protectorate,  but  that  the  instrument  or 
will  to  that  effect  was  not  discoverable  when  wanted.  Is 
it  not  Lord  Broghill  who  unhesitatingly  declares  that  such 
was  the  case,  and  that  the  fair  spoiler  who  discovered  and 
burnt  the  document  was  one  of  the  Protector's  own 
daughters  ? 

What  sort  of  Protector  Fleetwood  would  have  made  it 
were  vain  to  surmise.  Entertaining  in  theory  many  of 
the  maxims  of  his  father-in-law,  he  was  totally  wanting  in 
moral  ascendency  and  personal  prowess.  He  witnessed 
the  elevation  of  his  pacific  nephew,  Richard  Cromwell, 
with  impatience,  and  it  was  the  factious  course  which  he 
thereupon  thought  fit  to  pursue,  which  drew  from  Henry 
(then  in   Ireland)  the  memorable  and  oft-quoted  letter, 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.    9 : 


exposing  the  folly  and  wickedness  of  using  the  army  in 
defence  of  any  sectional  form  of  faith. 

When  at  last  the  factions  of  the  hour  had  exhausted 
themselves,  and  the  return  of  Charles  II.  became  inevit- 
able, Fleetwood's  Puritan  principles  and  theoretic  objec- 
tions to  the  kingly  office  made  him  still  hesitate  to  adopt 
those  conciliatory  measures  by  which  other  prominent 
agents  mitigated  the  coming  wrath. 

There  was  one  respect  in  which  he  could  look  back  on 
the  late  upturnings  without  any  remorse.  The  part  which 
he  had  himself  borne  in  them  was  marked  throughout  by 
perfect  disinterestedness.  Expressing  once  to  Henry  his 
unwillingness  to  aid  out  of  the  public  purse  a  distant 
relative  whom  he  calls  "  poor  Cromwell,"  he  frankly  adds  : 
"  You  in  part  know  my  estate  and  condition.  I  cannot 
make  an  advantage  of  my  public  employments  as  many 
have  [done],  or  others  suppose  I  do.  Neither  am  I 
solicitous  about  this  business.  I  have  sufficient  cause 
from  experience  to  trust  the  Lord  with  children  whom  I 
shall  leave  behind  me.  His  blessing  with  a  little  is  great 
riches  "  (Thurloe,  vii.  595). 

Dr.  Watts  tells  us,  too,  that  his  name  was  held  in 
honour  among  the  Churches. 

Not  having  been  implicated  in  the  trial  and  death  of 
Charles  I.,  the  penalty  which  overtook  him  was  limited  to 
degradation  and  partial  confiscation.  He  passed  from 
the  activities  of  a  camp  to  the  social  obscurity  of  a  meek 
Dissenter  in  the  suburban  region  of  Stoke  Newington. 
That  place  thus  became  early  conspicuous  as  the 
chosen  asylum  of  some  of  the  more  wealthy  Puritan 
families  ;  and  the  fines  levied  there  on  the  Fleetwoods, 
Hartopps,  and  others  of  their  non-conforming  associates 
amounted  in  no  long  time  to  six  or  seven  thousand  pounds. 
Meanwhile,  his  Royalist  father,  Sir  William,  resumed  his 
ancient  position  at  Court  in  the  capacity  of  cup-bearer  to 
the  restored  monarch. 


92  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

But  it  was  not  to  Stoke  Newington  that  Charles  Fleet- 
wood first  fled  to  escape  the  returning  torrent  of  royalism. 
He  was  naturally  attracted  to  Feltwell  St.  Mary,  in 
Norfolk,  where  an  estate  had  descended  to  his  first  wife 
or  her  heirs.  This  first  wife  was  Frances,  sole  daughter 
and  eventual  heiress  of  Thomas  Smith,  of  Whinston,  in 
Norfolk,  Esq.,  and  Fleetwood's  retirement  to  this  place 
may  be  reasonably  regarded  as  contemporary  with  the 
death  of  his  second  wife,  Bridget  Cromwell.  Having 
reached  this  point,  it  will  be  best,  before  proceeding 
further  with  Fleetwood's  own  affairs,  to  conclude  the 
personal  history  of  that  excellent  lady. 

Bridget  Cromwell  belonged  to  the  Puritan  party  par 
excellence,  to  which  result  the  characters  of  both  her 
husbands  greatly  contributed.  The  confederacy  of  Henry 
Ireton,  Charles  Fleetwood,  Edmund  Ludlow,  John  Hutch- 
inson, and  their  associates,  most  of  them  being  Baptists, 
represented  the  root  and  branch  section  of  the  anti- 
monarchists.  Ludlow  ardently  admired  Bridget's  first 
husband,  but  could  never  be  reconciled  to  her  father  ; 
while  Mrs.  Colonel  Hutchinson's  memoir  betrays  the  same 
envious  spirit  against  the  entire  family  of  the  Protector, 
always  excepting  her  dear  friend  Bridget.  "  Oliver's  wife 
and  children,"  says  she,  "  were  setting  up  for  principality, 
which  suited  no  better  with  any  of  them  than  scarlet  on 
the  ape.  Only  to  speak  the  truth  of  Oliver  himself,  he 
had  much  natural  greatness,  and  well  became  the  place  he 
had  usurped.  His  daughter  Fleetwood  was  humbled, 
and  not  exalted  with  these  things  ;  but  the  rest  were 
insolent  fools." 

There  was  no  lack  of  cordiality  between  Bridget  and 
her  father,  however  much  her  own  familiar  friends  might 
misunderstand  him.  She  became,  too,  the  mother  of  a 
daughter,  the  renowned  Mrs.  Bendysh,  who,  more  than 
any  other  person  in  the  succeeding  generation,  judged  him 
aright  and  reflected  his  character.     Fortunately  there  are 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.    93 

sufficient  materials  in  Oliver's  correspondence  to  illustrate 
his  estimate  of  Bridget's  piety  and  his  care  to  foster  it. 
The  first  letter  to  be  noticed  was  sent  to  her  a  few  months 
after  her  first  marriage,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  choicest 
gems  of  the  Cromwellian  biography.  The  "  sister  Clay- 
pole  "  referred  to  was  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  who  had  also 
been  very  recently  married. 

"  For  my  beloved  daughter  Bridget  Ireton,  at  Cornbury 
the  General's  Quarters. 

"  London,  25  October,   1646. 

"  Dear  Daughter. 

"  I  write  not  to  thy  husband,  partly  to  avoid  trouble, 
for  one  line  of  mine  begets  many  of  his,  which  I  doubt 
makes  him  sit  up  too  late ;  partly  because  I  am  myself 
indisposed  at  this  time,  having  some  other  considerations. 
Your  friends  at  Ely  are  well.  Your  sister  Claypole  is,  I 
trust,  in  mercy  exercised  with  some  perplexed  thoughts. 
She  sees  her  own  vanity  and  carnal  mind ;  bewailing  it. 
She  seeks  after,  as  I  hope  also,  what  will  satisfy.  And 
thus  to  be  a  seeker,  is  to  be  of  the  best  sect  next  to  a 
finder  ;  and  such  an  one  shall  every  faithful  humble  seeker 
be  at  the  end.  Happy  seeker,  happy  finder !  Who  ever 
tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,  without  some  sense  of 
self  vanity  and  badness  ?  Who  ever  tasted  that  gracious- 
ness  of  His,  and  could  go  less  in  desire, — less  than  pressing 
after  full  enjoyment  ?  Dear  heart,  press  on.  Let  not 
husband,  let  not  any  thing  cool  thy  affections  after  Christ. 
I  hope  he  [thy  husband]  will  be  an  occasion  to  inflame 
them.  That  which  is  best  worthy  of  love  in  thy  husband 
is  that  of  the  image  of  Christ  he  bears.  Look  on  that 
and  love  it  best,  and  all  the  rest  for  that.  I  pray  for  thee 
and  him.  Do  so  for  me.  My  service  and  dear  affections 
to  the  General  [Fairfax]  and  Generaless.  I  hear  she  is 
very  kind  to  thee.  It  adds  to  all  other  obligations. 
"  I  am,  thy  dear  Father, 

"  Oliver  Cromwell." 


94  The  Hotise  of  Cro?)twell. 


In  the  next  extant  letter  she  is  addressed,  not  as  the  wife 
of  Ireton,  but  as  that  of  Fleetwood,  on  her  second  arrival 
in  Ireland.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  this  second  visit 
had  something  depressing  about  it.  Her  first  experiences 
of  Irish  life  had  been  in  company  with  the  gallant  Ireton, 
but  now  her  heart  seems  to  have  been  yearning  for  the 
children  whom  we  judge  to  have  been  left  behind  her  in 
England.  Whatever  it  was,  her  father  evidently  felt  that 
there  was  need  for  solace  and  encouragement.  But,  first 
of  all,  he  seeks  to  silence  her  groundless  anxieties,  as 
though  she  were  the  victim  of  penal  discipline.  "The 
voice  of  fear,"  says  he,  "  is,  If  I  had  done  this,  or  avoided 
that,  how  well  it  had  been  with  me.  (This  I  know  hath 
been  her  vain  reasoning.)  Whereas,  love  argueth  on  this 
wise,  What  a  Christ  have  I. — What  a  Father  in  and 
through  Him. — What  a  name  hath  my  Father,  merciful, 
gracious,  long  suffering,  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth, 
forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin.  What  a  nature 
hath  my  Father.  He  is  love,  free  in  it,  unchangeable, 
infinite.  What  a  Covenant  between  Him  and  Christ  for 
all  the  seed,  for  every  one ;  wherein  He  undertakes  all, 
and  the  poor  soul  nothing.  And  shall  we  seek  for  the 
root  of  our  comforts  within  ourselves  ?  Acts  of  obedience 
are  not  perfect,  and  therefore  yield  not  perfect  grace. 
Faith,  as  an  act,  yields  it  not  but  only  as  it  carries  us  into 
Him  who  is  our  perfect  rest  and  peace,  in  whom  we  are 
accounted  of  and  received  by  the  Father  even  as  Christ 
himself.  This  is  our  high  calling.  Rest  we  here,  and  here 
only."  He  concludes  by  assuring  her  that  her  two  children, 
"  the  boy  and  Betty,  are  very  well."  The  boy  is  Henry 
Ireton  ;  but  Betty  may  be  either  Elizabeth  or  Bridget. 

A  third  letter  from  her  father,  dated  two  years  later  and 
directed  to  Fleetwood,  is  in  a  similar  strain  as  concerning 
herself,  and  need  not  therefore  be  quoted.  On  returning 
to  England  with  her  husband  and  the  infant  children  born 
to  them  in  Dublin,  she  had  to  witness  during  the  next  three 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.    95 


years  her  father's  death  and  the  downfall  of  his  family. 
Amid  the  national  confusions  which  prepared  the  way  for 
the  Restoration,  she  did  her  utmost  to  sustain  her  husband 
in  some  sort  of  consistent  action,  but  his  scrupulous  con- 
science proved  a  very  intractable  factor  in  that  whirlpool 
and  conflict  of  second-rate  men.  Edmund  Ludlow  has 
recorded  a  scene  in  which  with  tears  she  besought  his 
counsel  and  aid.  It  has  been  said  that  she  disapproved 
of  her  father's  elevation  to  the  supreme  power ;  and  very 
possibly  she  may  in  former  years  have  entertained  theo- 
retical objections  to  such  a  measure,  especially  when  she 
lived  in  companionship  with  Ireton.  The  place  of  her 
•death  is  uncertain,  but  her  burial  is  recorded  at  St.  Anne's, 
Blackfriars,  July  1,  1662.  Few,  if  any,  of  her  letters 
survive,  except  the  following  one  which  she  sent  back 
from  England  to  her  brother  Henry,  when  he  superseded 
her  own  husband,  Fleetwood,  in  the  government  of  Ireland. 

Mrs.  Bridget  Fleetwood  to  Henry  Cromwell,  Lord-Deputy 
in  Ireland,  date  1657  (?). 

"  Dear  Brother, 

"  I  am  very  unfit  and  unapt  to  write,  and  yet  I 
would  not  altogether  neglect  to  stir  up  that  affection 
which  ought  to  be  betwixt  so  near  relations,  and  is  very 
apt  to  decay.  I  blame  none  but  myself.  I  desire  rather 
so  to  do  than  to  lay  it  upon  others,  or  to  be  a  judge  of 
others.  I  could  wish  there  had  not  been  so  much 
occasion  of  the  contrary,  wherein  my  corrupt  heart  hath 
taken  advantage.  I  desire  to  be  humbled  for  it,  and  not 
to  give  way,  whatever  others'  unkindness  may  be,  to 
weaken  that  love  and  affection  which  ought  to  be  and  is 
the  desire  of  my  soul  to  defend  and  nourish  in  me  towards 
yourself,  though  it  may  be  not  much  cared  for.  Yet, 
however,  I  shall  labour  to  be  found  in  my  duty,  which  is 
to  be, 

"  Your  dear  and  affectionate  sister, 

"  Bridget  Fleetwood." 


96  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

Abstract  of  the  Will  of  General  Fleetwood,  recorded  in  the 
Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury,  January  10,  1690. 

"  I,  Charles  Fleetwood  of  Stoke  Newington  in  the 
County  of  Middlesex,  Esq.  being  through  the  mercy  of 
the  Lord  in  health  and  memory,  do  make  &c.  First,  I 
commend  my  soul  and  spirit  into  the  hands  of  my  gracious 
God  and  father  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  enabling  me  to  lay  hold  upon  the  imputed 
righteousness  of  Christ  for  my  justification,  and  in  virtue 
of  that  righteousness  do  I  hope  to  stand  at  the  great  day 
of  the  Lord.  My  body  to  be  buried  in  the  same  grave  or 
as  near  as  may  be  to  my  last  dear  wife.  Debts,  wages, 
&c.  to  be  paid  within  one  year  of  death.  To  my  daughter 
the  Lady  Elizabeth  Hartopp  £100  as  a  last  expression  of 
my  thankfulness  for  the  constant  dear  love  and  duty  she 
hath  always  manifested  unto  me.  I  give  unto  dear 
daughter  Carter  £100.  To  my  cousin  Mary  Waterson 
£20  over  and  above  the  £20  which  my  last  dear  wife 
owed  her  by  bond  which  I  now  direct  my  executor  to  pay. 
To  Anne  Pace  £10  for  myself  and  £10  more  which  my 
last  wife  gave  her  [two  devises  left  blank,  follow].  I  give 
to  the  poor  distressed  people  of  God  £200  such  as  my 
executor  with  two  of  my  trustees  hereafter  named  (Sir 
John  Hartopp  to  be  one)  shall  think  fit  objects  of  charity. 
£10  to  be  paid  to  the  poor  of  that  society  with  whom  I 
have  had  Christian  communion  in  the  Gospel, — as  also 
£6  to  my  antient  friend  James  Berry  Esq.  and  £3  to  Mr. 
Howard  minister  of  the  Gospel  and  to  Mr.  Thomas  Taylor 
minister  of  the  Gospel  at  Cambridge  and  Mr.  Pelloe 
minister  of  the  Gospel  at  Sudbury,  and  £2  to  any  others 
that  I  shall  name  in  a  paper  behind  me.  I  give  and 
devise  to  Sir  John  Hartopp  bart.,  Samuel  Desborrow 
doctor  of  physic,  Captain  John  Nicholas,  and  Nathaniel 
Gould  merchant  their  heirs  and  assigns  all  my  manor  or 
lordship  of  Burrough  alias  Burrough-Castle,  Co.  Suffolk, 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.   97 

in  trust  to  pay  legacies  &c.  and  afterwards  to  convey  the 
same  to  my  son  and  heir  Smyth  Fleetwood  and  his  heirs 
for  ever.  To  each  of  my  said  trustees  £5  for  mourning. 
And  whereas  there  is  a  debt  due  to  me  from  my  son 
Bendysh,  my  will  is  that  my  executor  shall  not  demand 
the  said  debt  till  God  shall  in  His  providence  make  a 
comfortable  provision  for  his  wife  and  children.  My  son 
Smyth  Fleetwood  to  be  sole  executor — Signed  10  January 
1690 — in  presence  of  Edward  Terry,  Mary  Waterson, 
John  Wealshdale.  Proved  by  Smyth  Fleetwood  in 
P.  C.  C.  2  November  1692.  Registered  'Fane''  201." — 
Notes  and  Queries,  May  4,  1872. 

In  accordance  with  the  above  will,  General  Fleetwood 
was  buried  in  his  wife's  tomb  in  Bunhill  Fields. 

Children  of  the  Protector's  daughter  Bridget  by  Henry  Ireton, 
her  first  husband. 

I.  Henry,  who  married  Katharine,  daughter  of  the 
Right  Hon.  Henry  Powle,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1689  and  Master  of  the  Rolls.  He  became 
Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Dragoons,  and  Gentleman  of  the 
Horse  to  William  III.,  but  died  without  issue. 

II.  Elizabeth,  born  about  1647.  A  brief  reference  to 
her  childhood  occurs  in  a  letter  sent  in  165 1  by  Oliver  St. 
John  "  to  his  kinsman  Oliver  Cromwell,"  then  command- 
ing in  Ireland :  "  Tell  my  cousin  Ireton  that  his  wife 
breeds  Betty  up  in  the  Popish  religion  to  worship  images, 
and  that  [which]  she  now  worships  teacheth  her  to 
frown."  What  this  playful  sarcasm  indicates  we  can 
only  conjecture.  In  1674  she  was  married  to  Thomas 
Polhill,  of  Otford,  co.  Kent,  Esq. 

Family  of  Polhill. 

The  issue  of  the  marriage  of  Elizabeth  Ireton  and  Mr. 
Polhill  consisted  of  three  sons :  (1)  David,  of  whom  pre- 


98  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


sently ;  (2)  Henry,  who  died  in  his  father's  life-time ; 
(3)  Charles,  a  Smyrna  merchant,  born  1679  5  died  s.p. 
1755,  having  married  Martha,  daughter  of  Thomas  Streat- 
feild,  of  Sevenoaks. 

David,  of  Cheapstead,  in  Kent,  born  in  1675  ;  M.P.  for 
the  county,  then  for  Bramber,  and  finally  for  Rochester, 
which  city  he  represented  till  he  reached  the  age  of 
seventy-nine.  This  is  the  gentleman  whom  Daniel  De 
Foe  memorialized  as  the  leader  of  the  Kentish  Petitioners 
of  1701,  a  body  of  five  delegates  who,  in  the  reign  of 
William  III.,  presented  a  remonstrance  to  the  Houses 
condemnatory  of  their  subservience  to  the  Court  of 
France,  the  other  names  being  Thomas  Colepepper, 
William  Colepepper,  William  Hamilton,  and  Justinian 
Champneys,  Esquires.  For  this  they  were  committed  to 
the  Gatehouse,  and  kept  prisoners  for  a  week ;  but  their 
return  into  Kent  resembled  the  march  of  conquerors. 
Polhill  was  met  at  Blackheath  by  five  hundred  horsemen, 
and  escorted  to  his  house  at  Otford ;  the  other  four  were 
met  at  Rochester  by  nearly  half  the  county,  and  from 
thence  on  to  Maidstone,  where  flowers  were  strewn  in 
their  path,  and  all  the  church  bells  set  a-ringing.  A  con- 
temporary print  is  preserved  in  the  Polhill  family  contain- 
ing the  portraits  of  the  five  patriots. 

Mr.  Polhill  was  thrice  married  —  first  to  Elizabeth 
Trevor ;  secondly,  to  Gertrude,  sister  of  Thomas  Hollis, 
Duke  of  Newcastle ;  and,  thirdly,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  John  Borrett,  of  Shoreham ;  the  last  became  the 
mother  of  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  In  these  sons 
and  daughters  were  united  not  only  the  blood  of  Oliver 
Cromwell  and  Henry  Ireton,  but  also  that  of  the  patriot, 
John  Hampden,  for  Elizabeth  Borrett's  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Trevor,  of  Denbighshire,  by  Ruth, 
eldest  daughter  of  John  Hampden.  The  names  of  these 
children  were  Charles,  Thomas,  Henry,  John,  and  Eliza- 
beth, all  of  whom  died  unmarried  except 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.    99 

Charles,  of  Cheapstead,  and  afterwards  of  Otford ; 
married,  first,  Tryphena  Penelope,  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Shelley,  of  Mitchel  Grove,  Sussex,  bart.,  and  by  her 
had  one  daughter,  Tryphena  Penelope,  who  married 
George  Stafford,  and  had  two  sons,  Charles  and  Thomas 
George.  Mr.  Polhill  by  his  second  wife,  Patience  Has- 
well,  had  seven  children  :  George,  his  successor  ;  Charles, 
who  died  unmarried ;  David,  died  in  infancy ;  Patience, 
unmarried ;  a  second  David,  unmarried ;  Thomas  Alfred, 
lost  in  the  South  Seas  from  the  Guardian  (Captain  Rion)  ; 
Francis,  Comptroller  of  the  Customs  at  Monserrat,  in  the 
West  Indies,  died  1839.  Mr.  Polhill  died  in  1805,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son, 

George,  who  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Robert 
Porteus,  and  grand-niece  of  Dr.  Beilby  Porteus,  Bishop  of 
London,  and  died  in  1839.  Their  children  were : 
(1)  Charles,  who  married  Sarah  Marshall,  and  had  two 
daughters,  Beatrice  Mary,  born  1867,  married,  1888,  to 
Alfred  George  Streatfield  Beadnell,  and  has  one  son, 
Montgomery  Polhill  Beadnell,  and  Elizabeth  Mary,  born 
1868,  married,  1890,  to  Robert  Brownell  Dobble,  has  issue 
one  daughter,  Sybil  Mary  ;  (2)  Mary  Elizabeth  Campbell, 
died  1884  ;  (3)  Frederick  Campbell,  of  Sundridge,  Seven- 
oaks,  curate  of  Hever,  which  post  he  resigned  in  1850  ; 
(4)  George,  died  in  1892  ;  (5)  Henry  Western  Onslow, 
rector  of  Ashurst,  Kent,  married  to  Miss  Frances  Charlotte 
Streatfield.  The  seat  of  the  Polhills  contains  a  valuable 
collection  of  the  portraits  of  their  illustrious  ancestry, 
including  many  full  lengths. 

III. — Jane,  second  daughter  of  Bridget  Cromwell  and 
Henry  Ireton ;  born  about  1648  ;  married,  1668,  Richard 
Lloyd,  of  St.  James's,  Duke's  Place,  Esq.,  widower,  and 
had  an  only  child,  Jane,  wife  in  1710  of  Nicholas  (or 
Henry)  Morse,  Esq.  Issue  of  this  marriage  were  four 
sons  :  David,  Henry,  Nicholas,  Daniel.  There  were  also 
three  daughters  :    Elizabeth,   Jane,  and  Anne,   of  whom 


IOO 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


the  eldest  married  Mr.  Oyle,  a  physician,  and  became  the 
mother  of  Elizabeth,  married  to  Samuel  Codrington  ; 
Jane,  the  second  daughter,  became  Mrs.  Burroughs  ;  and 
Anne,  the  youngest  daughter,  became  Mrs.  Roberts. 

After  the  death  of  Richard  Lloyd,  his  widow  (Jane 
aforesaid)  married  Mr.  William  Barnard.  The  descendants 
of  this  marriage  are  set  out  below  : 


William  Barnard,  of  Penning-: 
ton  and  Longthorpe,  colonel  ; 
b.  1634;  m.  1680;  d.  1709; 
bur.  at  Pennington. 


-Jane,  relict  of  Richard  Lloyd, 
and  dau.  of  Henry  Ireton,  by 
Bridget,  eldest  dau.  of  Oliver 
Cromwell. 


William  Barnard,  b.  1685  ;= 
d.  1775  ;  bur.  at  Great  El- 
lingham,  Norfolk. 


William  Barnard,  b.  at  Rock- 
land, Norfolk,  1709  ;  d.  Sept., 
1788;  bur.  at  Old  Meeting, 
Norwich. 


:Mary,  dau.  and  heir  of  Jas.  Corsbie,  of 
the  family  of  Corsbie,  of  Corsbie  Castle, 
Berwickshire  ;  b.  at  Ashwellthorpe, 
1714;  d.  21  May,  1801  ;  bur.  at  Old 
Meeting,  Norwich. 


Thomas  Barnard,  b.  18  Dec.,=j=Ann,  youngest  dau.  and  co-heir  of 


1757  ;  mar.  at  Sudbury,  May, 
1789;  d.  1  April,  1833. 


Samuel  and  Deborah  Stott,  of  St. 
Edmundsbury,  Suffolk  ;  b.  ioMar., 
1758  ;  d.  11  Nov.,  1S11. 


Alfred   Barnard,  b.    14  Feb.,=pFrances  Katherine,  eldest  dau.  and  co-heir  of 


1793;  mar.  10  Nov.,  1817 ; 
d.  4  July,  1835  ;  bur.  at  Octa- 
gon Chapel,  Norwich. 


Francis  Smith,  of  Norwich  (descendant  of 
Robert  Pierrepont,  1st  Earl  of  Kingston-upon- 
Hull),  and  Sarah  (Marsh);  b.  7  May,  1796; 
d.  20  Jan.,  1869  ;  bur.  in  the  Rosary,  Norwich. 


Alfred  Francis  Barnard,  b.  at  Norwich,=j=Mary  Hog,  eldest  dau.  of  Thos.  Cal- 


4  Jan.,  1821  ;  mar.  in  London,  5  Jan. , 
1854;  d.  in  London,  14  Sept.,  1894; 
bur.  at  Highgate  Cemetery. 


vert  Girtin  and  Rachel  (Haward),  and 
grand-dau.  of  Thomas  Girtin,  the 
water-colour  painter  ;  b.  20  Jan., 
1829. 


Francis  Pierrepont  Barnard,  son  and  heir,  of=Eliza  Smith,  eldest  dau.  and 
St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Windermere  ;  M.A.  Oxon  ;     co-heir   of    William    Pollard, 
some  time   headmaster   of    Reading    School,     J. P.,    of   St.    Mary's   Abbey, 
Berks;  b.   27   Nov.    1854;   mar.   at  Winder-     Windermere, 
mere,  15  April,  1884. 

Touching  the  four  sons  of  Mr,  Morse  aforesaid,  nothing- 
seems  recoverable  unless  we  make  an  exception  in  favour 
of  the  third  named,  and  regard  him  as  the  Nicholas  Morse 
who  was  Governor  of  Madras  in  the  middle  of  the  last 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.    101 

century,  and  whose  daughter,  Amelia,  married  Henry 
Vansittart,  Governor  of  Bengal,  and  father  of  Nicholas, 
the  first  Lord  Bexley.  It  may  suffice  to  add  that  the 
claim  which  the  Vansittart  family  have  long  asserted, 
touching  their  descent  from  the  Protector  through  Henry 
Ireton  and  Nicholas  Morse,  has  every  right  to  be  accepted 
as  legitimate,  the  only  difficulty  in  the  way  being  that 
Mark  Noble  gives  "  Moore "  instead  of  "  Morse "  as 
the  name  of  Jane  Lloyd's  husband.  That  this  is  an 
error,  occasioned  by  the  resemblance  of  the  two  words  in 
manuscript,  hardly  admits  of  a  doubt.  It  is  also  to  be 
noted  that  the  lady  who  about  the  same  time,  viz.,  in 
1771,  became  the  wife  of  the  last  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq., 
was  named  Mary  Morse,  indicative  at  least  of  friendly 
relations  existing  between  families  so  named. 

Amelia  Morse,  the  wife  of  Governor  Henry  Vansittart 
aforesaid,  died  in  1818  at  her  house  on  Blackheath,  aged 
eighty.  Her  husband  had  long  been  dead,  having  perished 
at  a  comparatively  early  age  on  his  passage  to  India  in  the 
Aurora  frigate. 

Nicholas  Vansittart,  Baron  Bexley,  was  the  second 
son  of  Henry  Vansittart,  the  Governor  of  Bengal.  Lord 
Bexley  was  born  in  1766,  four  years  before  his  father's 
death  at  sea.  In  1784  he  went  to  Christchurch,  Oxford, 
and  in  1791  was  called  to  the  Bar  in  Lincoln's  Inn.  He 
entered  the  House  as  member  for  Hastings,  and  in  1801 
was  entrusted  with  a  special  mission  to  Copenhagen.  The 
Danes,  overawed  by  Napoleon,  refused  at  that  time  to 
entertain  an  English  ambassador,  and  on  returning  home, 
Mr.  Vansittart  became  joint  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
which  office  he  held  till  the  Addington  Ministry  resigned 
in  1804.  Under  Lord  Liverpool  he  became  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  in  1812,  and  held  the  post  for  twenty-one 
years.  In  1823  he  obtained  his  peerage  and  a  seat  in  the 
Cabinet,  and  took  little  share  afterwards  in  public  affairs, 
dying  in  185 1,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five,  at  his  residence  of 


102  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

Footscray,  near  Bexley,  in  Kent.     He  married  in  1806  the 
Hon.  Katharine  Isabella  Eden,  second  daughter  of  William, 
first  Lord  Auckland  ;  but  by  her,  who  died  four  years  after- 
wards, he  left  no  issue,  whereupon  the  barony  of  Bexley  be- 
came extinct,  and  a  pension  of  £3,000  lapsed  to  the  Crown. 
IV. — Bridget,  third  daughter  of  Bridget  Cromwell  and 
Henry  Ireton  ;  born  about  the  year  1650.     The  biography 
of  this  lady,  as  heretofore  given,  simply  consists  of  three 
different  sketches,  supplied  respectively  by  Samuel  Say,  a 
Dissenting  minister,  by  Dr.  J.  Brooke,  and  by  her  relation, 
Mr.  Hewling  Luson.     In  the  following  version  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  impart  greater  completeness  to  the  account 
by  blending  these  three  narratives.    Bridget,  together  with 
one  or  two  others  of  the  family,  appears  to  have  been  left 
under   the   care  of  their   grandmother,    the    Protectress, 
when  their  own  mother  went  to  Ireland  with  her  second 
husband,  Fleetwood,   in   1652.     Her  grandfather's  death 
occurred  before  she  was  ten  years  of  age  ;  that  of  her 
mother  followed  four  years  later  ;  so  that  she  must  have 
had  an  unquiet  time  of  it  before  she  settled  down  with  her 
sisters  beneath  the  roof  of  their  step-father,  Fleetwood, 
in  the  nonconforming  atmosphere  of  Stoke  Newington. 
Here  she  passed  four  or  five  years  of  her  life,  till  her 
marriage  in  1669  with  Thomas  Bendysh,  of  Gray's  Inn 
and  of  Southtown,  Yarmouth,  Esq.,  a  distant  relative  of 
Sir  Thomas  Bendysh,  who  had  served  as  Ambassador  to 
Turkey   both    from    Charles    I.  and    from   the    Protector 
Oliver.     Soon   after  her  marriage  she  settled  at  South- 
town,  near  Yarmouth,  where  her  husband  owned  farms 
and  salt-mines.     It  would  be  highly  interesting,  were  the 
materials  extant,  to  trace  the  early  married  life  of  this 
excellent  lady. 

Samuel  Say,  the  earliest  of  Mrs.  Bendysh's  biographers, 
had  many  opportunities  of  knowing  her  intimately,  for  he 
had  not  only  been  pastor  of  a  church  in  the  neighbouring 
town  of  Ipswich,  but  he  married  a  relative  of  Mr.  Carter, 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.   103 

of  Yarmouth,  the  husband  of  Mary  Fleetwood  ;  moreover, 
he  had  been  a  fellow-student  with  Dr.  Watts.  Here  is  his 
description  of  her  personal  appearance  : 

"As  Mrs.  Bendysh  in  the  features  of  her  face  exactly 
resembled  the  best  picture  of  her  grandfather  Oliver  which 
I  have  ever  seen,  and  which  is  now  at  Rosehall,  in  the 
possession  of  Sir  Robert  Rich,  so  she  seems  also  as  exactly 
to  resemble  him  in  the  cast  of  her  mind — a  person  of  great 
presence  and  majesty,  heroic  courage  and  indefatigable 
industry,  and  with  something  in  her  countenance  and 
manner  that  at  once  attracts  and  commands  respect  the 
moment  she  appears  in  company." 

Dr.  J.  Brooke,  of  Norwich,  another  of  her  biographers, 
whose  testimony  is  of  a  later  date,  remarks  :  "  There  was 
something  in  her  person  when  she  was  dressed  and  in 
company  that  could  not  fail  of  attracting  at  once  the 
notice  and  respect  of  any  strangers  that  entered  the  room 
wherever  she  was,  though  the  company  were  ever  so 
numerous,  and  though  many  of  them  might  be  more 
splendid  in  their  appearance.  Splendid,  indeed,  she  never 
was,  her  highest  dress  being  a  plain  silk ;  but  it  was 
usually  of  the  richest  sort,  though,  as  far  as  I  can  remem- 
ber, of  what  is  called  a  quaker's  colour  ;  and  she  wore 
besides  a  kind  of  black  silk  hood  or  scarf  that  I  rarely,  if 
ever,  observed  to  be  worn  by  ladies  of  her  time  ;  and 
though  hoops  were  in  fashion  long  before  her  death, 
nothing,  I  suppose,  could  have  induced  her  to  wear  one. 
I  can  so  far  recollect  her  countenance  as  to  confirm  what 
is  observed  by  Mr.  Say  of  her  likeness  to  the  best  pictures 
of  Oliver  ;  and  she  no  less  resembled  him  in  the  qualities 
of  enterprise,  resolution,  courage,  and  enthusiasm." 

The  narrative  of  Mr.  Hewling  Luson,  the  third  of  her 
biographers,  who,  like  Dr.  Brooke,  knew  her  only  in 
advanced  life,  presents  us  with  a  similar  picture.  Luson's 
mother  was  a  younger  sister  of  Hannah  Hewling  (Mrs. 
Henry  Cromwell),  and  the  sympathy  which  Mrs.  Bendysh 


104  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

felt  for  the  fate  of  her  brothers  fully  accounts  for  the 
frequency  of  her  visits  to  the  elder  Mr.  Luson's  house. 
"I  was  young,"  says  Hewling  Luson — "not  more  than 
sixteen — when  Mrs.  Bendysh  died,  yet  she  came  so  often 
to  my  father's  house  that  I  remember  her  person,  her 
dress,  her  manner,  and  her  conversation,  which  were  all 
strikingly  peculiar,  with  great  precision,  and  I  have  heard 
much  more  of  her  than  I  have  seen.  She  was  certainly, 
both  without  and  within,  in  her  person  and  in  her  spirit, 
exactly  like  her  grandfather,  the  Protector.  Her  features, 
the  turn  of  her  face,  and  the  expression  of  her  counten- 
ance, all  agree  very  exactly  with  the  excellent  pictures  I 
have  seen  of  the  Protector  in  the  Cromwell  family ;  and 
whoever  looks  upon  the  print  prefixed  to  the  octavo  '  Life 
of  Cromwell,'  said  to  be  published  by  the  late  Bishop 
Gibson  about  the  year  1725,  which  exactly  agrees  with 
these  pictures,  will  have  a  clear  idea  of  Mrs.  Bendysh's 
person,  if  their  imaginations  can  add  a  female  dress,  a 
few  years  in  age,  and  a  very  little  softening  of  the  features. 
I  refer  to  that  print  because  the  fine  engraving  of  Crom- 
well in  the  Houbraken  Collection  bears  very  little  resem- 
blance to  the  pictures  in  the  Cromwell  family,  and  no 
resemblance  at  all  to  Mrs.  Bendysh.  .  .  .  She  had  strong 
and  masculine  sense,  a  free  and  spirited  elocution,  much 
knowledge  of  the  world,  great  dignity  in  her  manner,  and 
a  most  engaging  address.  The  place  of  her  residence  was 
called  the  Salt  Pans  [near  Yarmouth].  In  this  place, 
which  is  quite  open  to  the  road,  I  have  often  seen  her  in 
the  morning,  stumping  about  with  an  old  straw  hat  on 
her  head,  her  hair  about  her  ears,  without  stays,  and 
when  it  was  cold  an  old  blanket  about  her  shoulders  and 
a  staff  in  her  hands — in  a  word,  exactly  accoutred  to 
mount  the  stage  as  a  witch  in  '  Macbeth.'  Yet  if  at  such  a 
time  she  were  accosted  by  any  person  of  rank  or  breeding, 
the  dignity  of  her  manner  and  politeness  of  style,  which 
nothing  could  efface,  would  instantly  break  through  the 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.   105 

veil  of  debasement  which  concealed  her  native  grandeur, 
and  a  stranger  to  her  customs  might  become  astonished 
to  find  himself  addressed  by  a  princess  while  he  was  look- 
ing at  a  mumper.  Mrs.  Bendysh  resembled  the  Protector 
in  nothing  more  than  in  that  restless,  unabated  activity  of 
spirit,  which,  by  the  coincidence  of  a  thousand  favourable 
circumstances,  conducted  him  to  the  summit  of  power 
and  of  fame,  but  entangled  her,  generally  unfavoured  by 
success,  in  a  thousand  embarrassments  and  disgraces. 
Yet  she  never  fainted,  nor  was  weary.  One  prospect  lost, 
another  still  she  gained,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  her  faith 
kept  pace  with,  or,  to  speak  more  truly,  far  outran  the 
activity  of  her  mind.  .  .  .  She  had  one  constant,  never- 
failing  resource  against  the  vexation  of  disappointments, 
for  as  she  determined,  at  all  events,  to  serve  the  Lord 
with  gladness,  her  way  was  to  rejoice  at  everything  as  it 
arrived.  If  she  succeeded,  she  was  thankful  for  that  ; 
and  if  she  suffered  adversity,  which  was  generally  her  lot, 
she  was  vastly  more  thankful  for  that,  and  she  so  managed 
that  her  spiritual  joys  always  encreased  with  her  outward 
sufferings.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Bendysh's  religion  was  in  the 
highest  strain  of  Calvinistic  enthusiasm,  and  Dr.  Owen 
in  his  writings  was  her  spiritual  guide.  She  no  more 
doubted  the  validity  of  her  election  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  than  Squire  Wilkes  doubts  the  validity  of  his  for 
the  county  of  Middlesex.  But  her  enthusiasm  never 
carried  her  to  greater  lengths  of  extravagance  than  in 
the  justification  of  her  grandfather,  of  whose  memory 
she  was  passionately  fond.  It,  however,  unfortunately 
happened  that  her  fancy  led  her  to  defend  him  exactly  in 
that  part  of  his  character  which  was  least  defensible. 
She  valued  him,  no  doubt,  very  highly  as  a  General  and 
politician,  but  she  had  got  it  fixed  in  her  head  that  this 
kind  of  fame  was  vain  and  worthless  when  compared  with 
the  greater  glory  of  his  saintship.  .  .  .  Now,  it  could 
not  but  happen  that  for  five  hundred  who  might  be  pre- 


106  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

vailed  with  to  receive  Oliver  as  a  great  General,  not  five 
could  be  found  who  would  admit  him  to  be  a  great  saint, 
and  this  constant  kicking  against  Oliver's  saintship 
wrought  the  good  lady  sore  travail." 

"  This  extraordinary  woman,"  says  Dr.  Brooke,  "wanted 
only  to  have  acted  in  a  superior  sphere  to  be  ranked  by 
historians  among  the  most  admirable  heroines.  .  .  .     She 
lived  through  what  the  Dissenters  but  too  justly  called 
the  troublous  times,  when  the  penal  laws  against  con- 
venticles  were    strained    to    their   utmost    rigour.      The 
preaching  of  this  sect  was  then  held  in  the  closest  con- 
cealment, and  the  preachers  went  in  momentary  danger 
of  being  dragged  out   by  spies  and  informers  to  heavy 
fines  and  severe  imprisonment.     With  these  spies  and  in- 
formers she  maintained  a  perpetual  war.     This  kind  of 
bustle  was  in  all  respects  in  the  true  taste  of  her  spirit. 
I  have  heard  many  stories  of  her  dealings  with  these  un- 
gracious people.     Sometimes  she  circumvented  and  out- 
witted them,  and  sometimes  she  bullied  them,  and  the 
event  generally  was  that  she  got  the  poor  parson  out  of 
their  clutches.     Upon  these  occasions  and  upon  all  others 
when  they  could  express  their  attachment  to  her,  Mrs. 
Bendysh  was  sure  of  the  common  people.     She  was,  as 
she  deserved  to  be,  very  dear  to  them.     When  she  had 
money,  she  gave  it  freely  to  such  as  wanted ;  and  when 
she   had    none,   which  was   pretty  often   the   case,   they 
were  sure  of  receiving  civility  and  commiseration.     She 
practised  an  exalted  humanity.     If  in  the  meanest  sick- 
room she  found  the  sufferer  insufficiently  attended,  she 
turned    attendant    herself,    and   would   sit   hours   in    the 
poorest  chamber  to  administer  support  or  consolation  to 
the  afflicted.     In  this  noble  employment  she  passed  much 
of  her  time."     She  was  in  the  secret  of  the  Revolution  of 
1688,  and  would  go  into  shops  in  different  parts  of  the 
town  under  pretence  of  cheapening  silks  or  other  goods, 
and  on  coming  out  to  her  coach  take  occasion  to  drop 


Bridget,  Eldest  Dazighter  of  the  Protector.    107 

bundles  of  papers  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  for 
that  happy  event,  for  she  might  safely  be  trusted  with 
any  secret,  were  it  ever  so  important.  After  the  accession 
of  William  and  Mary,  she  was  presented  to  the  Queen  by 
Archbishop  Tillotson  with  a  view  to  the  settlement  of  a  pen- 
sion, to  enable  her  to  support  in  some  creditable  measure 
the  dignity  which  she  had  tasted  in  early  days ;  but  the 
death  of  both  prelate  and  Queen  defeated  that  design. 

Mrs.  Bendysh's  husband  had  died  on  April  27,  1707, 
and  was  buried  in  St.  Nicholas  Church,  Yarmouth,  where 
she  erected  a  monument  to  his  memory.  She  survived 
him  twenty-two  years,  dying  in  1729  at  the  age  of  eighty. 
She  was  buried  at  Yarmouth,  having  had  two  sons  and 
one  daughter,  viz.  : 

1.  Thomas,  who  died  in  the  West  Indies.  His  first 
wife  was  the  mother  of  his  only  son,  Ireton,  a  young  man 
of  great  promise,  whose  early  death  was  much  lamented. 
His  second  wife  was  Katharine  Smith,  of  Colskirk,  near 
Fakenham,  a  lady  of  property ;  but  extravagant  habits 
darkened  their  remaining  history.  The  fate  of  this  family 
was  no  doubt  one  of  the  sorrows  of  old  Mrs.  Bendysh. 

2.  Bridget,  lived  and  died  at  the  paternal  seat  of 
Southtown.  She  died  at  Yarmouth,  unmarried,  in  1736, 
aged  sixty-four. 

3.  Henry,  of  Bedford  Row,  London,  where  he  died  in 
1740  ;  married  Martha  Shute,  sister  of  the  first  Viscount 
Barrington,  and  had  (1)  Henry,  of  Chingford,  and  of  the 
Salt-pans  at  Southtown,  died  unmarried  in  1753,  when 
the  name  of  Bendysh  became  extinct  in  this  branch  of  the 
family  ;  (2)  Mary,  married  to  William  Berners,  of  whom 
presently ;  (3)  Elizabeth,  married,  1756,  to  John  Hagar,  of 
Waresley  Park,  son  of  Admiral  Hagar. 

Family  of  Berners. 
Mary,  grand-daughter  of  Bridget  Bendysh,  and  William 
Berners  her  husband  both  died  in  1783.     Their  surviving 


108  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

children  were  :  (i)  Charles,  of  whom  presently  ;  (2)  Henry, 
rector  of  Hambledon,  near  Henley-on-Thames,  had  one 
child  (Emma)  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Weston. 

Charles,  born  1740  ;  married  Katharine,  daughter  of 
John  Laroche,  of  Egham,  M.P.  for  Bodmin,  and  had 
issue  : 

(1)  Charles,  his  heir,  who,  dying  unmarried  in  1831, 
was  succeeded  by  his  brother ;  (2)  Henry  Denny  ; 
(3)  William,  a  London  banker,  married  Rachel  Jarrett, 
of  Freemantle,  in  Hampshire,  and  had  William,  a 
captain  in  the  horse  artillery,  Henry,  married  to 
Miss  Saunders,  and  Arthur  ;  (4)  Martha,  married  to 
Herbert  Newton  Jarrett,  of  Jamaica,  Esq.,  and 
died  1831. 

Mr.  Charles  Berners,  died  1815,  and  was  succeeded, 
first  by  his  son  Charles,  secondly  by  his  second  son, 

Rev.  Henry  Denny  Berners,  LL.B.,  Archdeacon  of 
Suffolk.  By  his  wife  Dinah,  daughter  of  John  Jarret, 
Esq.,  he  had  issue  :  (1)  John,  born  1800,  died  s.p.  ; 
(2)  Hugh,  born  1801,  Captain  R.N.,  married,  1832,  Julia, 
daughter  of  John  Ashton,  of  the  Grange,  Cheshire,  died 
at  Wolverstone,  in  Suffolk,  in  1891,  aged  eighty-nine  ;  he 
had  a  son  and  three  daughters  ;  (3)  Ralph,  born  1803, 
rector  of  Harkstead  and  Erwarton,  in  Suffolk,  married, 
1831,  Eliza,  daughter  of  Sir  Cornelius  Cuyler,  of  Welwyn, 
bart.,  and  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters  ;  (4)  Alice, 
died  unmarried,  1820. 

Children  of  Bridget  Cromwell  by  her  second  husband, 
Charles  Fleetwood. 

By  Bridget  Cromwell,  Fleetwood  was  the  father  of 

I.  Cromwell  Fleetwood,  born  about  1653  ;  married 

in   1679   to    Elizabeth   Nevill,   of   Little    Berkhampstead, 

Hertfordshire ;  administration   of  his  goods  was  granted 

September  20,  1688.     He  seems  to  have  died  without  issue. 


Bridget,  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Protector.    109 

II.  Anne  Nancy  Fleetwood,  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey  before  1659,  and  exhumed  at  the  Restoration. 

III.  Mary,  who  married  Nathaniel  Carter,  of  Yarmouth, 
February  21,  1678;  died  without  issue;  and  several  other 
children,  most  of  whom  died  young,  and  none  of  whom 
left  issue. 

Of  the  remaining  children  may  be  :  (1)  Charles,  buried 
at  Stoke  Newington  in  1676  ;  (2)  Bridget,  buried  at  Stoke 
Newington  in  1681  ;  (3)  Ellen,  buried  at  Stoke  Newington 
in  1731.  The  authority  for  the  above  consists  in  various 
allusions  to  children  or  approaching  births  occurring  in 
letters  passing  between  the  Protector,  Thurloe,  and  Fleet- 
wood, compared  with  entries  in  the  Stoke  Newington 
registers.  Fleetwood's  will  throws  no  light  upon  the 
subject ;  and  another  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that 
the  Misses  Cromwell,  of  Hampstead,  whose  knowledge  of 
the  family  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  complete,  took 
no  notice  in  their  pedigrees  of  any  issue  of  Fleetwood's 
marriage  with  Bridget  Cromwell. 


:T332ss=3=g-ss 


CHAPTER  IX. 


ELIZABETH,  THE  PROTECTOR'S  SECOND  DAUGHTER. 

BORN  at  Huntingdon  on  July  2,  1629,  Elizabeth 
married  in  1646  John  Claypoole,  eldest  son  and 
heir  of  John  Claypoole,  of  Northborough,  or 
Norborough,  near  Market  Deeping.  The  father 
had  fallen  under  the  displeasure  of  the  Court  for  contu- 
macy in  respect  of  ship-money,  a  circumstance  sufficient  to 
account  for  that  personal  intimacy  with  Oliver  Cromwell 
which  issued  in  the  marriage  aforesaid,  and  in  Cromwell's 
creating  John  Claypoole,  senior,  a  baronet,  July  16,  1657. 
Under  the  Protectorate,  the  younger  Claypoole  became 
Master  of  the  Horse,  with  other  positions  of  emolument, 
besides  obtaining  a  seat  in  Oliver's  Upper  House.  At  the 
Restoration,  having  taken  no  hostile  action  against  the 
King's  party,  he  was  permitted,  not  without  molestation, 
to  retire  into  private  life.  His  death  occurred  on  June  26, 
1688,  at  which  time  he  was  of  the  Middle  Temple, 
London. 

Elizabeth  Cromwell  was  her  father's  favourite  daughter, 
and,  judging  by  the  portraits  taken  at  different  periods  of 
her  life,  must  have  been  very  attractive  in  person.  The 
narrator  of  Sir  James  Harrington's  recovery  of  his  manu- 
script of  "  Oceana,"  which  had  been  seized  by  the  Pro- 
tector's orders,  states  that  Sir  James  determined  to  make 


Elizabeth,  the  Protector  s  Second  Daughter.     1 1 1 

his  application  through  the  Lady  Claypoole,  "  because  she 
acted  the  part  of  a  princess  very  naturally,  obliging  all 
persons  with  her  civility,  and  frequently  interceding  for 
the  miserable."  This  is  the  lady  who  has  so  often  been 
made  to  figure  in  pictures  by  artists  of  the  royalist  school, 
who  represent  her,  during  her  last  illness,  as  upbraiding 
her  father  for  the  part  he  had  taken  against  the  King, 
representations  which  may  safely  be  dismissed. 

The  Protector's  parental  anxiety  has  been  already 
witnessed  in  the  letter  written  to  her  elder  sister,  Bridget, 
in  1646.  Five  years  later,  when  she  was  living  with  her 
husband  at  Norborough  House,*  and  had  apparently  just 
recovered  from  the  perils  of  childbirth,  Oliver,  writing  from 
Edinburgh  to  her  mother,  says  :  "  Mind  poor  Betty  of  the 
Lord's  great  mercy.  Oh,  I  desire  her  not  only  to  seek  the 
Lord  in  her  necessity,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth  to  turn  to 
the  Lord,  and  to  keep  close  to  Him,  and  to  take  heed  of  a 
departing  heart  and  of  being  cozened  with  worldly  vanities 
and  worldly  company,  which  I  doubt  she  is  too  subject  to. 
I  earnestly  and  frequently  pray  for  her  and  for  him.  Truly 
they  are  very  dear  to  me — very  dear,  and  I  am  in  fear  lest 
Satan  should  deceive  them,  knowing  how  weak  our  hearts 
are,  and  how  subtle  the  adversary  is,  and  what  way  the 
deceitfulness  of  our  hearts  and  the  vain  world  make  for  his 
temptations.  The  Lord  give  them  truth  of  heart  to  Him. 
Let  them  seek  Him  in  truth,  and  they  shall  find  Him. 
My  love  to  the  dear  little  ones.  I  pray  for  grace  for 
them.  I  thank  them  for  their  letters ;  let  me  have  them 
often." 

Four  years  subsequently  another  domestic  episode  en- 
gaged the  parents'  sympathy.  The  following  scraps  of 
intelligence,  pointing  apparently  to  the  birth  at  Whitehall 
of  her  fourth  and  last  child,  will  sufficiently  tell  the  tale. 

*  There  was  long  a  tradition  at  Norborough  House  that  Oliver  was  fond  of 
spending  his  Christmas  there.  The  Protectress  seems  to  have  had  a  similar 
attachment  to  the  spot ;  it  was  there  that  she  spent  the  evening  of  her  days. 


1 1 2  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

"  My  lady  Elizabeth  continues  ill,  but  we  hope  mending. 
Her  Highness  [the  Protectress]  is  recovered.  It  was  grief 
[which  brought  her  down],  but  now  his  Highness  and  she 
rest  well.  ...  I  never  saw  two  parents  so  affected  e'er 
now  as  my  Lord  Protector  and  her  Highness."  Fleet- 
wood writes:  "The  illness  of  my  sister  Claypoole  is  so 
very  great  that  both  their  Highnesses  are  under  a  great 
trial.  You  know  the  dearness  they  have  unto  her;  and 
though  we  know  not  how  the  Lord  will  deal  with  her,  yet 
her  recovery  is  much  doubted.  This  afternoon  hath  given 
very  great  cause  of  fear " ;  but  he  adds  in  a  postscript : 
"  Since  the  writing  hereof  my  sister  Claypoole  is  fallen 
into  travail,  and  so  her  condition  is  very  hopeful." 

She  did,  in  fact,  survive  the  trial,  but  never  seems  to 
have  recovered  robust  health.  During  the  next  year  she 
joined  her  two  unmarried  sisters,  Mary  and  Frances,  at 
Hampton  Court,  and  appears  to  have  resided  there  for 
the  remaining  two  years  of  her  life.  The  following  letter, 
dated  a  few  weeks  before  her  death,  and  presumably  the 
last  she  ever  wrote,  is  addressed  to  her  sister-in-law, 
Henry  Cromwell's  wife.  It  contains  a  reference  to  the 
latest  plots  against  her  father's  life  : 

Lady  Elizabeth  Claypoole  to  Lady  Elizabeth  Cromwell. 
June  12,  1658. 

"  Dear  Sister, 

"  I  must  beg  your  pardon  that  I  do  not  write  to 
you  so  oft  as  I  would  do  ;  but  in  earnest  I  have  been  so 
extreem  sickly  of  late  that  it  has  made  me  unfit  for  any- 
thing ;  though  there  is  nothing  that  can  please  me  more 
than  wherein  I  may  express  my  true  love  and  respect  to 
you,  which  I  am  sure  none  has  more  reason  than  myself, 
both  for  your  former  favours  and  the  sense  you  have  of 
any  thing  which  arises  to  me  of  happiness.  I  will  assure 
you,  nothing  of  that  can  be  to  me  wherein  I  have  not  a 
power  to  express  how  really  I  love  and  honour  you.    Truly 


Elizabeth,  the  Protector  s  Second  Daughter.     113 

the  Lord  has  been  very  gracious  to  us,  in  doing  for  us 
above  what  we  could  expect ;  and  now  has  shewed  Him- 
self more  extraordinary  in  delivering  my  father  out  of  the 
hands  of  his  enemies ;  which  we  have  all  reason  to  be 
sensible  of,  in  a  very  particular  manner ;  for  certainly  not 
only  his  family  would  have  been  ruined,  but  in  all  proba- 
bility the  whole  nation  would  have  been  involved  in  blood. 
The  Lord  grant  it  may  never  be  forgotten  by  us,  but  that 
it  may  cause  us  to  depend  upon  Him  from  whom  we  have 
received  all  good,  and  that  it  may  cause  us  to  see  the 
mutableness  of  these  things,  and  to  use  them  accordingly : 
I  am  sure  we  have  need  to  beg  that  spirit  from  God. 
Harry  is  very  well :  I  hope  you  will  see  him  this  summer. 
Truly  there  is  nothing  I  desire  more  than  to  enjoy  you 
with  us  ;  and  I  wish  that  you  may  [lie-in]  here.  I  beg 
my  true  affection  to  your  little  ones. 
"  Dear  Sister,  I  am, 

"  Your  most  affectionate  sister  and  servant, 
"  Elizabeth  Claypoole." 

Every  testimony  which  we  possess  of  a  direct  or 
personal  kind  shows  her  to  have  been  loyal  to  the  cause 
of  her  father.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  prove  her 
sympathy  with  Dr.  Hewitt  and  other  episcopalian  plotters, 
and  an  infamous  letter  to  that  effect  has  even  been  fabri- 
cated in  her  name ;  but  her  own  words  negative  the 
insinuation. 

She  died  on  August  6,  just  four  weeks  before  her  father. 
After  lying  in  state  in  the  Painted  Chamber,  she  was 
carried  in  pompous  procession  on  the  night  of  August  10, 
1658,  to  a  new  vault  in  Henry  VII. 's  chapel,  her  aunt 
Robina  (Mrs.  Wilkins)  walking  as  chief  mourner. 

Horace  Walpole  says :  "  Lord  Pelham  has  a  small 
three-quarters  of  Mrs.  Claypoole,  on  which  is  written 
M.  Ritus  fee.  It  is  an  emblematic  piece,  the  allegory  of 
which  is  very  obscure,  but  highly  finished."     M.    Ritus 


114  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

stands  for  Michael  Wright,  a  Scots  painter.  Lord  Pelham 
probably  acquired  this  relic  through  his  wife,  Anne  Frank- 
land,  the  great-grand-daughter  of  Frances  Cromwell. 

The  children  of  Elizabeth  Cromwell  and  John  Claypoole 
were  three  sons  and  one  daughter  : 

I.  Cromwell,  born  about  1647,  to  whom  his  father 
resigned  his  manor  of  Norborough  with  appendages.  He 
died  a  bachelor  in  1678,  and  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of 
Norborough  Church,  according  to  his  express  direction, 
as  near  to  the  body  of  his  grandmother,  the  Protectress, 
as  convenience  would  admit.  The  family  relics  at  his 
disposal  he  left  to  his  cousins,  having  no  surviving  brother 
or  sister  directly  descended,  but  only  a  half-sister.  His 
will  may  be  read  in  extenso  in  Mark  Noble's  "  Memoirs  of 
the  Protectoral  House  of  Cromwell." 

II.  Henry,  went,  as  is  supposed,  into  the  army,  and 
pre-deceased  his  brother. 

III.  Oliver,  died  young,  June,  1658,  during  the  last 
illness  of  his  mother,  a  circumstance  which  precipitated 
her  own  dissolution. 

IV.  Martha,  died  young  and  unmarried,  January,  1664; 
buried  in  Norborough  Church  1664. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  with  the  death  of  Mr.  Cromwell 
Claypoole  in  1678  this  branch  of  the  Protector's  family 
dies  out.  True  it  is  that  ever  and  anon  persons  of  the 
name  of  Claypoole  or  Claypole  are  found  cropping  up  to 
claim  descent  through  that  channel.  But  descent  from 
John  Claypoole  is  not  enough,  since  he  married  a  second 
time.  Claypooles  inheriting  the  blood  of  Cromwell  through 
the  Lady  Elizabeth  are  no  longer  in  existence. 


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CHAPTER   X. 

MARY,  THE  PROTECTOR'S  THIRD  DAUGHTER. 

BORN  at  Ely,  Mary  was  christened  at  Huntingdon 
on  February  9,  1637.  It  is  believed  that  when 
only  seventeen  years  of  age  she  had  to  encounter 
the  matrimonial  proposals  of  Sir  Anthony  Ashley 
Cooper,  afterwards  Earl  of  Shaftesbury.  Edmund  Ludlow 
is  our  principal  authority  for  the  statement,  which  occurs 
among  the  suppressed  passages  in  his  "  Memoirs,"  a 
work  from  which  everything  reflecting  injuriously  on  the 
character  or  career  of  Shaftesbury  was  cut  out  previous 
to  publication.  "  Sir  Anthony  Ashley  Cooper,  who  was 
first  for  the  King,  then  for  the  Parliament,  then  in  Crom- 
well's first  assembly  for  the  Reformation,  and  afterwards 
for  Cromwell  against  the  Reformation ;  now  being  denied 
Cromwell's  daughter,  Mary,  in  marriage,  he  appears  against 
Cromwell's  design  in  the  last  assembly,  and  is  therefore 
dismissed  the  Council,  Cromwell  being  resolved  to  act 
there  as  the  chief  juggler  himself."  Oldmixon  and 
Anthony  a  Wood  sustain  this  testimony,  though  neither 
of  them  gives  the  name  of  Mary.  Cromwell  must  have 
thought  favourably  of  him  when  he  summoned  him  to 
join  his  first  Convention  ;  since  then  he  had  probably  read 
him  down.  But  whatever  was  the  cause  of  alienation,  the 
matrimonial  suit  appears  to  have  miscarried  suddenly  and 


1 1 6  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


entirely.  Perhaps  the  young  lady  herself  entertained 
personal  objections  to  one  who  had  already  had  two 
wives,  and  was  nearly  twice  her  own  age.  Mr.  Christie, 
the  modern  editor  of  the  Shaftesbury  papers,  throws  doubt 
on  the  whole  transaction. 

The  next  suitor  was  Sir  Edward  Mansfield,  of  Wales,  of 
whom  next  to  nothing  is  recorded.  Fleetwood,  in  a  letter 
to  Henry  Cromwell,  preserved  in  the  Lansdowne  MSS.  821, 
"  hopes  he  may  be  worthy  of  so  deserving  a  lady  ";  which 
perhaps  means  he  hopes  Sir  Edward  will  not  get  her.  The 
claims  of  the  Welsh  knight,  whoever  he  was,  quickly  paled 
before  the  advances  of  a  more  dashing  aspirant  in  the  person 
of  Thomas  Bellasyse,  Viscount  Fauconberg,  who  was  just 
then  returning  from  foreign  travel. 

Lord  Fauconberg,  who  was  about  twenty-nine  years  of 
age,  was  also,  like  Mary  Cromwell's  first  lover,  a  widower, 
but  he  was  the  representative  of  an  illustrious  family 
holding  large  estates  in  Durham,  Yorkshire,  and  Lancashire, 
to  which,  as  also  to  the  title,  he  had  recently  succeeded 
upon  the  death  of  his  grandfather  Thomas,  the  first 
Viscount  Fauconberg.  Sir  Richard  Bellasyse,  the  Knight 
of  Durham,  had  served  on  the  committee  acting  in  the 
Parliament's  behalf  for  that  county  ;  but,  with  almost  this 
sole  exception,  the  entire  family  had  been  avowed  Royalists 
during  the  war,  and  Oliver  no  doubt  felt  that  union  with 
the  new  lord  would  tend  to  conciliate  an  important  section 
of  aristocratic  malcontents.  Seconded,  therefore,  by  the 
Protectoral  policy,  the  young  man's  ambition  found  little 
or  no  obstacle  in  his  path.  He  commenced  his  suit  when 
passing  through  Paris  from  Italy,  in  the  spring  of  1657,  Dv 
enlisting  the  services  of  Sir  William  Lockhart,  the  English 
ambassador  in  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV.,  in  whom  he  found 
an  ally  who  was  not  only  the  husband  of  one  of  Oliver's 
nieces,  but  a  statesman  whose  diplomatic  career  reflected 
more  credit  on  the  Protestant  Protector's  name  than  any 
other  of  his  Continental  representatives.     And  so  well  did 


Mary,  the  Protector's   Third  Daughter.      117 

the  ambassador  plead  the  suitor's  cause  with  Mr.  Secretary 
Thurloe,  vindicating  him  from  the  charge  of  supposed 
Romanist  proclivities,  and  enlarging  on  his  personal  en- 
dowments, and  on  his  attachment  to  the  actual  form  of 
government,  that  the  young  lord's  arrival  in  England  and 
presentation  at  Court  was  speedily  followed  by  his  nuptials, 
which  took  place  at  Hampton  Court  with  great  pomp  and 
magnificence  on  November  19,  1657.  The  public  ceremony 
was  performed  according  to  the  simple  ritual  then  in  use 
among  the  Puritans  ;  but  before  the  day  was  over,  by 
general  consent,  the  marriage  contract  was  repeated  in  the 
Anglican  form.  Andrew  Marvell  thereupon  composed 
a  pastoral  eclogue,  and  the  news-writers  did  their  best  to 
follow  in  fancy's  train  and  snatch  a  ray  from  Parnassus. 
Her  brother  Henry,  whose  duties  kept  him  in  Ireland, 
seems  to  have  been  the  only  absent  member  of  the  family. 
Lord  and  Lady  Fauconberg  immediately  after  the  mar- 
riage interchanged  letters  with  him  and  his  wife,  full  of 
cordial  salutations,  which  may  be  read  in  Thurloe.  Of 
this  marriage  there  was  no  surviving  issue.  The  following 
letter,  written  by  the  husband  only  three  months  after- 
wards, will  explain  itself: 

Lord  Fauconberg  to  Henry  Cromwell,  Lord  Deputy  of 
Ireland. 

"  Whitehall, 

"February  26,  1658, 

"  My  Lord, 

"  This  place  is  at  present  so  distracted  with  the 
death  of  my  brother  Rich. — especially  my  dame,  whose 
present  condition  makes  it  more  dangerous  to  her  than  the 
rest — that  I  must  humbly  beg  your  lordship's  pardon  if  in 
short  I  only  tell  you  that  Major-General  Packer,  four 
Captains,  and  the  Captain -Lieutenant,  after  an  obstinate 
persisting,  even  to  his  Highness's  face,  in  their  dislike  of 
his  government,  were  this  week  cashiered. 

"  My  lord,   I  am  just    now  called   to   my  poor  wife's 


1 1 8  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

succour  ;  therefore  I  must  humbly  entreat  of  your  lordship 
leave  to  subscribe  myself,  sooner  than  I  intended,  My 
lord, 

"  Your  lordship's  most  faithful,  humble  servant, 

"  Fauconberg." 

Henry  Cromwell,  in  reply,  says  : 

"  I  hope  your  lordship's  being  called  to  succour  my  dear 
sister,  your  lady,  tends  but  to  repair  our  family  of  the  late 
loss  it  hath  sustained  ;  and  I  hope  that  the  sad  appre- 
hensions occasioned  by  this  late  stroke  will  not  frustrate 
our  hopes  therein." 

The  first  form  in  which  the  Protector  proceeded  to 
utilize  the  new  connection  was  by  sending  his  son-in-law 
on  a  mission  of  congratulation  to  the  French  Court  on  the 
successes  of  Louis's  arms  against  the  Spaniards  in  co- 
operation with  "  the  Six  Thousand  "  sent  from  England. 
During  his  tour  in  the  northern  counties  of  England,  on 
his  return  from  France,  the  Earl  was  accompanied  by  his 
youthful  bride.  All  contemporaries  agree  in  attributing  a 
large  share  of  beauty  to  Lady  Fauconberg,  a  testimony 
which  is  fully  borne  out  by  the  extant  portraits  of  her. 
The  return  south  of  the  Earl  and  Countess  is  thus 
chronicled  by  a  weekly  newspaper  (Mercurius  Politicus)  : 
"  Hampton  Court,  30  July.  This  evening  here  arrived  the 
most  noble  lord  the  Lord  Fauconberg,  with  his  most 
illustrious  lady,  the  Lady  Mary  ;  being  safe  returned  out 
of  the  North,  where,  in  all  places  of  their  journey,  and 
particularly  at  York,  the  people  of  those  parts  made  so 
large  expression  of  their  duty,  in  the  honours  done  to  the 
person  and  virtues  of  this  most  religious  lady,  and  of  their 
extraordinary  affection  towards  this  meritorious  lord,  as 
abundantly  manifested  what  a  high  esteem  his  noble 
qualities  have  purchased  him  in  his  own  as  well  as  in  other 
counties." 

Only  a  few  weeks  later  Fauconberg  thus  announces  the 
death  of  the  first  Protector  to  his  brother-in-law  Henry  : 


Mary,  the  Protectors   Third  Daughter.      119 

Lord  Fauconberg  to  Henry  Cromwell. 

"  Whitehall, 

"September  7,  1658. 

"  Dear  my  Lord, 

"  This  bearer  Mr.  Underwood  brings  your  lord- 
ship the  sad  news  of  our  general  loss  in  your  incom- 
parable father's  death,  by  which  these  poor  nations  are 
deprived  of  the  greatest  personage  and  instrument  of 
happiness  that  not  only  our  own,  but  indeed  any  age  else, 
ever  produced.  The  preceding  night  and  not  before,  in 
presence  of  four  or  five  of  the  Council,  he  declared  my  lord 
Richard  his  successor.  The  next  morning  he  grew  speech- 
less, and  departed  betwixt  three  and  four  in  the  evening. 
A  hard  dispensation  it  was,  but  so  has  it  seemed  good  to 
the  all-wise  God.  And  what  remains  to  poor  creatures 
but  to  lay  our  hands  upon  our  mouth  to  the  declaration  of 
His  pleasure  ?  Some  three  hours  after  his  decease  (a  time 
spent  only  in  framing  the  draft,  not  in  any  doubtful  dis- 
pute) was  your  lordship's  brother,  his  now  Highness, 
declared  Protector  of  these  nations  with  full  consent  of 
council,  soldier  and  city.  The  next  day  he  was  proclaimed 
in  the  usual  places.  All  the  time  his  late  Highness  was 
drawing  on  to  his  end,  the  consternation  and  astonishment 
of  people  is  unexpressible.  Their  hearts  seemed  as  sunk 
within  them.  And  if  thus  abroad  in  the  family,  your  lord- 
ship may  imagine  how  it  was  with  her  Highness  and  other 
near  relations.  My  poor  wife,  I  know  not  what  in  the 
Earth  to  do  with  her.  When  seemingly  quieted,  she 
bursts  out  again  into  passion  that  tears  her  very  heart  in 
pieces  ;  nor  can  I  blame  her,  considering  what  she  has 
lost.  It  fares  little  better  with  others.  God,  I  trust,  will 
sanctify  this  bitter  cup  to  us  all.  His  mercy  is  extra- 
ordinary as  to  the  quiet  face  of  things  amongst  us  ;  which 
I  hope  the  Lord  will  continue. 

"  I  am,  Your  lordship's  most  affectionately  faithful 
and  very  humble  servant, 

"  Fauconberg." 


120  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Lord  Fauconberg  facilitated  the  restoration  of  royalty 
as  soon  as  he  saw  it  was  inevitable.  To  the  King  himself 
the  recovery  of  such  an  agency  was  especially  welcome ; 
for  the  link  which  attached  Fauconberg  to  the  Crom- 
wellian  destinies  carried  with  it  an  added  force.  With 
this  course  of  action,  the  influence  of  Henry  Cromwell, 
though  less  demonstrative,  must  needs  be  associated.  In 
this  they  stood  apart  from  Lockhart,  whose  personal 
alliance  with  some  of  the  Republican  party  made  him  slow 
to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  such  a  universal  revolt. 

The  Restoration  being  accomplished,  Fauconberg  was 
at  once  installed  into  the  offices  of  Lieutenant  of  the 
Bishopric  of  Durham,  Lord- Lieutenant  and  Custos 
Rotulorum  of  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  and 
Ambassador-Extraordinary  to  Venice,  Tuscany,  and 
Savoy.*  He  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the  three  succeeding 
monarchs,  diverse  as  were  their  principles,  and,  dying  in 
1700,  was  buried  at  Cockswold,  in  Yorkshire,  where  a 
lengthy  epitaph,  recited  in  Le  Neve's  "  Monumenta 
Anglicana,"  records  his  virtues  and  his  prosperous  career. 
In  the  construction  of  this  epitaph  it  had  been  Lady 
Mary's  original  intention  to  exhibit  more  definitely  his 
alliance  with  the  Protectorate,  to  which  end,  says  Lord 
Dartmouth,  "  she  desired  Sir  Harry  Sheers  to  write  an 
inscription  for  the  monument,  and  would  have  it  inserted 
that  in  such  a  year  Fauconberg  married  his  Highness  the 
then  Lord  Protector  of  England's  daughter,  which  Sir 
Harry  told  her  he  feared  might  give  offence.  She 
answered,  that  nobody  could  dispute  matters  of  fact,  and 
therefore   insisted    on    its    being    done."      The   wording 

*  Three  years  after  the  Restoration,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  this  lady  and  her 
husband,  at  the  play.  "  Here,"  says  Samuel  Pepys,  "  I  saw  my  Lord  Faucon- 
berg and  his  lady,  my  Lady  Mary  Cromwell,  who  looks  as  well  as  I  have 
known  her,  and  well  clad.  But  when  the  house  began  to  fill,  she  put  on  her 
vizard,  and  so  kept  it  on  all  the  play,  which  of  late  is  become  a  great  fashion 
among  the  ladies,  which  hides  their  whole  face." — Pepy's  "  Diary,"  June  12, 
1663. 


Mary,  the  Protector's  Third  Daughter.      121 

eventually  adopted  shows  that  she  yielded  somewhat  to 
her  friend's  objection,  though,  of  course,  it  duly  sets  forth 
whose  daughter  she  was.  Her  own  death  occurred  in  1713, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  shortly  after  that  of  her  brother 
Richard,  and  she  was  buried  at  Chiswick  on  March  24. 
Sutton  Court,  the  house  in  which  she  lived  and  died  at 
Chiswick,  no  longer  exists.  It  stood  very  near  the  west 
end  of  the  parish  church.  Neither  is  there  any  monument 
to  her  in  the  church.  J.  Mackay,  speaking  of  this  spot  in 
his  "  Journey  through  England,"  says :  "I  saw  here  a 
great  and  curious  piece  of  antiquity — the  eldest  daughter 
of  Oliver  Cromwell,  who  was  then  fresh  and  gay  "  ;  date 
not  given.  Grainger,  having  stated  that  in  the  decline  of 
life  she  was  pale  and  sickly,  adds  :  "  Since  this  note  was 
printed  I  had  the  honour  to  be  informed  by  the  Earl  of 
Ilchester,  who  remembers  her  well,  and  to  whom  she  was 
godmother,  that  she  must  have  been  far  gone  in  the 
decline  of  life  when  she  was  pale  and  sickly,  as  she  was 
not  naturally  of  such  a  complexion."  The  testimonies  as 
to  her  personal  merit  are  uniformly  eulogistic.  Bishop 
Burnet  styles  her  a  wise  and  worthy  woman,  and  one  who 
was  more  likely  to  have  maintained  the  post  of  Protector 
than  either  of  her  brothers.  A  footnote  in  "  Hughes's 
Letters  "  describes  her  as  "  a  lady  of  great  beauty,  and  of  a 
very  high  spirit,  who  distinguished  herself  till  her  death 
by  the  quickness  of  her  wit  and  the  solidity  of  her  judg- 
ment." Mr.  Hewling  Luson,  in  the  same  volume,  writes 
as  follows  :  "  She  was  said  to  have  been  a  lady  of  a  very 
great  understanding.  This  was  the  '  noble  relation  ' 
referred  to  in  Mr.  Say's  character  [of  Mrs.  Bendysh],  who 
left  Mrs.  Bendysh  a  handsome  legacy,  as  she  did  also  to 
the  other  descendants  of  her  father  Oliver  to  whom  such 
an  aid  might  be  useful.  She  died  wealthy,  and  never  had 
a  child."  She  betrayed,  some  thought,  in  her  last  will 
an  undue  partiality  for  her  own  personal  relatives,  for  she 
left  everything  in  her   power  away  from  her  husband's 


1 2  2  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

kindred,  including  Fauconberg  House  in  Soho  Square,  the 
town  residence  of  the  family.  Some  interesting  relics, 
however,  descended  to  the  last  heir  of  the  Fauconbergs, 
among  which  was  the  sword  worn  by  Oliver  at  the  battle 
of  Naseby.  There  are  extant  two  or  three  letters  of  Lady 
Mary's  to  her  brother  Henry,  two  of  which  may  be  read  in 
Carlisle's  "  Letters  and  Speeches."  The  first,  addressed 
in  1655,  and  warning  him  against  the  influence  of  some 
intriguing  lady,  who  had  made  a  lodgment  in  his  Irish 
household ;  the  second  giving  a  long  account  of  their 
sister  Frances's  marriage  negotiations.  A  third,  here 
following,  relates  to  the  last  illness  of  their  mother,  the 
Protectress.  When  that  sorely-stricken  lady  found  an 
asylum  at  Norborough  House,  Lady  Mary  was  her  frequent 
visitor,  and  this  brief  letter  seems  to  point  to  the  latest  of 
those  interviews  : 

Lady  Mary  Fauconberg  to  Henry  Cromwell,  of  Spinney 
Abbey  (1665?). 

"  Dear  Brother, 

"  I  have  sent  this  bearer  on  purpose  to  see  you  and 
my  sister,  fearing  I  shall  not  see  you  before  I  go  from 
hence.  My  poor  mother  is  so  affecting  a  spectacle  as  I 
scarce  know  how  to  write,  she  continuing  much  the  same 
as  she  was  when  you  were  here.  The  Lord  knows  best 
what  is  best  for  us  to  suffer,  and  therefore  I  desire  we  may 
willingly  submit  to  His  will ;  but  the  condition  she  is  in  is 
very  sad  ;  the  Lord  help  her  and  us  to  bear  it.  I  am 
now  able  to  say  no  more,  my  heart  being  so  oppressed,  but 
that  I  am, 

"  Your  dear  wife's  and  your  affectionate  sister, 

"  M.  Fauconberg." 


CHAPTER  XL 


FRANCES,  THE  PROTECTOR'S  FOURTH  DAUGHTER. 


BORN  at  Ely  in  1638,  Frances  was  married  in 
December,  1657,  to  the  Hon.  Robert  Rich,  eldest 
son  of  Lord  Rich,  and  grandson  of  Robert,  Earl 
of  Warwick,  the  admiral  of  the  fleet,  and  the 
veteran  peer  who  carried  Oliver's  sword  of  State  at  the 
proclamation  of  his  Protectorate.  But  this  was  by  no 
means  her  first  love  affair.  In  the  first  place  there  seems 
no  sufficient  reason  for  discrediting  the  story  of  a  pro- 
jected alliance  with  the  exiled  King  Charles,  in  which 
Lord  Broghill  acted  as  the  medium  of  negotiation.  It 
wears,  at  least,  an  air  of  greater  probability  than  the 
reports  [preserved  in  Thurloe's  papers]  which  in  1654  were 
circulated  in  France  to  the  effect  that  the  Duke  d'Enghein, 
only  son  of  the  Prince  of  Conde,  was  her  favoured  suitor. 
The  Duke  of  Buckingham  is  the  third  name  on  the  list, 
but  his  chances  must  have  been  slender  in  the  extreme. 
Her  fourth  gallant  was  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  White,  or 
"Jerry  White,"  as  he  was  commonly  called,  one  of  her 
father's  chaplains,  and  a  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge. He  is  described  as  possessing  a  handsome  person 
and  an  engaging  address,  though  his  extant  portrait, 
photographed  by  the  Arundel  Society,  can  hardly  be  said 
to  warrant  the  encomium.     Another  attribute  with  which 


1 24  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

he  is  credited — that  of  a  ready  wit — rests  possibly  on  better 
authority.     Oliver  put  it  to  the  test  on  one  occasion  in  a 
somewhat    crucial   form.     Having   been    given  reason  to 
suspect  that  his  aspiring  chaplain  had  carried  his  amatory 
professions   too    far,    Cromwell   managed   to   entrap   the 
couple  just  at  a  moment  when  Jerry  was  on  his  knees, 
caressing  the  Lady  Frances's  hand.     "  What  is  the  mean- 
ing of  that  posture  before  my  daughter  ?'  demanded  he. 
Here  Jerry's  wit  came  to  his  aid.     "  May  it  please  your 
Highness,  I  have  long  unsuccessfully  courted  the  young 
gentlewoman  yonder,  my  Lady's  waiting-maid,  and  I  was 
now  therefore  humbly  praying  her  Ladyship  to  say  a  word 
in  my  behalf."     Turning  to  the  waiting-maid,  Oliver  went 
on  :     "  Well,    hussey,    and   why   should   you    refuse    Mr. 
White's  offers  ?     You   must   know  that  he  is  my  friend, 
and  I  expect  that  you  will  treat  him  as  such."     Here  the 
ready  wit  of  the  maiden  proved  smarter  even  than  Jerry's. 
"  If  Mr.  White,"  says  she,  "  intends  me  that  honour,  I 
shall  not  oppose  him."     "  Sayest  thou  so,  lass  ?"  rejoined 
Cromwell.    "  Call  Goodwyn  ;  this  business  shall  be  finished 
at  once."     Mr.   Chaplain   Goodwyn  arrived  ;  the  parties 
were   married   on    the    spot,    and    Cromwell,  by  way   of 
solatium,    made    them    a    present    of  £500.*      A    union 
effected  after  this  fashion  was  not  likely  to  be  productive 
of  much    mutual    regard,   nor  was   the    result   felicitous, 
though  they  contrived  to  live  together  as  man  and  wife  for 
half  a  century  longer.     "  I  knew  them  both,"  says  Old- 
mixon,  the   historian,   "  and  heard  the  story  told  when 
Mrs.  White  was  present,  who  did  not  contradict  it,  and 
owned  there  was  something  in  it."    But  Jerry,  though  taken 
down  in  this  abrupt  style,  always  maintained  a  marvellous 
influence  in  the  Cromwell  family.     Years  after  the  Restora- 
tion, when  the  Protectress  was  living  at  Norborough,  he 
was  entrusted  with  the  entire  management  of  her  pecuniary 

*  This  scene  was  painted  by  Augustus  Egg  in  1842. — See  the  Exhibition 
Catalogue  for  that  year,  No.  548. 


Frances,  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.    125 

affairs.  At  that  time  he  was  occupying  the  position  of 
chaplain  in  the  family  of  Sir  John  Russell,  of  Chippenham, 
the  Lady  Frances's  second  husband,  previous  to  which  he 
had  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  her  father-in-law,  Sir 
Francis  Russell,  as  evidenced  by  a  long  and  curious  letter 
(in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Field,  of  Teddington)  which  the 
knight  sent  him  in  1663,  touching  his  bodily  ailments,  and 
the  benefits  which  he  had  derived  from  the  chaplain's 
curative  measures.  Master  White's  talent  seems  to  have 
been  multifarious.  He  wrote  an  essay  on  universal  restora- 
tion, and  he  gathered  a  list  of  many  hundreds  of  the 
sufferers  for  Nonconformity. 

Jerry  White  being  checkmated,  the  Dutton  affair  next 
becomes  prominent.  Cromwell,  it  is  assumed,  had  at 
some  time  entered  into  a  verbal  engagement  with  John 
Dutton,  a  wealthy  freeholder,  of  Sherborne,  in  Gloucester- 
shire, to  bestow  his  daughter  Frances  in  marriage  on 
William  Dutton,  the  nephew  or  grandson  (nepos)  of  that 
gentleman ;  and  in  his  will  (dated  1655)  Mr.  Dutton 
expresses  an  "  earnest  desire  that  it  might  take  effect." 
How  Cromwell  and  his  daughter  looked  upon  this  mode 
of  courtship  is  not  recorded.  All  we  know  is  that,  at  the 
age  of  nineteen,  the  young  lady  practically  waived  it  by 
falling  in  love  with  the  Hon.  Robert  Rich  aforesaid. 

This  young  man,  losing  his  mother  at  an  early  age,  was 
at  her  dying  request  placed  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Gauden, 
by  whose  recommendation  he  first  went  to  college,  and 
with  whom  he  then  made  a  foreign  tour.  On  returning 
home,  being  deeply  in  love  with  Frances  Cromwell,  he 
sought  her  hand  at  once,  though  at  the  time  he  was  in  a 
very  sickly  state  of  health.  The  marriage  came  off  in 
December,  1657 ;  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  with  the 
Protector's  hearty  concurrence.  His  disorder  appears 
to  have  been  of  a  scrofulous  nature,  carrying  him  off  in  the 
ensuing  February,  only  two  months  after  the  wedding. 
His  grandfather,  the  old  Earl  of  Warwick,  when  he  heard 


126  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


of  it,  said  that,  if  they  would  keep  the  body  above  ground 
a  little  while,  they  might  carry  his  own  along  with  it  ; 
and,  indeed,  he  survived  only  two  months  longer.  To 
complete  the  tragedy,  Mr.  Rich's  father,  who  succeeded  to 
the  Earldom,  followed  his  father  and  his  son  in  the  course 
of  the  next  year. 

The  collapse  of  this  matrimonial  connection  was  deeply 
felt  by  all  parties  concerned ;  for  the  mutual  friendship  of 
the  two  houses  was  of  long  standing,  dating  back  to  asso- 
ciations connected  with  Felsted,  where  the  family  of  Rich 
was  seated,  and  ratified  by  political  sympathies  during  the 
recent  war.  Henry  undertook  to  send  a  message  of 
condolence  to  Christian,  Countess  of  Devonshire,  the 
grandmother  of  the  deceased,  and  Oliver  performed 
the  same  office  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  The  Earl's 
letter  in  reply,  which  contained  a  noble  tribute  to  the 
character  of  the  Protector,  may  be  seen  entire  in  Dr. 
William  Harris's  "Life  of  Oliver."  It  concludes :  "  Others' 
goodness  is  their  own.  Yours  is  a  whole  country's — yea, 
three  kingdoms',  for  which  you  justly  possess  interest  and 
renown  with  wise  and  good  men.  Virtue  is  a  thousand 
escutcheons.  Go  on,  my  lord — go  on  happily  to  love 
religion,  to  exemplify  it.  May  your  lordship  long  continue 
an  instrument  of  use,  a  pattern  of  virtue,  and  a  precedent 
of  glory." 

Rich's  funeral  was  conducted  with  great  pomp  on 
March  5,  1658,  the  corpse  being  carried  to  Felsted  for 
interment  in  the  family  vault,  and  the  funeral  sermon 
delivered  by  Dr.  Gauden.  Of  all  the  extant  specimens 
of  that  dreary  species  of  literature,  the  funeral  sermon, 
this  of  Gauden's  is  one  of  the  most  nauseous. 

On  May  7,  1663,  the  young  widow,  the  Lady  Frances, 
was  married  at  Hursleyto  Sir  John  Russell,  third  baronet, 
of  Chippenham,  co.  Cambridge,  and  by  him  became  the 
ancestress  of  numerous  and  wide -spreading  groups  of 
Cromwellian  descendants.     In   the  interval  between   her 


Frances,  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.    127 


first  and  second  marriage  she  may  have  been  residing  at 
Hursley  with  Dorothy,  the  wife  of  the  ex -Protector, 
Richard.  She  survived  her  second  husband  fifty-one 
years,  spending  a  considerable  portion  of  her  later  life 
with  her  sister,  Lady  Fauconberg.  Finally  she  outlived 
all  those  of  her  own  generation,  and  died  in  172 1  at  the 
age  of  eighty-four. 

The  Family  of  Russell 

First  became  conspicuous  in  the  person  of  Thomas 
Russell,  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  Henry  VI. 's  time.  The 
baronet  of  the  Civil  War  period,  viz.,  Sir  Francis,  was  an 
ardent  supporter  of  the  Parliament's  cause,  a  man  of  high 
morality  and  humanity,  and  a  personal  friend  of  Oliver. 
Of  his  fourteen  children,  besides  his  eldest  son  John,  who 
married  Frances  Cromwell,  Elizabeth  married  Henry 
Cromwell,  the  Protector's  fourth  son,  and  Sarah  married 
Sir  John  Reynolds,  of  whom  larger  notice  will  have  to  be 
taken.  The  issue  of  the  Lady  Frances  Cromwell  by  Sir 
John  Russell  consisted  of  five  children,  viz : 

I.  Sir  William,  the  fourth  Baronet,  of  whom  pre- 
sently. 

II.  Rich,  baptized  at  Chippenham,  Cambs.,  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1667,  was  the  fourth  child  and  second  son.  He 
married,  first,  at  Fordham,  Cambs.,  April  5,  1693,  his 
cousin  Mabel.  She  died  January  5,  1731,  and  was  buried 
at  Hillingdon,  Middlesex,  leaving  issue  one  only  child,  a 
daughter  Mary,  who  married,  1731,  at  Hillingdon  (as  his 
second  wife),  the  Rev.  Richard  Mills,  Vicar  of  Hillingdon, 
by  whom  she  left  issue  (inter  alios),  Rev.  Thomas  Mills, 
also  Vicar  of  Hillingdon,  who  was  baptized  (see  Hilling- 
don registers)  June,  1738.  These  two  vicars  held  the 
living  between  them  eighty-six  years,  although  it  was  not 
a  family  living.  Rich  married,  secondly,  at  St.  George's, 
Hanover  Square,  October  28,  1732,  Catherine  Barton, 
spinster,  who  survived  him  and  proved  his  will.     Rich 


128  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


was  a  General  in  the  army,  and,  according  to  the  inscrip- 
tion still  legible  on  his  tombstone  at  Hillingdon,  served 
his  King  and  country  forty-seven  years.  He  died  at  Bath 
(see  Gentleman's  Magazine)  June  16,  1735,  but  was  buried 
in  his  family  tomb  at  Hillingdon.  His  will  was  proved  in 
London  February  6,  1735  (25  Denby,  i.  46).  His  only 
living  descendants  trace  their  descent  from  him  through 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Richard  Mills.  She  is  referred  to  as  a 
legatee  in  the  wills  of  her  father,  of  her  grandmother, 
Dame  Frances  Russell,  the  daughter  of  the  Protector, 
and  of  her  cousin,  Miss  Elizabeth  Cromwell.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  Mills  left  issue  (inter  alios)  Frederick  Russell 
Mills,  Esq.,  formerly  Librarian  of  the  Home  Office  and 
private  secretary  to  Lord  Sidmouth  while  Home  Secretary. 
Mr.  F.  R.  Mills  died  August  8,  1861,  aged  seventy-nine, 
leaving  numerous  issue  still  surviving,  including  the  heir- 
at-law  of  Rich  Russell.  The  Rev.  Thos.  Mills'  youngest 
son  was  Richard  Mills,  Esq.,  one  of  the  Taxing  Masters 
of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  who  died  at  his  residence,  the 
Moat,  Eltham,  Kent,  April  21,  1880,  aged  ninety-four, 
leaving  numerous  issue.  The  Mills  family  trace  their 
descent  from  Betham,  in  the  parish  of  Penkridge,  Stafford- 
shire, where  they  were  established  in  and  prior  to  the 
year  1490  (see  Visitation  of  London,  1633,  title  Mills). 

III.  Christian,  a  daughter  so  named  in  memory  of 
Christian,  Countess  of  Devonshire  aforesaid.  She  died  in 
childhood  in  1669. 

IV.  Elizabeth,  born  1664,  became  the  wife  of  Sir 
Thomas  Frankland,  of  whom  presently. 

V.  John,  third  and  posthumous  son  ;  Governor  of  Fort 
William,  in  Bengal;  died  at  Bath  1735,  having  married, 
first,  Rebecca,  sister  of  Sir  Charles  Eyre,  of  Kew,  by 
whom  he  had  one  son  and  three  daughters.  He  married, 
secondly,  Joanna,  sole  daughter  and  heiress  of  Mr.  Thurl- 
bone,  of  the  Chequers,  Bucks,  sergeant  at  law.  The 
children  of  the  first  marriage  were  : 


Frances,  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.    129 

1.  Frances,  born  1700;  died  1775;  bedchamber- 
woman  to  the  Princess  Amelia.  Married  John,  son 
of  Colonel  Rivett  of  the  Guards,  but  leaving  no 
issue,  his  estate  of  the  Chequers  passed  to  his  sister 
Mary,  who,  as  will  be  seen  presently,  married  Charles 
Russell. 

2.  Charles,  born  1701,  died  1754,  was  a  Colonel 
in  the  army ;  fought  at  Dettingen  and  Fontenoy ; 
married,  1737,  Mary  Joanna  Cutts,  daughter  of 
Colonel  Rivett  aforesaid,  who  became  the  heiress  of 
Chequers,  and  by  whom  he  had,  besides  Mary  [bed- 
chamber-woman to  the  Princess  Amelia  after  her 
aunt  Fanny  (?)]  one  son,  John,  eventually  the  eighth 
Baronet. 

3.  Mary,  married  a  Mr.  Holmes.     No  issue. 

4.  Elizabeth,  born  1704;  married  Samuel  Green- 
hill,  of  Swincombe,  Oxford,  and  had  issue,  John 
Russell  Greenhill,  LL.D.,  of  Cottesford  House, 
Oxford,  who  took  the  Russell  estates  under  the  will 
of  the  ninth  baronet.  He  married  Elizabeth,  only 
child  of  M.  Noble,  of  Sunderland,  Esq.,  and  had  a 
son,  Robert,  created  a  Baronet  by  Lord  Grey  in 
1831,  at  whose  death,  s.p.,  in  1836,  the  property  passed 
by  his  will  to  Sir  Robert  Frankland,  who  thereupon 
assumed  the  surname  of  Russell  in  addition  to  and 
after  that  of  Frankland. 

Sir  John  Russell,  the  third  Baronet,  husband  of  the 
Lady  Frances  Cromwell,  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

Sir  William  Russell,  the  fourth  Baronet ;  born  about 
1660,  whose  lavish  expenditure  in  furtherance  of  the 
Revolution  of  1688  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  occasion 
of  his  selling  the  Chippenham  Manor  to  the  Earl  of 
Orford.     He  died  in  1725,  leaving  two  sons. 

Sir  William  Russell,  the  fifth  Baronet,  dying  un- 
married in  1738  at  Passage,  near  Waterford,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother, 

9 


130  T/ie  House  of  Cromwell. 

Sir  Francis  Russell,  the  sixth  Baronet;  Governor 
of  Fort  William,  in  Bengal ;  married,  1725,  Ann  Gee,  and 
left  one  son, 

Sir  William  Russell,  the  seventh  Baronet ;  Lieu- 
tenant in  the  Guards  ;  died  a  bachelor  in  1757,  when 
the  title  descended  to  his  second  cousin,  mentioned 
above,  viz.  : 

Sir  John  Russell,  the  eighth  Baronet ;  barrister  at 
law,  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  He  died  prematurely,  1783,  at  the 
age  of  forty-two,  at  the  seat  of  Sir  Henry  Oxenden,  in 
Kent,  from  inflammation  of  the  bowels  occasioned  by 
eating  melons,  and  was  much  lamented  as  a  kind  and 
generous  man.  His  wife  was  Katharine,  daughter  of 
General  the  Hon.  Henry  Carey,  brother  to  Lord  Falkland, 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  the  elder  of  whom, 

Sir  John  Russell,  the  ninth  Baronet,  born  1779, 
died  unmarried,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 

Sir  George  Russell,  the  tenth  Baronet,  who  dying 
unmarried  in  1804,  the  title  expired,  and  the  estates 
devolved  under  his  brother's  will  upon  their  aunt  Mary 
(mentioned  under  the  third  baronetcy).  This  lady  died 
unmarried,  and  was  succeeded  in  her  possessions  by  her 
cousin,  Dr.  John  Russell  Greenhill,  of  Cottesford  House 
aforesaid. 

Family  of  Frankland. 

Elizabeth,  second  daughter  of  the  Lady  Frances 
Cromwell  and  Sir  John  Russell,  of  Chippenham,  married 
Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  of  Thirkleby,  Yorks,  Bart.,  eldest 
son  and  heir  of  Sir  William  Frankland  by  Arabella 
Bellasyse,  sister  to  Viscount  Fauconberg  (the  husband  of 
Mary  Cromwell).  Consequently  Fauconberg  was  uncle 
both  to  the  bride  and  to  the  bridegroom,  and  so  much 
interest  did  he  feel  in  this  alliance  that  he  settled  divers 
estates  on  Frankland,  to  which  was  added  by  bequest  the 
house  at  Chiswick.     Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  who  repre- 


Frances,  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.    131 

sented  Thirsk  in  Parliament,  and  was  Postmaster-General, 
is  thus  notified  in  1713 :  "  He  is  chief  of  a  very  good 
family  in  Yorkshire,  with  a  very  good  estate.  His  being 
my  Lord  Fauconberg's  nephew,  and  marrying  a  grand- 
daughter of  Oliver  Cromwell,  first  recommended  him  to 
King  William,  who  at  the  Revolution  made  him  Com- 
missioner of  the  Excise,  and  some  years  after  Governor 
of  the  Post -Office.  By  abundance  of  application  he 
understands  that  office  better  than  any  man  in  England, 
and  is  adapted  for  greater  matters  when  the  Government 
shall  think  fit  to  employ  him.  The  Queen,  by  reason  of 
his  great  capacity  and  honesty,  hath  continued  him  in 
the  office  of  Postmaster.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  a  very 
sweet,  easy,  affable  disposition  —  a  handsome  man,  of 
middle  stature,  towards  forty  years  old."  By  his  lady, 
Elizabeth  Russell,  who  died  1733,  he  had  seven  sons  and 
three  daughters : 

I.  Thomas,  the  third  Baronet,  of  whom  presently. 

II.  William,  F.R.S.,  page  to  Queen  Mary  II.  His 
children  died  young. 

III.  John,  died  at  Hamburgh. 

IV.  Henry,  of  Mattersea,  Notts ;  acquired  property  in 
India,  and  died  there  1728.  By  his  wife  Mary,  daughter 
of  Alexander  Cross,  he  had  issue  : 

1.  Charles  Henry,  fourth  Baronet,  of  whom  here- 
after. 

2.  Thomas,  fifth  Baronet,  of  whom  hereafter. 

3.  4,  5,  6.  William,  Richard,  Robert,  Harriet,  died 
young  or  unmarried. 

7.  Frederick,  a  Major  in  the  Blues;  died  at  Lisbon 
1752,  having  married  Melissa,  daughter  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Laying,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter  married  to 
Peniston  Powney,  Esq.  She  died  1774,  leaving  a 
daughter,  Melissa. 

V.  Richard,  D.C.L.,  of  Jesus  College,  Camb.,  died 
1761. 


132  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

VI.  Frederick  Meinhardt,  barrister  at  law;  M.P. 
for  Thirsk ;  died  1768,  having  married,  first,  Anne,  relict 
of  Adam  Cardonnel,  whose  children  died  young,  except 
Anne,  wife  of  Thomas,  Lord  Pelham,  of  whom  hereafter. 
He  married,  secondly,  Anne  Lumley,  daughter  of  Richard, 
first  Earl  of  Scarborough,  the  "  Lady  Anne  Frankland  " 
who,  together  with  her  sisters,  Lady  Barbara  Leigh  and 
Lady  Henrietta  Lumley,  were,  by  their  mutual  friend,  the 
Countess  of  Huntingdon,  brought  under  the  influence  of 
George  Whitefield's  preaching.  But  so  highly  did  Mr. 
Frankland  resent  the  affair  that  he  compelled  his  wife  to 
quit  his  house,  and  returned  her  fortune.  She  survived 
the  heart-breaking  ordeal  only  eight  months. 

VII.  Robert,  a  trader  at  Calcutta,  slain  in  the  Persian 
Gulf. 

VIII.  Elizabeth,  married  to  Roger  Talbot,  of  Wood- 
end,  Yorks,  of  whom  hereafter. 

IX.  Frances  (or  Mary),  married  to  Thomas  Worsley, 
of  whom  hereafter. 

X.  Arabella,  died  unmarried. 

Sir  Thomas  Frankland  died  in  1726,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  eldest  son, 

Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  the  third  Baronet ;  M.P.  for 
Thirsk  in  five  Parliaments,  and  a  lord  of  the  Admiralty. 
By  his  wife  Diana,  daughter  of  Francis  Topham,  of  Agel- 
thorpe,  he  had  {inter  alios)  a  daughter,  Diana,  who  became 
wife  of  George  Henry  Lee,  Earl  of  Lichfield.  Sir  Thomas 
married,  secondly,  Anne,  daughter  of  a  Huguenot  refugee 
named  Rene  Baudouin.  After  Sir  Thomas's  early  death 
in  1747,  the  widow  married  Adam  Cardonnel,  at  whose 
death  Frederick  Meinhardt  Frankland,  a  younger  brother 
of  Sir  Thomas,  became  guardian  and  trustee  for  her 
children.  He  did  more  than  this :  he  became  her  third 
husband.  She  had  thus  married  two  brothers,  but  Adam 
Cardonnel  coming  between,  she  is  always  described  in 
the   Peerages  as   Cardonnel's  relict,   and  by  this   means 


Frances,  the  Protector's  Fourth  Daughter.    133 

her  marriage  with  Sir  Thomas  conveniently  drops  out  of 
sight.  At  Sir  Thomas's  death,  in  1747,  the  title  passed  to 
his  nephew, 

Sir  Charles  Henry  Frankland,  the  fourth  Baronet ; 
born  in  Bengal  in  1716,  at  the  time  of  his  father's  re- 
sidence there  as  Governor  of  the  East  India  Company's 
factory.  Although  by  that  father's  death  he  inherited  a 
considerable  fortune,  yet  the  lucrative  post  of  Collector  in 
the  port  of  Boston,  in  New  England,  which  he  obtained 
through  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  had  sufficient  attractions 
to  induce  him  to  make  that  colony  the  place  of  his 
residence  for  the  greater  part  of  his  after-life.  He  went 
over  there  in  1741,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  soon  after 
which,  while  on  a  visit  of  inspection  to  the  neighbouring 
seaport  of  Marblehead,  where  the  home  Government  had 
resolved  to  erect  a  fortification,  he  met  the  young  woman 
whose  fascinations  were  destined  to  give  that  colouring  to 
his  history,  of  which  more  than  one  writer  of  American 
romance  has  availed  himself.  This  young  woman  was 
the  celebrated  Agnes  Surriage,  then  sixteen  years  of  age, 
of  obscure  birth,  being  the  daughter  of  a  fisherman,  but 
gifted  with  the  heritage  of  dazzling  beauty.  Her  mother, 
it  is  true,  had  a  nominal  claim  to  one-seventh  part  of  a 
vast  tract  of  land  in  Maine,  which  fell  to  her  on  the  death 
of  her  father,  Richard  Pierce,  of  New  Harbour,  one  of  the 
sharers  in  what  was  long  known  and  litigated  as  "  the 
Brown  right"  (the  title  to  which  seventh  part  Sir  C.  H. 
Frankland  subsequently  purchased  of  the  widow  Surriage 
for  £50),  and  it  must  have  been  this  circumstance  which 
led  Mark  Noble  and  the  other  genealogists  to  give  the 
name  of  Agnes  Brown  instead  of  Agnes  Surriage  as 
Frankland's  wife.  But  whatever  the  prospects  in  Maine 
might  be  worth,  the  daughter  had  received  no  education, 
and  she  was  accordingly  placed  for  the  present  under  the 
tutelage  and  protection  of  Edward  Holyoake,  the  Puritan 
minister  of  the  place. 


134  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

Frankland,  whose  tastes  were  those  of  a  general  dilettante, 
but  found  their  best  expression  in  architecture  and  horti- 
culture, purchased  an  estate  in  the  suburban  village  of 
Hopkinton,  and  erected  a  vast  and  classic  mansion,  which 
for  some  years  became  the  scene  of  lawless  revelry, 
greatly  to  the  scandal  of  the  old-fashioned  Puritans  of 
Boston. 

Charles  Henry  Frankland,  by  the  death  of  his  uncle, 
Sir  Thomas,  was  called  home  to  carry  on  a  suit  at  law, 
in  which  the  will  of  this  uncle,  bequeathing  the  entire 
estate  at  Thirkleby  to  his  lady,  was  contested.  The 
Gentleman's  Magazine  thus  reports  the  facts:  "June  4, 
1754.  A  cause  between  Sir  Henry  Frankland,  plaintiff, 
and  the  lady  of  the  late  Sir  Thomas,  defendant,  was 
tried  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  by  a  special  jury. 
The  subject  of  litigation  was  a  will  of  Sir  Thomas,  sus- 
pected to  be  made  when  he  was  not  of  sound  mind ;  and 
it  appeared  that  he  had  made  three — one  in  1741,  another 
in  1744,  and  a  third  in  1746.  In  the  first  only  a  slender 
provision  was  made  for  his  lady,  by  the  second  the  family 
estate  in  Yorkshire,  of  £"2,000  per  annum,  was  given  her 
for  her  life,  and  by  the  third  the  whole  estate  real  and 
personal  was  left  to  be  disposed  of  at  her  discretion 
without  any  provision  for  the  heir  at  law.  The  jury,  after 
having  withdrawn  for  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  set  aside 
the  last  and  confirmed  the  second.  In  a  hearing  before 
the  Lord  Chancellor  some  time  afterwards  in  relation  to 
the  costs,  it  was  decreed  that  the  lady  should  pay  them 
all,  both  at  common  law  and  in  Chancery." 

On  this  occasion  he  was  accompanied  to  England  by 
Agnes  Surriage ;  and  on  the  conclusion  of  the  law  affair, 
they  made  the  tour  of  Europe  together,  and  took  up  a 
temporary  abode  in  Lisbon,  furnishing  a  house  there,  and 
joining  in  the  dissipations  of  that  doomed  city.  This 
brings  us  to  what  Frankland's  biographer  justly  terms  the 
catastrophe  and  turning  point  of  his  life.    Hitherto  he  had 


Frances,  the  Protector s  Fourth  Daughter.    135 

led  the  life  of  a  voluptuary  and  a  sceptic.  Henceforward 
his  career  was  that  of  one  stunned  into  modesty  and 
repentance. 

The  first  of  November,  1755,  will  ever  be  a  memorable 
date  in  the  annals  of  Europe,  and  especially  of  Lisbon. 
In  that  city,  which  then  contained  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
million  of  inhabitants,  a  brilliant  morning  sun  was  shin- 
ing on  the  papal  festivities  of  All  Saints'  Day.  At  eleven 
o'clock  high  mass  at  thirty  churches  was  quenched  in 
universal  collapse.  The  earthquake  was  sensibly  felt  all 
over  western  Europe,  northern  Africa,  and  even  in  the 
West  Indies ;  but  the  catastrophe  wrought  its  climax  in 
Lisbon,  where  the  convulsed  bed  of  the  Tagus  lifted  for 
some  minutes  all  its  shipping  high  and  dry,  to  be  over- 
whelmed immediately  after  by  a  refluent  rush  of  waters, 
which  fairly  turned  the  harbour-quay  bottom  upwards  and 
then  swallowed  it  out  of  sight.  Of  the  thousands  of  fugi- 
tives who  had  sought  safety  at  that  spot  not  a  corpse  ever 
rose  to  the  surface.  The  loss  of  human  life  in  the  city 
was  estimated  at  nearly  30,000,  and  the  loss  of  property 
at  £95,000,000.  Sir  Henry  Frankland,  attired  in  Court 
dress  and  in  company  with  a  lady,  was  on  his  way  to 
one  of  the  church  spectacles,  in  a  carriage  and  pair,  when 
his  vehicle  was  crushed  by  falling  ruins  and  the  horses 
killed.  While  thus  entombed,  his  companion,  in  her 
frantic  despair,  seized  his  arm  with  her  teeth  and  tore 
away  a  portion  of  the  flesh.  What  became  of  her  is  not 
stated.  As  for  Frankland  himself,  the  dark  horrors  of 
the  hour  brought  the  delinquencies  of  his  past  life  into 
startling  review,  and  wrung  from  him  vows  of  total  re- 
formation of  life,  and  ample  retribution  to  all  whom  he 
had  ever  injured,  if  deliverance  were  now  vouchsafed  to 
him — vows  which  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  he  never 
forgot.  Meanwhile  his  devoted  Agnes  was  traversing  the 
ruined  streets  in  search  of  him ;  and  recognising  at  last 
the  plaintive  voice  which  issued  from  his  living  tomb,  she 


J 


6  The  Hoiise  of  Cromwell. 


accomplished  his  deliverance  in  no  long  time  by  lavish 
rewards  distributed  to  her  assistants.  His  wounds  being 
dressed,  he  was  conveyed  to  Belem,  a  suburb  of  Lisbon, 
where  his  first  action  on  recovery  was  to  formalize  his 
marriage  with  his  deliverer,  by  the  hands  of  a  Romish 
priest.  As  his  own  house  in  Lisbon  was  wrecked,  it  was 
resolved  at  once  to  embark  for  England ;  and  on  board 
ship  the  union  was  again  ratified  by  the  services  of  an 
Anglican  clergyman.  On  landing,  the  now  sobered  and 
chastened  couple  proceeded  to  the  family  seat,  where 
Agnes  was  affectionately  welcomed  by  her  mother-in- 
law. 

Although  Sir  Henry  two  years  later  was  formally  ap- 
pointed to  the  office  of  Consul-General  at  Lisbon,  the 
attractions  of  Hopkinton  again  and  again  induced  him 
and  his  lady  to  be  backwards  and  forwards  across  the 
Atlantic,  till  his  health  breaking  down  prematurely  com- 
pelled him  to  retire  to  Bath,  where  he  died  in  1768,  aged 
fifty-one  years.  He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  the 
neighbouring  village  of  Weston,  where  the  following 
epitaph  may  be  seen  against  the  wall  of  the  nave. 

"  To  the  memory  of  Sir  Charles-Henry  Frankland  of 
Thirkleby,  Co.  York,  bart.,  Consul-General  for  many  years 
at  Lisbon,  from  whence  he  came  in  hopes  of  recovery  from 
a  bad  state  of  health  to  Bath,  where  after  a  tedious  and 
painful  illness,  sustained  with  the  patience  and  resignation 
becoming  a  Christian,  he  died  January  11,  1768,  in  the 
fifty-second  year  of  his  life,  without  issue  ;  and  at  his 
own  desire  he  lies  buried  in  this  church.  This  monu- 
ment is  erected  by  his  affectionate  widow,  Agnes  Lady 
Frankland." 

On  the  death  of  her  husband,  Lady  Frankland,  in 
company  with  Henry  Cromwell,  returned  to  the  Hopkin- 
ton estate,  and  there  she  cherished  her  relatives  and 
maintained  a  magnificent  style  of  housekeeping  till  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  of  Independence  in   1775.     As 


Frances,  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.    137 

the  rich  widow  of  a  prominent  officer  of  the  Crown,  her 
solitary  position  was  felt  to  be  no  longer  tenable,  and 
accordingly  she  and  Henry  took  refuge  in  Boston,  then 
occupied  by  British  troops.  From  the  windows  of  her 
house  in  Garden  Court  Street  she  witnessed,  with  many 
others,  the  storming  of  Bunker's  Hill,  and  afterwards 
busied  herself  in  succouring  the  wounded  men  as  they 
were  brought  in  from  the  bloody  field.  The  last  of  her 
many  voyages  was  then  carried  into  effect,  the  succeeding 
seven  years  of  her  life  being  spent  in  old  England  among 
the  members  of  the  Frankland  family,  till  her  removal  to 
Chichester  on  becoming  the  wife  of  John  Drew,  a  banker 
of  that  city,  the  same  place  where  Henry  Cromwell  also 
appears  to  have  settled.  She  died  in  the  course  of  the 
next  year,  1783,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven,  and  was  buried 
at  Chichester. 

Captain  Henry  Cromwell,  an  illegitimate  son  of  Sir 
C.  H.  Frankland,  whose  name  has  occasionally  cropped 
up  in  the  above  narrative,  was  born  in  1741,  the  first  year 
of  his  father's  residence  in  New  England.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  commenced  his  naval  career  by  joining  his 
Majesty's  ship  Success,  Captain  Rouse,  then  lying  in  Casco 
Bay,  yet  found  or  made  frequent  occasions  for  visiting  and 
travelling  about  with  his  father ;  Lady  Frankland  on  her 
part  ever  cherishing  a  fond  regard  for  him,  though  she 
was  not  his  mother.  He  was  also  held  in  high  esteem  in 
the  Navy,  where,  holding  the  rank  of  Captain,  he  was 
present  with  Admiral  Kempenfeldt  in  the  gallant  action  off 
the  French  coast,  November  14,  1781.  In  the  promotion 
list  for  1801  Henry  Cromwell,  Esq.,  becomes  Rear  Admiral 
of  the  Blue,  and  in  1805  he  is  Rear  Admiral  of  the  Red. 
A  monument  to  his  memory,  and  to  one  of  his  daughters, 
may  be  seen  in  Chichester  Cathedral. 

Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  who  on  the  death,  in  1768,  of 
his  brother,  Sir  Charles  Henry  Frankland,  succeeded  as 
fifth   baronet,  was  already  known  as  a  naval   officer  of 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


distinction.  He  was  now  holding  the  rank  of  Admiral  of 
the  Red,  and  he  eventually  attained  to  the  White.  He 
was  only  twenty-two  when  he  obtained  the  command  of 
the  Rose  frigate,  appointed  to  carry  out  to  the  Bahamas 
Mr.  Tinker,  the  new  Governor  of  those  islands.  Remain- 
ing on  that  station  as  a  check  to  the  Spanish  marauders 
termed  "  guarda-costas,"  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  fall 
in  with  one  of  them  soon  after  it  had  made  three  prizes 
— this  was  in  June,  1742.  The  guarda-costa,  supported 
by  two  of  her  prizes,  fought  the  English  frigate  for  nearly 
three  hours,  till,  the  prizes  thinking  it  more  prudent  to 
stand  off,  the  two  principal  combatants  had  a  running 
fight  all  to  themselves.  In  the  course  of  another  hour  the 
Spanish  colours  were  hauled  down,  in  opposition  to  their 
captain's  orders ;  and  Frankland,  having  shifted  his 
prisoners  with  all  possible  speed,  went  in  pursuit  of  the 
three  flying  prizes.  In  the  end,  they  were  all  gathered 
and  carried  to  Carolina,  when  it  became  apparent  why 
the  Spanish  captain  had  maintained  so  obstinate  a  fight. 
He  turned  out  to  be  the  notorious  Fandino,  who  some 
years  previously  had  cut  off  the  ear  of  Captain  Jenkins. 
Frankland,  sharing  in  the  general  indignation  which  that 
action  had  aroused  throughout  England,  and  regarding  his 
prisoner  as  one  who  merited  nothing  short  of  a  pirate's 
doom,  refused  to  release  him  on  parole  or  to  exchange 
him,  and  accordingly  shipped  him  off  to  be  judged  in 
England. 

He  continued  some  years  longer  on  the  same  station, 
guarding  the  newly-formed  settlements  of  Georgia  and 
Carolina ;  and  in  1743  he  married  Sarah  Rhett,  daughter 
of  the  Chief  Justice  and  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  by 
whom  he  had  five  sons  and  eight  daughters.  Miss  Rhett 
was  a  highly  gifted  woman,  and  it  was  the  opinion  of  the 
late  Sir  Thomas  Frankland  Lewis  that  from  her  were 
derived  those  powers  of  understanding  which  distinguished 
the  next  generation  of  Franklands.     Immediately  after  his 


Frances,  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.    139 

marriage,  Captain  Frankland  sailed  into  Boston  harbour 
to  pay  a  visit  to  his  brother,  Sir  Charles  Henry  Frank- 
land. 

In  the  following  year,  while  cruising  off  the  north  side 
of  Cuba,  Captain  Frankland  found  himself  one  dark 
December  morning  under  the  shadow  of  a  large  Spanish 
ship — the  Conception — crowded  with  soldiers  for  Havana. 
He  kept  to  windward  till  daybreak,  and  at  seven  began  an 
engagement  which  lasted  five  hours,  with  a  fresh  gale  and 
a  heavy  sea.  Three  or  four  times  did  he  put  himself 
alongside  the  enemy  before  she  would  strike,  and  when 
the  combat  ceased  at  half-past  twelve,  it  was  found  that 
she  had  nearly  a  hundred  men  killed  outright.  The  Rose, 
on  the  other  hand,  which  went  into  action  with  only 
177  men  and  boys,  had  five  killed  besides  the  wounded. 
The  prize  was  carried  to  South  Carolina,  and  found  to 
contain  310,000  pieces  of  eight  and  5,000  oz.  of  gold  in 
passengers'  money. 

On  the  termination  of  the  war  in  1748,  our  sea-rover 
came  home  and  took  his  place  in  Parliament  for  the 
family  borough  of  Thirsk,  and  died  at  Bath  in  1784,  in  his 
sixty- seventh  year. 

Admiral  Frankland  always  nursed  with  pardonable 
pride  the  fact  of  his  descent  from  the  Protector  Oliver ; 
and  he  seems  to  have  entertained  the  further  belief  that  he 
resembled  him  in  person.  The  Admiral's  surviving 
children  were  as  follows  : 

I.  Thomas,  the  sixth  baronet,  of  whom  presently. 

II.  William,  who  died,  unmarried,  in  1816.  He  was  a 
barrister  at  law,  attending  the  northern  circuit,  became 
Attorney-General  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
of  the  North  York  Militia,  M.P.  for  Thirsk,  and  a  lord  of 
the  Admiralty  under  Lord  Grenville's  administration  in 
1806.  He  is  often  named  in  the  memoirs  of  Romilly  and 
Macintosh  ;  and  it  was  thought  by  the  late  Sir  Thomas 
Frankland   Lewis  that  of  all    Oliver's  descendants  with 


140  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

whom  he  had  come  in  contact,  William  Frankland  was 
the  ablest  and  best  informed,  always  excepting  the  late 
Earl  of  Clarendon.  But  for  some  original  traits  of  fancy, 
which  certain  of  his  friends  deemed  eccentric,  it  was 
generally  felt  that  he  might  have  been  one  of  the  leading 
thinkers  of  his  day.  During  the  short  peace  he  accom- 
panied his  friend,  Sir  James  Macintosh,  to  Paris,  when  an 
introduction  to  the  First  Consul  was  arranged,  Bonaparte 
being  desirous  of  offering  his  personal  compliments  to  Sir 
James  as  the  author  of  the  "  Vindicise  Gallicae."  But 
some  mistake  in  names  occurring,  Bonaparte  advanced 
towards  the  wrong  man,  and  began  pouring  into  Mr. 
Frankland's  ear  those  praises  for  philanthropy  and 
philosophical  acumen  which  were  intended  for  his  friend. 
What  completed  Mr.  Frankland's  embarrassment  was  that 
his  defective  French  rendered  him  unable  to  correct  the 
error.  When  it  came  to  Macintosh's  turn  to  hold  colloquy 
with  the  great  man,  the  conversation  dropped  down  to  the 
conventional  topics  current  at  courts,  unless  we  except 
the  question,  which  Napoleon  is  said  to  have  asked 
Macintosh  and  Erskine,  whether  either  of  them  had  ever 
been  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 

III.  Roger,  Canon-residentiary  of  Wells,  Rector  of 
Yarlington,  and  Vicar  of  Dulvington,  both  in  Somerset ; 
died  in  1826.  Like  his  brother  William,  he  was  a  man  of 
considerable  ability.  By  his  wife  Katharine,  daughter  of 
John,  seventh  Lord  Colville  of  Culross,  and  sister  to  Vice- 
Admiral  Lord  Colville,  he  had  twelve  children. 

1.  Frederick  William,  the  eighth  baronet,  of  whom 
hereafter. 

2.  Rear-Admiral  Edward  Augustus,  born  1794  ; 
entered  the  sea  service  as  midshipman  on  board 
the  Repulse.  For  some  time  he  was  secretary  to 
his  cousin,  Commander  Bowles,  on  the  South 
American  station.  Died  unmarried  at  Florence,  in 
1862. 


Frances,  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.    141 

3.  Emma,  married  W.  Chaplin,  Esq.,  of  the 
Madras  civil  service  ;  died  at  Ramsgate,  1825. 

4.  Admiral  Charles  Colville,  began  as  midshipman 
in  the  Aquilon,  commanded  by  his  cousin,  Captain 
William  Bowles,  who  made  him  lieutenant  into  the 
Andromache.  After  attaining  the  rank  of  Commander, 
he  became  an  extensive  traveller  in  Europe  and 
Asia  Minor,  the  narratives  of  which,  illustrated  by 
sketches,  were  published  in  1827  and  1832.  He  died, 
unmarried,  at  Bath,  in  1876,  aged  seventy-nine. 

5.  Matilda,  died  at  Bath  in  1819,  having  in  the 
previous  year  married  Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  Robison, 
24th  Foot. 

6.  George,  Lieutenant  65th  Foot ;  died  in  Van 
Dieman's  Land,  1838.  In  1822  he  had  married  Anne, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Mason,  Esq.,  and  had  issue  : 
(1)  Sophia  Katharine,  twice  married ;  (2)  Georgina 
Ann,  married  J.  T.  Francis,  Esq.  ;  (3)  Augustus 
Charles,  killed  in  1857  at  the  battle  of  Kooshab. 
His  wife  was  Clara,  daughter  of  H.  Williams,  Esq. 

7.  Katharine  Henrietta,  married  to  Mr.  Carey,  still 
living  in  1878. 

8.  Octavia,  married  to  Mr.  Montgomery ;  died 
1868,  aged  sixty-two. 

9.  Louisa,  died  in  childhood,  1814. 

10.  Arthur,  bore  the  title  of  Colonial  Aide-de-camp 
at  the  Mauritius.  He  was  a  Captain  in  the  army,  and 
died  unmarried,  1843. 

11.  Sophia,  died  unmarried  at  Nice  in  1837. 

12.  Albert  Henry,  died  in  infancy. 

IV.  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Admiral  Sir  Thomas 
Frankland  ;  married,  in  1778,  Sir  Boyle  Roche,  Bart.,  of 
Fermoy,  in  Ireland,  grandson  of  Dominick  Roche,  a 
partizan  of  James  II. 

V.  Sarah,  second  daughter  of  Admiral  Frankland; 
died  young. 


142  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

VI.  Harriet,  third  daughter  ;  died  unmarried. 

VII.  Anne,  fourth  daughter;  became,  in  1778,  second 
wife  to  John  Lewis,  of  Harpton  Court,  Radnor  ;  and, 
surviving  him,  married  secondly,  18 11,  Rev.  Robert  Hare, 
of  Hurstmonceaux,  in  Sussex,  and  died  1842. 

Family  of  Lewis. 

By  her  first  marriage,  the  children  of  Anne  Frankland 
were  one  son — Thomas  Frankland — and  two  daughters — 
Anne  and  Louisa,  who  both  died  unmarried.  Mr.  Lewis 
died  in  1797,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  Thomas  Frankland  Lewis  ; 
born  1780,  educated  at  Eton  and  Christ  Church,  Oxon.  ; 
Privy  Councillor  and  M.P.  He  had  filled  a  variety  of 
offices  before  he  consented,  under  Lord  Grey's  administra- 
tion, to  be  placed  on  the  Poor  Law  Commission,  the 
chairmanship  of  which  he  fulfilled  with  great  efficiency 
from  1834  to  1&39-  The  Rev.  Sidney  Smith,  writing  to 
Sir  William  Horton  in  1835,  says  :  "  Frankland  Lewis  is 
filling  his  station  of  King  of  the  Paupers  extremely  well. 
They  have  already  worked  wonders  ;  but  of  all  occupations 
it  must  be  the  most  disagreeable."  And  again  to  the 
same  person  :  "  Our  friend  Frankland  Lewis  is  gaining 
great  and  deserved  reputation  by  his  administration  of  the 
Poor  Laws,  one  of  the  best  and  boldest  measures  which 
ever  emanated  from  any  Government."  Sir  Thomas  died 
in  January,  1855,  after  only  two  days'  illness,  having  taken 
a  chill  whilst  shooting  in  very  severe  weather.  The 
patent  of  his  baronetcy  is  dated  June  27,  1846.  He 
married  first,  in  1805,  Harriet,  fourth  daughter  of  Sir 
George  Cornewall,  of  Moccas  Court,  Hereford,  by  whom 
he  had  two  sons — George  Cornewall  and  Gilbert  Frank- 
land  ;  he  married  secondly,  in  1839,  the  daughter  of  the  late 
John  Ashton,  Esq.,  a  captain  in  the  Horse  Guards  Blue. 

Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis,  second  baronet ;  born 
1806;  educated    at    Eton   and   at   Christchurch,    Oxon., 


Frances,  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.    143 

where  he  gained  a  first-class  in  classics  and  a  second  in 
mathematics.  From  the  obscurity  of  his  Middle  Temple 
chambers  he  emerged  in  1835  into  the  professional  distinc- 
tion of  a  Government  Commissioner,  though  he  did  not 
enter  Parliament  till  the  General  Election  of  1847,  and 
Lord  John  Russell  being  then  in  power,  Mr.  Cornewall 
Lewis  found  himself  forthwith  installed  in  the  office  of 
Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Control.  That  Whig  Govern- 
ment fell  in  185 1,  and  Mr.  Lewis  lost  his  seat,  till  the 
death  of  his  father  gave  him  the  family  honour  of  repre- 
senting the  Radnor  boroughs.  His  return  to  Parliament 
was  signalized  by  his  appointment  to  the  Chancellorship 
of  the  Exchequer,  and  that,  too,  at  a  very  critical  period 
(during  the  Crimean  war  with  Russia),  when  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's retirement  from  the  Palmerston  Ministry  created 
a  void  which  no  one  seemed  capable  of  filling. 

His  death  took  place  in  1863  at  his  country-seat  of 
Harpton  Court,  whither  he  had  retired  during  the 
Parliamentary  vacation  to  obtain  a  brief  rest  from  official 
duties. 

Sir  George  was  succeeded  by  his  only  brother, 

Sir  Gilbert  Frankland  Lewis,  the  third  baronet? 
M.A.,  prebendary  of  Worcester,  rural  dean,  rector  of 
Mornington  on  the  Wye,  Hereford  ;  born  1808  ;  married 
1843,  Jane,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Edmund  Antrobus, 
bart.,  and  had  issue :  (1)  Edward  Frankland,  died  1848  ; 
(2)  Herbert  Edmund  Frankland,  born  1846  ;  (3)  Lindsay 
Frankland,  died  young ;  (4)  Mary  Anna ;  (5)  Eleanor. 

VIII.  Dinah,  fifth  daughter  of  Admiral  Frankland; 
born  1757 ;  became  in  1779  the  wife  of  William  Bowles, 
of  Heale  House,  near  Stonehenge,  in  Wiltshire,  by  whom 
she  had  ten  children. 

Family  of  Bowles. 

Mr.  Bowles  being  a  member  of  Earl  Shelburne's  Wilts 
Reform  Association,  his  name  is  constantly  found  in  con- 


144  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

junction  with  those  of  Lord  Radnor,  Lord  Abingdon, 
Charles  James  Fox,  Awdry  Wyndham,  and  others  of 
that  country  party  who,  in  the  county  meetings  held  in 
Devizes  from  time  to  time,  denounced  the  extravagance 
of  the  public  expenditure,  the  American  war,  and  the 
ever  -  augmenting  pension  -  list.  Yet,  in  spite  of  his 
Whiggism,  Mr.  Bowles  included  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson 
among  his  personal  friends,  and  a  visit  which  was  paid  to 
Heale  House  by  the  Doctor  in  1783  constitutes  an  episode 
in  his  family  history,  linking  it  with  still  older  historical 
associations. 

Mr.  Bowles  died  in  1839.  His  children  were  : 
I.  Sir  William  Bowles,  K.C.B.,  and  admiral  of  the 
fleet ;  was  born  at  Heale  House  in  1780.  He  entered  the 
navy  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  was  present  in  the  expedi- 
tion to  Copenhagen,  and  afterwards  in  that  against  the 
Spanish  ports.  In  1812,  while  commanding  the  Aquilon, 
Captain  Bowles,  assisted  by  Captain  David  Latimer  St. 
Clair,  of  the  Sheldrake,  had  to  execute  the  disastrous  office 
of  destroying  seven  large  English  merchant-ships,  laden 
with  hemp,  which  had  run  ashore  in  a  fog  near  Stralsund. 
As  1,500  French  soldiers  were  posted  on  a  neighbouring  cliff, 
from  which  they  could  sweep  the  decks  of  the  merchant- 
men, it  was  manifestly  impracticable  to  bring  them  off. 
Their  destruction  therefore  was  accomplished  by  approach- 
ing each  ship  in  succession  on  the  offside,  scuttling  her  on 
that  side,  and  then  setting  her  on  fire.  In  1820  Captain 
Bowles  controlled  the  South  American  station,  and  twice 
received  complimentary  addresses  from  the  British  mer- 
chants of  Buenos  Ayres,  the  latter  memorial  being  accom- 
panied with  a  present  of  plate.  In  1822  he  was  appointed 
Controller -General  of  the  coastguard  of  England  and 
Ireland,  which  office  he  held  till  advanced  to  the  rank  of 
Rear  Admiral  in  1841.  He  became  Admiral  of  the  Fleet 
in  1869.  In  1820  he  had  married  the  Hon.  Frances 
Temple,  sister  of  the  late  Lord  Palmerston.     His  death 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.   145 

occurred  on  July  2,  1869,  at  his  residence,  21,  Hill  Street, 
Berkeley  Square,  in  the  ninetieth  year  of  his  age,  just 
when  he  had  reached  his  highest  grade. 

II.  Sir  George  ;  born  1787 ;  a  General  in  the  army, 
and  G.C.B.  ;  served  in  Germany,  the  Peninsula,  Flanders, 
and  France  ;  Military  Secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
in  Canada  and  Jamaica ;  Commander  of  Lower  Canada 
during  the  rebellion  of  1838  ;  Master  of  the  Queen's  house- 
hold in  1845  ;  M.P.  for  Launceston,  1844 ;  Lieutenant  of 
the  Tower  of  London,  185 1 ;  Colonel  of  the  First  West 
India  Regiment,  1855  ;  died  unmarried,  1876. 

III.  Thomas  Henry,  barrister-at-law  ;  died  unmarried 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1868. 

IV.  Anne  ;  married  in  1805  to  Dr.  Fowler,  of  Salisbury, 
and  died  1878,  aged  ninety-six,  when  this  branch  of  the 
Bowles  family  became  extinct,  and  the  great  wealth  that 
she  inherited  from  her  brothers  went  to  the  Salisbury 
Infirmary. 

V.,  VI.,  VII.,  VIII.,  IX.,  X.  Lucy,  Charlotte,  Harriet, 
Katharine,  Amelia,  and  Augusta,  died  young  or  un- 
married. 

Family  of  Whinyates. 

Katharine,  sixth  daughter  of  Admiral  Sir  Thomas 
Frankland;  married  in  1777  Major  Thomas  Whinyates, 
of  Abbotsleigh,  Devon,  of  the  second  Dragoon  Guards, 
and  afterwards  of  the  East  India  service,  and  had  six  sons 
and  nine  daughters. 

I.  Thomas,  a  most  intrepid  sea-captain  ;  born  in  1778  ; 
entered  the  navy  at  the  age  of  fifteen  ;  was  present  at  the 
storming  of  Fort  Royal,  Martinique,  March,  1794 ;  in 
Bridport's  action  off  Port  L'Orient  with  the  Brest  fleet, 
June  23,  1795 ;  in  Warren's  action  in  Donegal  Bay, 
October  12,  1798,  with  the  French  squadron  for  the 
invasion  of  Ireland,  on  which  occasion  he  fought  in  the 
Robust,  74,  which  captured   the  La  Hoche,  of  80   guns. 

10 


146  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

He  commanded  the  Frolic  at  the  capture  of  Guadaloupe, 
Martinique,  and  St.  Martin's,  1809-1810.  He  became 
Rear  Admiral  in  1846.  The  five  clasps  of  Admiral 
Whinyate's  war-medal  record  his  valour  at  (1)  Guada- 
loupe ;  (2)  Martinique ;  (3)  in  Warren's  action ;  (4)  in 
Bridport's  ;  (5)  for  boat  service  at  the  storming  of  Fort 
Royal,  Martinique.  He  died  unmarried  in  1857,  aged 
seventy-nine. 

II.  Russell  Manners  Mertolu,  so  named  in  memory 
of  his  birth,  in  1780,  at  Mertolu,  a  Portuguese  town  in  the 
Alentejo,  at  a  time  when  his  parents  were  prisoners  of 
war.     He  died  at  Brighton  in  1788. 

III.  Sir  Edward  Charles  Whinyates,  K.C.B.  and 
K.H.  This  distinguished  soldier,  born  in  1782,  was 
educated  at  Dr.  Newcome's  school,  Hackney,  and  at  the 
Royal  Military  Academy,  Woolwich.  He  entered  the 
army  in  1798  as  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Artillery,  and 
was  with  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  at  the  landing  of  the 
Helder,  and  under  the  Duke  of  York  in  the  campaign  of 
North  Holland.  In  1807  he  was  at  the  siege  and  capture 
of  Copenhagen  under  Lord  Cathcart.  From  1810  to  1813 
he  fought  in  the  Peninsula,  sharing  in  many  an  arduous 
action,  and  being  generally  found  in  the  advance  or  rear 
guards,  for  which  services  he  received  the  Peninsula 
medal,  with  two  clasps  for  Busaco  and  Albuera.  At 
Waterloo,  where  he  was  severely  wounded  in  the  left  arm, 
he  commanded  the  second  Rocket  Troop,  R.H.A.,  and 
during  the  three  following  years  remained  with  the 
army  of  occupation  in  France.  A  brevet  majority  and 
a  medal  were  the  rewards  of  his  conduct  at  Waterloo. 
General  Whinyates  married  in  1827  Elizabeth,  only 
daughter  of  Samuel  Crompton,  of  Woodend,  Yorks,  Esq., 
which  lady  died  in  childbirth  in  the  following  year.  His 
own  decease  took  place  in  1865  at  his  residence,  Dorset 
Villa,  Cheltenham. 

IV.  George  Burrington  Whinyates,  Captain  in  the 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.   147 

royal  navy ;  born  in  1783,  and  educated  at  Dr.  Newcome's 
school ;  commenced  service  at  the  age  of  fourteen ;  and 
in  1806  was  at  the  fight  of  San  Domingo,  when  Admiral 
Duckworth  took  or  destroyed  four  sail  of  the  line.  In  the 
Hon.  Robert  Stopford's  ship,  the  Spencer,  74,  Mr.  Whin- 
yates  was  serving  as  Lieutenant,  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
he  had  already  been  promoted  to  a  Captaincy.  The 
Spencer  captured  the  Alexandre,  80.  The  last  ship  he 
commanded  was  the  Bergere  sloop  of  war  of  18  guns. 
He  died  of  consumption,  unmarried,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five. 

V.  Major-General  Frederick  William  Whinyates 
of  the  Royal  Engineers  ;  married  at  Harpton  Court  in 
1830  Sarah  Marianne  Whalley,  and  had  eight  children. 

1.  Harriet,  died  in  infancy,  1830. 

2.  Emily  Marianne,  died  at  the  age  of  four. 

3.  Frederick  Thomas,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Royal 
Horse  Artillery ;  married,  1872,  Constance,  fifth 
daughter  of  Matthew  Bell,  of  Bourne  Park,  Canter- 
bury, Esq. 

4.  Edward  Henry,  of  Trinity  College,  Oxon,  curate 
at  East  Hampstead,  Berks. 

5.  Francis  Arthur,  Major,  commanding  the  C. 
Battery,  A.  Brigade,  Royal  Horse  Artillery. 

6.  Albert  William  Orme,  Captain  Royal  Artillery ; 
married,  1868,  Margaret  Williams,  only  daughter  of 
Major-General  William  Dunn,  R.A. ;  died  1878,  aged 
thirty-seven. 

7.  Amy  Octavia. 

8.  Charles  Elidon,  Captain  in  52nd  Light  Infantry. 
Died  at  Mentone  in  1872,  aged  twenty-six. 

VI.  General  Francis  Frankland  Whinyates,  of  the 
Madras  Artillery ;  married,  1826,  Elizabeth  Campbell,  of 
Ormisdale,  co.  Argyle.  Died  at  Bath,  1887,  aged  ninety 
years. 


148  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

VII.  Sarah  Anne  Catherina,  died  in  i860,  having 
married,  first,  in  1803,  Lieutenant  James  Robertson,  of 
the  Bengal  Engineers;  and  secondly,  in  181 1,  Captain 
Robert  Younghusband,  of  her  Majesty's  53rd  Regiment. 
Her  children  by  the  first  marriage  were  :  James  Alexander, 
who  died  in  1828 ;  and  Sarah  Mary  Emily,  married,  1833, 
to  Major  Chalmer  of  the  7th  Dragoon  Guards,  and  had 
nine  children.  Mrs.  Chalmer  died  in  1850 ;  her  husband 
in  1868.     The  issue  was  : 

1.  Anna. 

2.  Emily  Eliza ;  married,  1870,  to  Captain  P.  Cox, 
and  has  a  son. 

3.  Catharine  Frances,  died  1896. 

4.  Charlotte  Amy  Rachel ;  married,  1875,  to  Mr. 
Percy  P.  Lysaght. 

5.  Georgina  Isabella,  infant. 

6.  Gilbert  Stirling,  Captain  in  the  Blues ;  married, 
1873,  to  the  Hon.  Norah  Westenra ;  has  a  son,  Henry 
Francis. 

7.  Reginald,  Captain  60th  Rifles. 

8.  George,  Captain  92nd  Highlanders, 
g.  Francis,  Lieutenant  R.N.,  retired. 

VIII.  Amy,  died  unmarried,  1875,  aged  ninety. 

IX.  Rachel,  died  unmarried,  1858. 

X.  Ellen  Margaret,  died  in  infancy,  1788. 

XI.  Isabella  Jane,  died  unmarried,  1868. 

XII.  Mercy,  died  in  infancy  in  1790. 

XIII.  Caroline  Charlotte,  died  in  infancy  in  1796. 

XIV.  Octavia,  married  William  Christmas,  of  Whit- 
field, co.  Waterford,  who  died  1867. 

XV.  Letitia,  died  unmarried  in  1862. 

This  brings  down  to  present  times  the  history  of  the 
fighting  race  of  the  Whinyates,  who,  since  their  union  with 
Admiral  Frankland's  daughter  Katharine,  have  furnished 
fourteen  conspicuous  names  to  the  two  Services. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.   149 

Family  of  Nicholas. 

Charlotte,  seventh  daughter  of  Admiral  Sir  Thomas 
Frankland ;  married,  in  1778,  Robert,  elder  son  of  Dr. 
Edward  Richmond  Nicholas,  of  Roundway  Park,  Devizes, 
described  in  an  obituary  notice  in  the  Salisbury  Journal 
of  1770  as  "  an  eminent  physician  of  Devizes,"  where 
the  family  had  long  flourished.  Nicholas  memorials 
are  found  in  the  parishes  of  St.  John  and  St.  Mary, 
Devizes,  Southbroom  St.  James,  Devizes,  Bishops 
Cannings,  All  Cannings,  Winterbourn  Earls,  and  Man- 
ningford  Bruce.  His  wife  Charlotte  having  died  in  1800, 
he  married  secondly,  in  1805,  Anne  (died  1873),  daughter 
of  John  Shepherd  Clark,  Esq.,  and  by  her  had,  with  many 
other  children,  Major  Griffin  Nicholas*  of  the  62nd,  or 
Wiltshire  regiment,  the  present  head  of  the  family  and 
claimant  of  the  barony  of  De  la  Roche  aforesaid ;  born  in 
1813,  and  now,  1879,  resident  at  Hounslow.  He  died  in 
1826  at  Clifton,  whence  his  body  was  brought  to  Ashton- 
Keynes.  The  children  by  his  two  marriages  were  eighteen 
in  number,  all  the  sons  dying  childless ;  those  descending 
from  Miss  Frankland  being  as  follows  : 

I.  Edward,  Charge  d'affaires  at  Hamburgh,  latterly 
Governor  of  Heligoland,  and  a  Dutch  merchant ;  born 
1779  ;  died  1828. 

II.  Robert,  a  daring  naval  officer,  who  lost  his  life  at 
sea,  August  3,  1810,  just  as  he  was  made  post-captain  into 
the  Garland.  The  catastrophe  occurred  on  board  the  Lark, 
which  foundered  off  San  Domingo  in  one  of  the  white 
squalls  peculiar  to  that  station.f 

*  Author  of  "  Genealogical  Memoranda  Relating  to  the  Family  of  Nicholas." 

t  On  a  silver  soup  tureen,  surmounted  by  the  family  crest,  an  owl  with 
wings  extended,  on  a  cap  of  maintenance,  was  engraved  the  following  testi- 
monial : 

"To  Captain  Robert  Nicholas,  of  H.M.S.  Lark,  late  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  the  island  of  Curacoa. 

"  This  piece  of  plate  is  presented  by  the  merchants  concerned  in  trade  with 
that  island,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  his  person,  and  a  token  of  gratitude  for 


150  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

III.  William,  born  at  Ashton- Keynes  in  Wiltshire, 
December  12,  1785,  received  his  grammatical  education  at 
Mr.  Newcome's  school  at  Hackney,  was  a  Woolwich  cadet 
in  1799,  a  Lieutenant  of  Engineers  in  1801,  and  first  saw 
active  duty  at  the  defences  of  the  western  heights  of 
Dover.  In  the  spring  of  1806  he  joined  the  expedition 
to  Sicily,  dating  from  which  time  till  his  early  death,  he 
took  part  in  eleven  engagements,  viz.,  at  St.  Euphemia, 
Maida,  Rosetta  first  and  second,  Bagnora,  Alexandria, 
Scylla  first  and  second,  Alcanitz,  Barossa,  and  Badajos. 
It  was  at  the  ill-contrived  assault  on  Rosetta  that  he  had 
his  first  experience  of  the  style  of  warfare  practised  by 
the  Turk,  whose  cavalry  during  the  retreat  of  the  English 
descended  on  the  helplessly  wounded,  and  deliberately  cut 
off  their  heads.  During  the  street  fighting  at  Rosetta, 
when  General  Meade  was  wounded  in  the  eye,  Captains 
Nicholas  and  James  bore  him  in  their  arms  out  of  that 
scene  of  carnage,  and  placed  him  on  the  camel  which 
carried  him  to  Alexandria.  Though  unwounded  in  fight, 
Mr.  Nicholas  about  this  time  sustained  great  injury  from 
a  bathing  accident  at  Alexandria,  by  plunging  into  water 
which  was  so  shallow  that  his  breast  struck  against  a 
sunken  rock.  Sir  Thomas  Graham  habitually  spoke  of 
his  conduct  at  Barossa  as  beyond  all  praise.  But  let  the 
young  soldier  here  tell  his  own  story,  as  recorded  in  his 
letters  home :  "  It  was  the  most  glorious  day  England 
ever  saw.  I  wish  the  eyes  of  the  world  had  been  upon 
us.  I  have  not  had  time  to  indulge  in  melancholy  re- 
flections since  I  received  your  letter ;  but  as  I  galloped 
through  the  fire,  I  thought  of  the  pleasure  of  meeting  my 
mother  and  brothers,  and  never  saw  death  with  more  in- 
difference.     The  men  fell  too  fast  to  be  counted.      In 


those  important  benefits  which  resulted  to  them  from  his  zeal  and  activity  in 
the  protection  of  their  trade,  and  the  wise  policy  of  those  measures  to  which 
the  beneficial  intercourse  with  the  neighbouring  Spanish  colonies  is  to  be 
attributed.     London,  February  14,  1809." 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  151 

short,  never  was  there  greater  slaughter  or  a  more  dis- 
tinguished battle  and  victory.  It  exceeds  Maida  and 
Alcanitz.  I  assure  you  they  were  nothing  in  comparison. 
Captain  Birch  and  myself  were  publickly  thanked  on  the 
field  of  battle  for  the  assistance  we  rendered  General 
Graham,  in  these  words  :  '  There  are  no  two  officers  in 
the  army  to  whom  I  am  more  indebted  than  to  you  two ' 
— stretching  out  his  hands  to  us — '  you  have  shewn  your- 
selves as  fine  fellows  in  the  field  as  at  your  redoubts.'  I 
hope  he  will  not  forget  me  in  his  public  letter.  In  every 
action  I  have  been  in  before  I  have  not  been  perfectly 
satisfied  with  myself,  always  thinking  that  I  might  have 
done  more.  At  Barossa  I  inwardly  feel  and  am  satisfied 
that  I  did  honour  to  our  name.  .  .  .  But  alas,  as  in  all 
our  victories,  honour  will  be  the  only  reward  that  falls  to 
us.  We  have  retired  again  into  La  Isla,  disgusted  with 
our  allies,  and  have  left  them  to  pursue  their  objects  as 
they  can.  Our  men  and  the  soldiers'  wives  abuse  the 
Spanish  officers  and  men  as  they  pass  them  in  the  streets, 
so  that  it  is  probable  some  disturbance  will  happen.  The 
Portuguese  infantry,  who  fought  admirably,  publicly  abuse 
them  in  the  streets." 

At  the  siege  of  Badajos,  he  volunteered  to  direct  the 
action  of  the  storming  column  which  ascended  the  great 
breach ;  and  it  was  in  accordance  with  his  habits  of 
thoroughness  that  in  the  dead  of  the  night  preceding  the 
night  of  the  attack,  he  determined  on  making  a  personal 
reconnoitre  of  the  position.  For  this  purpose  he  stripped, 
and,  disregarding  the  perils  of  sentinels  or  of  cold  water, 
forded  the  inundation  of  the  Ravellas  in  order  to  deter 
mine  the  safest  passage  across,  an  action  of  which  due 
note  was  taken  by  Sir  Thomas  Graham. 

The  next  night  witnessed  the  assault.  After  twice 
assaying  to  reach  the  summit  of  the  breach,  Nicholas  fell, 
wounded  by  a  musket-ball  grazing  his  knee,  a  bayonet- 
thrust  in  the  right  leg,  his  left  arm  broken,  and  his  wrist 


152  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

bleeding  from  a  third  shot.  Thus  shattered,  he  rolled 
among  the  debris  ;  but  on  hearing  the  soldiers  demand 
who  should  lead  them  on  to  the  third  attack,  he  rallied  his 
energies  sufficiently  to  order  two  of  his  men  to  hold  him 
up  in  their  arms,  and  carry  his  wounded  body  to  the  front. 
Again  were  they  at  the  top  of  the  breach,  when  one  of  his 
bearers  fell  dead,  and  himself  received  a  fourth  shot,  which 
broke  two  ribs  and  passed  out  near  the  spine.  This  shock 
precipitated  him  the  whole  length  of  the  slope  down  to  the 
bottom  of  the  breach.  By  his  side  were  falling  his  friends, 
Colonel  McLeod,  Captain  James,  and  Major-General 
Colville.  The  last-mentioned  officer  swooned  from  the 
agony  of  a  wound  in  the  thigh,  but  he  afterwards  re- 
covered ;  and  when  writing  home  to  his  brother-in-law, 
Canon  Frankland  (an  uncle  to  William  Nicholas),  he  says  : 
"  The  last  sound  which  I  heard  was  the  voice  of  that 
valuable  young  man  and  excellent  officer,  Captain 
Nicholas,  emphatically  exhorting  his  men  in  the  ditch." 

After  his  wounds  had  been  dressed,  he  wrote  home  in 
the  following  terms : 

"  My  dear  Father, 

"  The  breaches  were  stormed  last  night,  and 
Badajos  taken.  I  had  the  honour  of  showing  and  leading 
the  troops  of  the  advance  to  the  great  breach.  I  am 
wounded  in  the  following  manner : — one  musket  ball 
through  the  left  arm,  breaking  it  about  the  middle  below 
the  elbow, — another  through  my  left  side,  breaking  I 
believe  one  or  two  ribs, — two  very  slight  wounds,  one  on 
the  knee-pan,  and  one  in  the  calf  of  my  left  leg, — ditto, 
wrist  of  the  left  arm.     Adieu,  my  dear  father, 

"  Your  most  affectionate  son, 

"William  Nicholas." 

"  Camp  before  Badajoz, 
"April  7,  1812." 

He  calmly  expired  in  the  afternoon  of  April  14,  1812, 
being  the  eighth  day  after  his  wounds. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.   1 53 

Sir  Richard  Fletcher,  the  commanding  engineer,  erected, 
before  quitting  the  captured  city,  an  altar-tomb  over  the 
grave  of  his  comrade,  and  announced  the  fact  to  the  elder 
Mr.  Nicholas,  who  had  now,  in  the  brief  space  of  two 
years,  lost  three  sons  in  the  service. 

IV.  Thomas,  born  1790,  a  naval  Lieutenant  of  H.M.S. 
Satellite.  He  was  supposed  to  have  been  blown  up  with 
his  boat's  crew,  while  setting  fire  to  the  French  frigate 
Elise  off  Tatatho,  on  the  coast  of  France,  December  19, 
1810.  At  any  rate,  neither  the  boat  nor  her  freight  were 
ever  again  seen. 

V.  Charles,  born  1794  ;  died  1822.  At  first  a  Wool- 
wich cadet ;  but  on  the  death  of  his  brother  William 
it  was  decided  to  send  him  to  Oxford.  He  eventually 
became  a  barrister  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  but  shortly  after  died 
of  consumption  at  Madeira,  his  remains  being  brought  to 
England  for  interment  in  the  family  vault  at  Ashton- 
Keynes. 

VI.  Charlotte,  born  1784;  died  unmarried. 

VII.  Sophia,  born  1787  ;  died  unmarried  in  1866. 

VIII.  Frances;  died  unmarried  in  i860,  aged  seventy- 
two,  and  was  buried  in  Kensal  Green  cemetery. 

IX.  Harriet;  married,  in  1816,  Captain  (afterwards 
Admiral)  Henry  Theodosius  Browne  Collier,  brother  to 
Admiral  Sir  Francis  Collier;  and  died  in  1850,  the  mother 
of  seven  children. 

1.  George  Baring  Browne,  Captain  R.N. ;  married 
Justina  Maria  Stepney,  youngest  daughter  of  Joseph 
Gulston,  of  Derwydd,  Carmarthen. 

2.  Clarence  Augustus,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bombay 
Staff  Corps  ;  retired  on  full  pay  with  rank  of  Colonel. 
He  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Peter  Rolt,  Esq., 
M.P. 

3.  Herbert  Cromwell,  Captain  21st  Hussars ; 
married  Blanche  Frances,  only  child  of  Major-General 
Bonner. 


154  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


4.  Gertrude  Barbara  Rich  ;  married  Charles  Ten- 
nant,  of  Cadoxton  Lodge,  Glamorgan,  Esq. 

5.  Harriette  Augusta  Royer ;  married  Sir  Alexan- 
der Campbell,  Bart.,  of  Barcaldine. 

6.  Adeline  Letitia ;  married  Robert  Gordon, 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Madras  Army. 

7.  Clementina  Frances  ;  married  Frederick  Erskine 
Johnston,  Captain  R.N.,  son  of  the  late  Right  Hon. 
Sir  Alexander  Johnston,  of  Carnsalloch,  co.  Dumfries. 

X.  Ellenor,  born  1796  ;  married  Mr.  Sutton,  and  died, 

s.p.,  in  1862. 
XL  Maria,  died  unmarried  in  1821. 

Family  of  Gosset. 

Grace,  eighth  daughter  of  Admiral  Sir  Thomas 
Frankland,  fifth  Baronet  ;  married,  in  1793,  Matthew 
Gosset,  Esq.,  Vicomte  of  Jersey,  and  died  in  1801.  The 
Gosset  family,  of  noble  Norman  descent,  adopted  the 
Protestant  faith,  and  in  consequence  forfeited  rank,  it  is 
thought,  about  1555  ;  and  later  on  the  estates  near  St.  Lo 
and  St.  Sauveur,  fleeing  to  Jersey  at  the  Revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes.  Matthew  Gosset's  children  by  Grace 
Frankland  were  as  follows  : 

I.  William  Matthew,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Royal  En- 
gineers; served  during  the  last  war  with  America  (1812- 
1814),  and  was  engaged  in  the  capture  of  Oswego  ;  married 
Louisa  Walter,  in  1830,  and  died  in  1856.     No  children. 

II.  Admiral  Henry  Gosset,  served,  like  his  brother, 
in  the  last  war  with  the  States,  and  assisted  at  the  capture 
of  Genoa;  escorted  Napoleon  I.  to  St.  Helena.  Born  in 
1798;  died  unmarried  1877. 

III.  Captain  Charles  Gosset,  R.N. ;  served  in  the 
Mediterranean  and  Adriatic  during  the  war  with  France  ; 
died  unmarried,  1868. 

IV.  Grace  Elizabeth  ;  married  in  1819  to  John  Cal- 
laghan,  of  Cork,  Esq.,  and  had  three  children — two  sons, 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.   155 

who  died,  and  a  daughter,  who  married,  in  1876,  C.  R. 
Palmer,  of  Carrig,  Queen's  Co.,  Esq. 

V.  Arthur,  of  Eltham  House,  Kent,  and  some  time  of 
West  Park,  Mortlake ;  Major  (retired)  Royal  Horse 
Artillery ;  a  Magistrate  and  Deputy-Lieutenant  for  Kent. 
In  1834  ne  married  Augusta,  daughter  of  Thomas  Morgan, 
Esq.,  had  twelve  children,  and  died  1886. 

1.  Augusta  Louisa. 

2.  Emma. 

3.  Arthur  Wellesley,  late  Captain  2nd  Queen's 
Royals  ;  served  throughout  the  China  War  of  i860, 
and  in  the  advance  on  Pekin  ;  medal  and  two  clasps  ; 
married,  1881,  Harriet  Lavinia,  daughter  of  Rev.  R. 
Holden  Webb,  and  has  one  daughter. 

4.  Matthew  William  Edward,  C.B.,  Brigadier- 
General,  Madras ;  served  with  54th  Regiment  during 
the  Indian  Mutiny,  against  the  Chittagong  mutineers 
in  1857,  and  in  Lord  Clyde's  campaign,  in  Oude, 
1858-1869.  Medal.  Adjutant  54th  Regiment,  1863- 
1867 ;  Instructor  Royal  Military  College,  1873-1877 ; 
Brigade-Major,  Aldershot,  1877-1878  ;  Aide-de-camp 
to  General  Officer  Commanding  the  Forces,  Cape  of 
Good  Hope ;  and  Assistant-Quartermaster-General, 
2nd  Division,  during  operations  against  the  Gaikas  in 
the  Buffalo  Mountains,  and  the  Perie  and  In'taba 
Ka'ndoda  Bush,  1878-1879.  Employed  in  Quarter- 
master-General's Department,  and  as  Commandant  at 
Durban,  in  first  and  second  advance  into  Zululand. 
Battle  of  Ulundi;  mentioned  in  despatches.  Medalwith 
clasp.  Brevet  of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  1879  ;  in  Trans- 
vaal Campaign,  1880-1881  ;  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the 
Dorset  Regiment,  1884-1890;  in  operations  of  the 
Irrawaddy  column  in  Burmah,  1891-1892.  Medal  with 
clasp  ;  Assistant  -  Adjutant  -  General,  Egypt,  1891  ; 
Brigadier-General,  Madras,  1891-1896. 

5.  Mary  Harriet. 


156  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

6.  Philip  Henry  ;  died  1893  ;  unmarried. 

7.  Laura  Henrietta. 

8.  Octavia  Georgina  Emily. 

9.  Gertrude  Maria ;  married,  1873,  F.  B.  Shad- 
well,  Esq.,  and  has  two  sons. 

10.  Grace  Amelia. 

11.  Adelaide  Louisa  Julia. 

12.  Edward  Frankland,  Major  East  Yorkshire 
Regiment,  ;  married,  1893,  Mary  Mabel  Vidal,  and 
has  one  son. 

This  completes  the  genealogies  of  the  younger  children 
of  Admiral  Frankland.  The  baronetcy  has  now  to  be 
carried  on  in  the  person  of  his  eldest  son  and  heir, 

Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  sixth  Baronet ;  born  1750 ; 
died  1831,  having,  in  1775,  married  his  cousin,  Dorothy, 
daughter  of  William  Smelt,  and  niece  of  Leo  Smelt,  Esq., 
sub-Governor  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  [George  IV.],  and 
by  her,  who  died  1820,  had  six  children,  the  youngest  of 
whom  was  his  successor. 

Sir  Robert  Frankland,  the  seventh  Baronet,  who, 
having  inherited  the  Chequers  estate  by  the  will  of  Sir 
Robert  Greenhill  Russell  in  1836  assumed  by  sign  manual 
the  surname  of  Russell  in  addition  to  and  after  that  of 
Frankland.  He  was  born  1784,  and  in  1815  married  the 
Hon.  Louisa  Anne,  third  daughter  of  Lord  George  Murray, 
Bishop  of  St.  David's.  He  sat  in  several  Parliaments,  but 
took  no  prominent  part,  nor  held  office.  His  five  daughters 
were : 

I.  Augusta  Louisa;  married,  1842,  to  Thomas  De 
Grey,  fifth  Baron  Walsingham,  and  died  1844,  leaving 
a  son,  Thomas,  who  in  1870  succeeded  his  father  as 
sixth  Baron,  and  married,  1877,  Augusta  Selina  Eliza- 
beth, widow  of  Ernest  Fitzroy  Neville,  Lord  Burg- 
hersh. 

II.  Caroline  Agnes;  died,  unmarried,  1846. 

III.  Emily   Anne;    married    Sir    William    Payne 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.   1 5  7 

Gallwey,  of  Thirkleby  Park,  Bart.,  M.P.  for  Thirsk ; 
and  was  the  mother  of:  (1)  Ralph  William,  in  the 
army,  who  married  Edith  Alice,  daughter  of  Thomas 
M.    Usborne,   of  Blackrock,   co.   Cork;    (2)   Edwin; 

(3)  Lionel ;  (4)  Wyndham  Harry ;  (5)  Leonora  Anne  ; 
(6)  Bertha  Louisa ;  (7)  Isabel  Julia,  died  1873. 

IV.  Julia  Roberta ;  married,  1845,  Ralph  Neville 
Grenville,  eldest  son  of  George  Neville,  and  grandson 
of  the  second  Baron  Braybrooke,  and  had  issue 
(1)  Robert,  1846;  (2)  George,  1850;  (3)  Hugh,  1851  ; 

(4)  Louisa ;  (5)  Agnes  Magdalen ;  (6)  Beatrice ;  (7) 
Etheldreda. 

V.  Rosalind  Alicia;  became,  in  1854,  the  second 
wife  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Francis  L'Estrange  Astley, 
third  son  of  Sir  Jacob  Henry  Astley,  and  is  now 
(1896)  Mrs.  Frankland  Russell  Astley,  of  Chequers 
Court,  Bucks.  Their  issue  was :  Bertram  Frank- 
land,  1857 ;  Hubert  Delaval,  i860 ;  and  Reginald 
Basil,  1862. 

Sir  Robert  died  in  1849,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
cousin, 

Sir  Frederick  William  Frankland  Russell,  the 
eighth  Baronet,  lately  residing  at  Cheltenham.  He 
was  the  eldest  son  of  Roger  Frankland,  the  Canon  of 
Wells.  Born  in  1793,  he  received  his  military  education 
at  Marlow  and  Woolwich,  joined  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton in  Portugal  in  1812,  was  present  at  Pampeluna, 
Pyrenees,  Nivelle,  Nive,  Bidassoa,  Bayonne,  Toulouse, 
and  Waterloo,  also  at  the  storming  of  Cambray,  held 
office  in  the  Ordnance  Department  at  Gibraltar,  served 
in  the  East  and  West  Indies,  and  sold  out  in  1825.  For 
fifteen  years  he  was  a  magistrate  and  Deputy-Lieutenant 
of  Sussex,  in  which  county  his  estate  of  Montham  lay. 
In  the  evening  of  his  days  he  drew  up,  at  the  request  of 
his  children,  a  relation  of  his  military  life,  more  particu- 
larly of  the  part  which  he  had  borne  in  the  Peninsular 


158  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


War,  and,  under  the  title  of  "  Reminiscences  of  a 
Veteran,"  it  was  printed  for  private  circulation  in  1872, 
adorned  with  a  portrait  of  the  old  soldier.  It  makes  no 
pretensions  to  systematic  history,  but  abounds  with  per- 
sonal incidents.  His  health,  it  appears,  was  far  from 
good  when  he  left  England  as  a  youth,  yet  he  had  no  dis- 
position to  retreat  before  that  or  any  other  obstacle.  It 
was  therefore  rather  humbling  to  his  pride  when  one  day, 
while  the  army  was  ploughing  its  way  by  the  torrent  of 
Bidassoa,  driving  the  French  before  them,  a  message  came 
from  the  Adjutant  directing  the  young  officer  to  go  to  the 
rear,  and,  taking  command  of  the  sick  men  there  gathered, 
to  march  them  to  the  nearest  hospital  station.  The  order 
was  peremptory,  and  had  to  be  put  in  immediate  execu- 
tion ;  so  the  march  began  ;  but  after  the  first  quarter  of  a 
mile  its  ignominy  could  be  endured  no  longer,  and  the 
word  was  given  to  "  Halt."  "  Well,  my  lads,"  he  went 
on,  "  I  never  expected  to  have  such  a  duty  as  this  to  per- 
form. I  ought  at  this  moment  to  be  leading  the  Grenadiers 
into  action,  instead  of  which  I  am  sent  to  the  rear  with  a 
pack  of  skulking  fellows,  who  are  shamming  sickness 
because  they  are  tired  of  fighting.  You  may  hear  the 
guns  firing  now,  and  the  French  are  in  full  retreat.  Come 
now,  just  change  your  minds.  You  may  be  unwell,  but 
there  is  not  one  of  you  so  ill  as  myself.  I  declare  it  drives 
me  mad  to  think  of  it."  After  a  short  pause,  one  of  their 
number  stepped  forward :  "  Mr.  Frankland,  we  are  all 
knocked  up,  but  we  have  nevertheless  determined  to  go 
back  with  you."  So  the  word  was  given  "  Right  about 
face,"  the  fighting  battalion  was  soon  overtaken,  and 
every  invalid  rejoined  his  company. 

Sir  Frederick  married,  in  1821,  Katharine  Margaret, 
only  daughter  of  Isaac  Scarth,  of  Stakesby,  Yorks,  Esq., 
by  whom,  who  died  1871,  he  had : 

I.  Frederick  Roger,  Midshipman  in  the  Winchester ; 
died  at  Sierra  Leone,  1845. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.   159 

II.  Thomas,  of  the  48th  Madras  Native  Infantry; 
killed  in  1857  at  the  storming  of  a  tower  in  the 
Secunder  Bagh,  at  Lucknow. 

III.  Harry  Albert,  Midshipman  in  the  Alarm; 
died  of  fever  at  Vera  Cruz,  1847. 

IV.  William  Adolphus,  Lieutenant  -  Colonel,  and 
late  of  the  Royal  Engineers,  of  whom  presently. 

V.  Colville,  Captain  103rd  Fusiliers ;  married,  in 
1870,  Mary  Jay,  daughter  of  William  Dawson,  of 
New  York,  and  has  two  sons  and  three  daughters. 

VI.  Frederica,died  in  infancy  at  Poonah,  East  India. 

VII.  Eliza  Henrietta  Augusta ;  married  at  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Maine,  1861,  to  Major  F.  S.  Vacher,  of 
the  22njd  Regiment. 

VIII.  Maria  Margaret  Isabella,  died  i860. 

Sir  Frederick  William  Frankland  died  1878,  aged 
eighty-five,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  surviving 
son,  Sir  William  Adolphus  Frankland,  the  ninth 
Baronet,  who  was  born  in  1837,  and  passed  first  out  of 
the  Royal  Military  Academy  into  the  Royal  Engineers 
in  1855.  He  succeeded  his  father,  the  old  Peninsula  and 
Waterloo  officer,  in  1878.  He  married  Lucy  Ducarel, 
daughter  of  Francis  Adams,  Esq.,  of  Clifton  and  Cots- 
wold  Grange,  Gloucester.  The  baronetcy  was  created 
by  Charles  II.  at  the  Restoration.  The  second  Baronet 
married  Frances  Russell,  grand-daughter  of  Oliver  Crom- 
well, and  the  Franklands,  being  descendants  of  the 
Protector,  a  large  number  of  pictures  and  relics  of  the 
Cromwell  family  descended  with  the  baronetcy.  Sir 
William  Frankland  was  thus  the  possessor  of  the  well- 
known  portraits*  of  Cromwell  by  Sir  Peter  Lely,  Walker, 
and  Cooper,  and  of  the  mask  taken  of  the  Protector  after 

*  Amongst  these  portraits  are  Oliver  as  a  child,  three  years  old  ;  Oliver  in 
armour,  with  a  page  tying  his  sash  ;  Oliver  on  horseback  ;  Oliver's  mother  ; 
his  two  sons,  Richard  and  Henry  ;  his  four  daughters  ;  his  chaplain,  Jeremy 
White  ;  his  secretary,  Thurloe  ;  and  Cornet  Joyce,  who  took  Charles  prisoner 
from  Holmby  House  to  Newmarket. 


160  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

death.  At  the  1880  General  Election,  Sir  William  Frank- 
land,  coming  forward  as  a  Conservative,  lost  his  seat  for 
Thirsk,  a  borough  which  had  been  represented  by  a  long 
line  of  his  ancestors,  with  few  intermissions,  for  several 
hundred  years.  He  died  in  December,  1883,  after  a  long 
illness,  at  Sunbury-on-Thames.  He  is  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  son,  now  Sir  Frederick  Frankland. 

In  Henry  Stooks  Smith's  "  Parliaments  of  England," 
the  representatives  of  Thirsk,  being  members  of  the  allied 
families  of  Greenhill,  Greenhill-Russell,  Frankland,  and 
Crompton,  are  invariably  marked  as  Whigs  from  1806 
downwards.  Previous  to  that  date  their  politics  are  not 
specified  in  Mr.  Smith's  work. 

Earldoms  of  Chichester  and  Darnley,  and  Viscounty  of 
Midleton. 

Anne  Frankland,  only  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Frederick  Meinhardt  Frankland,  Esq.,  married,  May  II, 
1754,  Thomas  Pelham,  Esq.,  who  succeeded  his  cousin  as 
second  Baron  Pelham,  of  Stanmer,  in  Sussex,  and  in  1801 
was  created  Earl  of  Chichester,  dying  four  years  after- 
wards. The  Pelhams,  of  Sussex,  were  an  eminent  Whig 
family.  There  were  four  of  the  name  in  the  Long  Par- 
liament. Peregrine  Pelham,  M.P.  for  Hull,  was  a  regicide, 
but  whether  or  not  related  to  the  Sussex  family  is  un- 
known. Sir  Thomas  Pelham,  the  member  for  Sussex, 
and  the  direct  ancestor  of  the  present  Earl  of  Chichester, 
served  on  the  committee  acting  in  the  Parliament's  behalf 
for  that  county  (Lords'  Journals,  vii.  208).  Thomas 
Pelham's  children  by  Anne  Frankland  were  : 

I.  Thomas,  second  Earl. 

II.  Henrietta  Anne,  married  to  George  William 
Leslie,  tenth  Earl  of  Rothes,  of  whom  presently. 

III.  Henry,  born  1759  ;  died  1797,  having  married 
Katharine,  daughter  of  Thomas  Cobb,  Esq.  Issue, 
two  daughters:  (1)  Katharine  Elizabeth  Anne,  and  (2) 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  161 

Fanny,  married  to  Captain  James  Hamilton  Murray, 
R.N. 

IV.  Frances,  born  1760  ;  married  to  George,  fourth 
Viscount  Midleton  of  Ireland  ;  and  died  1783,  leaving 
a  daughter,  Frances  Anne,  who  became  the  wife  of 
Inigo  Freeman  Thomas,  of  Ratten  in  Sussex,  Esq., 
and  died  s.p.  in  1858. 

V.  Lucy,  Countess  to  John,  first  Earl  of  Sheffield ; 
died  s.p.  1797. 

VI.  Emily,  born  1764. 

VII.  George,  D.D. ;  Bishop  successively  of  Bristol, 
Exeter,  and  Lincoln.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of 
Sir  Richard  Rycroft,  and  died  s.p.  1827. 

Thomas,  second  Earl  of  Chichester,  born  April  8, 
1756.  Throughout  the  period  of  the  French  Revolution 
he  was  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  under  Lord  Camden. 
As  Lord  Pelham  in  the  House  of  Commons,  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  maintaining,  in  alliance  with  Mr. 
(afterwards  Earl)  Grey,  the  right  of  the  House  to  be 
made  acquainted  with  the  merits  of  every  case  of  foreign 
negotiation,  as  the  only  means  of  escaping  constant  war- 
like complications.  He  was  one  of  those  who  urged  the 
prosecution  of  Warren  Hastings.  He  married,  in  1801, 
Henrietta  Juliana,  daughter  of  Francis  Godolphin,  fifth 
Duke  of  Leeds,  and  left  issue  : 

I.  Mary,  born  1803;  died  i860. 

II.  Henry  Thomas,  third  Earl. 

III.  Amelia  Rose,  married  to  Major-General  Sir 
Joshua  Jebb,  of  the  Royal  Engineers,  and  died  1884. 

IV.  Frederick  Thomas  (died  1861),  Rear-Admiral, 
R.N. ;  married,  1841,  to  Ellen  Kate,  daughter  of 
Rowland  Mitchell,  Esq.,  and  had :  (1)  Frederick 
John ;  (2)  Frederick  Sidney,  Lieutenant,  R.N. ; 
(3)  Constance  Mary  Kate ;  (4)  Emily  Blanche ; 
(5)  Beatrice  Emily  Julia ;  (6)  Kathleen  Mary  Maud. 

V.  John    Thomas,    D.D.,    Bishop    of    Norwich ; 

11 


1 62  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


married  Henrietta,  daughter  of  Thomas  William 
Tatton,  Esq.,  of  Wythenshaw,  and  had  issue:  (i) 
Henry  Francis,  of  Exeter  College,  Oxon. ;  married, 
1873,  Laura  Priscilla,  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Buxton, 
Bart. ;  (2)  John  Barrington,  in  Holy  Orders  ;  married 
Caroline,  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Buller ;  (3) 
Sidney,  B.A. ;  (4)  Herbert ;  (5)  Fanny. 

VI.  Henrietta  Juliana,  born  1813. 

VII.  Katharine  Georgiana,  born  July  21,  1814 ; 
married,  October  26,  1837,  tne  Hon.  and  Rev. 
Lowther  John  Barrington,  son  of  George,  fifth 
Viscount  Barrington  ;  and  died  1885,  leaving  a  family. 

VIII.  Lucy  Anne,  second  wife  to  Sir  David 
Dundas,  of  Beechwood,  Bart. 

The  Earl  died  in  1826,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Henry   Thomas    Pelham,  third    Earl   of  Chichester, 
born    August,     1804 ;    married,     1828,    Mary    Brudenell, 
daughter  of  Robert,  sixth  Earl  of  Cardigan,  who  died  in 
1867.     By  her  he  had  issue  : 

I.  Walter  John  (Lord  Pelham),  married,  1861, 
Eliza  Mary,  only  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Sir  John 
Duncan  Bligh. 

II.  Francis  Godolphin,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's, 
Beverley,  Yorks,  subsequently  Canon  of  Bangor  and 
Rector  of  Lambeth  ;  married  Alice  Carr,  daughter  of 
Lord  Wolverton,  and  has  Jocelyn  Brudenell,  Ruth 
Mary,  Henry  George  Godolphin,  Anthony  Ashley 
Ivo,  Herbert. 

III.  Thomas  Henry  William,  barrister-at-law  ; 
married  Louisa,  daughter  of  William  Bruce,  Esq., 
cousin  to  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  and  has  issue 
Mary  Louisa. 

IV.  Arthur  Lowther,  married  Evelyn,  daughter  of 
Reginald  Cust,  Esq. 

V.  Harriet  Mary,  married,  1850,  to  John  Stuart 
Bligh,  Earl  of  Darnley,  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland,  and 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  163 

Baron  Clifton  in  that  of  England;  descended  from 
John  Bligh,  one  of  Cromwell's  agents  for  the  settle- 
ment of  forfeited  estates  in  Ireland.  Issue  :  Edward 
Henry  Stuart,  Kathleen  Susan  Emma,  and  other 
children. 

VI.  Susan  Emma,  married,  1853,  to  Abel  Smith, 
of  Woodhall  Park,  Herts. 

VII.  Isabella  Charlotte,  married,  1855,  to  Samuel 
Whitbread,  M.P.  for  Bedford.  Issue  :  Maud  ;  married 
Mr.  Charles  Whitbread. 

The  Earl  died  in  1886,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Walter  John  Pelham,  fourth  Earl  of  Chichester,  who  was 
born  in  1838. 

Earldom  of  Rothes. 

Henrietta  Anne  Pelham,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas, 
first  Earl  of  Chichester ;  married,  1789,  George  William, 
tenth  Earl  of  Rothes,  of  the  kingdom  of  Fife,  and  had, 
with  Amelia  and  Mary,  who  died  unmarried, 

Henrietta  Anne,  Countess,  who  in  1806  married 
George  Gwyther  on  his  assumption  of  the  surname  and 
arms  of  Leslie,  and  had  issue  : 

I.  George  William  Evelyn,  eleventh  Earl. 

II.  Thomas  Jenkins,  in  the  army. 

III.  Henrietta  Anne,  wife  of  Charles  Knight  Mur- 
ray, barrister-at-law. 

IV.  Mary  Elizabeth,  married  Martin  E.  Haworth, 
of  the  60th  Rifles  ;  died  1893. 

V.  Anna  Maria,  married  Henry  Hugh  Courtenay, 
Rector  of  Mamhead,  son  of  the  eleventh  Earl  of 
Devon,  and  had :  Henry  Reginald  and  Hugh  Leslie. 

VI.  Katherine  Caroline,  married  John  Parker, 
Captain,  66th  Foot. 

The  Countess  died  in  1819,  and  was  succeeded  by 
her  son, 

George  William  Evelyn,  eleventh  Earl  of  Rothes  ; 


164  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

born  1809 ;  married  Louisa,  third  daughter  of  Henry 
Anderson  Morshead,  of  Widey  Court,  Devon,  and  left 
at  his  death,  in  1841,  a  daughter,  Henrietta  Anderson 
Morshead,  who  eventually  became  Countess,  and  an  only 
son,  namely, 

George  William  Evelyn,  twelfth  Earl,  who  died 
unmarried  in  1859,  when  the  family  honours  devolved 
upon  his  sister, 

Henrietta  Anderson  Morshead  Leslie,  Countess  of 
Rothes,  and  Baroness  Leslie  and  Ballenbreich  in  the 
peerage  of  Scotland  ;  married,  1861,  to  the  Hon.  George 
Waldegrave  Leslie,  third  son  of  William,  eighth  Earl  of 
Waldegrave. 

Family  of  Gee. 

Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Frankland, 
the  second  Baronet ;  married  Roger  Talbot,  of  Woodend, 
in  Yorkshire,  whose  only  daughter,  Arabella,  or  Eliza- 
beth (?),  became  the  second  wife  of  Colonel  William  Gee, 
who  fell  at  Fontenoy  in  1743.     They  had  one  son,  viz. : 

Roger  Gee,  Esq.,  of  Bishop  Burton,  who  by  his  wife, 
Caroline,  eighth  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Sir  Warton 
Penyman  Warton,  had  two  daughters  :  (1)  Sarah  Eliza- 
beth, married  to  Henry  Boldero  Barnard,  of  Cave  Castle  ; 
and  (2)  Caroline,  married  to  George  Hotham,  of  the 
Guards.  Mr.  Gee  died  in  1778,  and  was  buried  in  Bath 
Abbey.  His  daughters,  who  were  his  co-heirs,  sold  the 
Woodend  estate  to  the  Crompton  family. 

Family  of  Barnard. 

Sarah  Elizabeth  Gee,  married  Mr.  Barnard  afore- 
said in  1788,  and  had  surviving  issue  as  follows : 

I.  Henry  Gee,  born  1789 ;  a  Captain  in  the  Scots 
Greys. 

II.  Charles  Lewyns,  born  1790  ;  entered  the  army  in 
his  fifteenth  year  as  Ensign  in  his  uncle  General  Hotham's 


Descendants  of  the  Protectors  Fourth  Daughter.  165 

regiment,  and  finally  became  a  Captain  of  the  Scots 
Greys,  in  the  troop  previously  commanded  by  his  elder 
brother.  After  distinguishing  himself  in  no  less  than 
twelve  engagements  under  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  he 
fell  at  Waterloo  in  18 15. 

III.  Edward  William,  held  the  family  living  of  South 
Cave,  and  died  at  Chester  in  1827,  leaving  by  his  wife, 
Philadelphia  Frances  Esther,  daughter  of  Archdeacon 
Wrangham,  three  children,  namely  :  (1)  Edward  Charles 
Gee,  born  1822  ;  (2)  Rosamund  ;  (3)  Caroline. 

IV.  Sarah  Eleanor,  married,  in  1832,  to  Joseph,  only 
surviving  son  of  Samuel  Delpratt,  of  Jamaica,  and  had 
issue  one  daughter,  Eleanor  Josephine. 

Mr.  Boldero  Barnard  died  in  1815 — his  widow  in  1832 
— and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Henry  Gee 
Barnard. 

Family  of  Hotham  and  Baronetcy  of  Lubbock. 

Caroline,  the  second  daughter  of  Roger  Gee  aforesaid, 
became  in  1792  the  first  wife  of  Lieutenant  -  Colonel 
George  Hotham,  eldest  son  of  General  George  Hotham 
and  brother  to  Admiral  Lord  Hotham.     She  died  in  181 1. 

The  children  of  Colonel  Hotham  and  Miss  Gee  were  as 
follows  : 

I.  William,  Rear  Admiral,  R.N.,  born  1794;  went  to 
sea  at  the  age  of  ten  in  the  Raissonable,  64,  commanded  by 
his  uncle,  Vice-Admiral  Sir  William  Hotham  ;  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  Antwerp,  Cadiz,  Matagorda,  the 
capture  of  La  Persanne,  French  store-ship  ;  destroying 
batteries  at  Omago,  on  the  coast  of  Istria  ;  storming  the 
fort  of  Farisina  ;  capturing  the  batteries  of  Rovigno  ;  com- 
manding a  flotilla  on  the  Po,  in  co-operation  with  the 
Austrian  army ;  sailing  in  the  squadron  which  escorted 
Louis  XVIII.  to  his  restored  dominions  in  1814,  etc. 

II.  George,  a  Captain  of  Engineers ;  born  1796  ;  died 
i860.     He  married  Caroline,  daughter  of  Richard  Watt, 


1 66  The  Ho?cse  of  Cromwell. 


of  Bishop  Burton,  Esq.,  and  had  two  children  :  Richard, 
an  officer  in  the  army,  and  Harriet.  By  his  second  wife, 
Amelia,  daughter  of  Francis  Ramsden  Hawkesworth,  he 
had  Arthur,  Francis,  Alice,  and  Laura. 

III.  Charles,  Prebendary  of  York  ;  married  Lucy  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Rev.  Christopher  Sykes. 

IV.  John,  in  the  Artillery,  E.I.C.  His  first  wife 
was  Maria,  daughter  of  Henry  Thompson,  of  Burton, 
Esq.  By  his  second,  Mary,  daughter  of  Rev.  D.  R. 
Roundell,  he  had :  Charles,  John,  Caroline,  Fanny,  and 
Gertrude. 

V.  Sarah,  married  in  1823  to  Stephen  Creyke,  Arch- 
deacon of  York,  and  had  issue :  Walter  Pennington, 
Alexander  Stephen,  Alfred  Richard,  Caroline  Julia,  Diana 
Jane,  Gertrude  Hotham. 

VI.  Charlotte,  married  to  Robert  Denison,  Esq. 

VII.  Gertrude,  married  to  Rev.  Christopher  Neville, 
and  had  issue  a  daughter,  Charlotte,  1831,  and  a  son, 
George,  1833. 

VIII.  Diana  Caroline,  married  in  1841  to  Henry 
Alexander  Brown,  of  Kingston  Grove,  Oxford. 

IX.  Harriet,  married  in  1833  to  Sir  John  William 
Lubbock,  of  Lamas,  co.  Norfolk,  Bart.,  and  had  issue : 

1.  John,  who  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy,  M.P. 
for  Maidstone,  F.R.S.,  D.C.L.,  Vice-Chancellor  of 
London  University,  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  London 
bankers ;  married  Ellen  Frances,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Peter  Hordern.  Her  children  are :  John  Birkbeck, 
1858;  Norman,  1861 ;  Rolfe  Arthur,  1865;  Amy 
Harriet ;  Constance  Mary  ;  Gertrude ;  Florence,  who 
died  1868. 

2.  Henry  James,  1838. 

3.  Neville,  1839. 

4.  Beaumont  William,  1840. 

5.  Montague,  1842. 

6.  Frederick,  1844. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  167 

7.  Alfred,  1845. 

8.  Edgar,  1847. 

9.  Mary  Harriet,  married,  1857,  to  Robert  Birk- 
beck,  Esq. 

10.  Diana  Hotham,  married,  1856,  to  William  P. 
Rodney,  cousin  of  Lord  Rodney. 

11.  Henrietta  Harriet. 

Family  of  Worsley. 

Frances,  second  surviving  daughter  of  Thomas  Frank- 
land,  the  second  Baronet ;  married,  in  1710,  Thomas 
Worsley,  of  Hovingham  in  Yorkshire,  Esq.  Worsley, 
or  Workesley,  is  a  name  derived  from  Sir  Elias,  Lord  of 
Worsley,  near  Manchester,  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest, 
who  accompanied  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  to  the 
Holy  Land,  and  was  buried  at  Rhodes. 

By  Frances  Frankland,  Mr.  Worsley  had  two  sons  and 
four  daughters,  as  follows  : 

I.  Thomas,  his  successor. 

II.  James,  a  clergyman;  married  Dorothy  Penny- 
man,  and  left  four  children  :  James,  Ralph,  Richard, 
and  Dorothy.  A  grandchild  of  Mr.  James  Worsley 
was  James  Whyte  Pennyman,  of  Ormesby  Hall, 
Yorkshire,  and  possibly  other  names  might  be  success- 
fully sought  in  that  direction. 

III.  Mary,  wife  to  Marmaduke  Constable,  of  Was- 
sand,  of  whom  hereafter. 

IV.  Elizabeth,  survived  her  husband,  William 
Slaenforth,  Esq. 

V.  Katharine,  unmarried. 

VI.  Frances,  married  to  Sir  Thomas  Robinson, 
Lord  Grantham,  of  whom  hereafter  (page  171). 

Mr.  Thomas  Worsley  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son, 

Thomas,    M.P.,    Surveyor-General    of    the    Board    of 

Works  under  George  III.,  from  whom  he  received  many 

marks  of  favour.     He  rebuilt   the   family  mansion,  and 

enriched  it  with  a  library  and  a  gallery  of  paintings.     By 


i68  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


his  wife   Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Rev.  J.  Lister,  he  had, 
besides  two  daughters,  two  sons,  viz. : 
Edward,  his  successor. 

George,  Rector  of  Stonegrave  and  Scawton,  York- 
shire ;  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Cayley, 
of  Brompton,  Bart.,  and  had  fifteen  children  :  (i)  and 
(2)  George  and  Edward,  died  young ;  (3)  William, 
succeeded  his  uncle  ;  (4)  Marcus,  married  Miss  Harriet 
Hamer,  and  had  issue ;  (5)  Thomas,  Rector  of  Scaw- 
ton ;  (6)  Frederick  Cayley ;  (7)  Septimus  Launcelot, 
M.A.  of  Cambridge ;  (8)  Henry  Francis,  married 
Catharine,  daughter  of  B.  Blackden,  Esq.,  and  had 
issue;  (9)  Charles  Valentine,  barrister-at-law;  (10) 
Arthur,  of  the  51st  Regiment  of  Native  Infantry  in 
India;  (11)  Digby  Edmund;  (12)  Isabella,  married 
J.  C.  Blackden,  Esq.,  and  had  several  children  ; 
(13)  Philadelphia,  married  William  J.  Coltman,  M.A., 
Oxon.  ;  (14)  Anne ;  (15)  Frances,  married  G.  H. 
Webber,  Prebendary  of  Ripon. 
Edward  Worsley  was  the  next  heir,  but,  dying  un- 
married in  1830,  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew, 

William  Worsley,  M.A.,  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge ;  many  years  in  the  Hussar  Yeomanry  Corps  of  his 
relation,  Lord  de  Grey,  and  a  magistrate  and  Deputy- 
Lieutenant  in  the  North  Riding.  In  1827  he  married 
Sarah  Philadelphia,  daughter  of  Sir  George  Cayley,  of 
Brompton,  Yorkshire,  Bart.,  and  had  issue : 

I.  Thomas  Robinson. 

II.  William  Cayley. 

III.  Sophia  Harriet. 

IV.  Arthington. 

V.  Katherine  Louisa. 
'    VI.  Anna  Barbara. 

Family  of  Constable  of  Wassand. 
Mary,    eldest    daughter    of    Frances    Frankland    and 
Thomas   Worsley    (see   page    167),   married    Marmaduke 


Descendants  of  the  Protector's  Fourth  Daughter.  169 

Constable,  of  Wassand,  near  Hull,  Esq.  The  "  Wass- 
and  Constable  "  race  have  always  held  high  position  in  the 
northern  counties.  From  Robert  de  Lacy  Constable  of 
Chester,  in  1206,  down  to  Robert  Constable  of  1701, 
twenty-eight  members  of  the  family  have  been  High 
Sheriffs  of  York.  During  the  Civil  War  of  Charles  I.'s 
time,  the  house  of  Constable,  like  many  others,  was  a 
divided  one.  Sir  William,  the  Flamborough  Baronet,  and 
the  representative  of  the  elder  branch,  sat  for  Knares- 
borough  in  the  Long  Parliament,  and,  having  married  a 
daughter  of  the  house  of  Fairfax,  became  associated  with 
them  in  war.  His  personal  hostility  to  the  King's 
measures,  especially  in  the  matter  of  ship-money,  had 
already  resulted  in  imprisonment,  and  declared  itself  more 
fully  when  he  joined  in  signing  the  warrant  for  Charles's 
execution.  Judging  by  the  large  sums  passing  through 
his  hands,  he  must  have  been  much  in  the  Parliament's 
confidence.  In  1643  he  was  actually  proposed  for  the 
command-in-chief,  under  Fairfax.  In  1648  he  was  one  of 
the  Council  of  State.  As  a  regicide,  he  was  excepted  out 
of  the  Bill  of  Pardon,  and,  having  died  during  the  Pro- 
tectorate, his  estates  fell  under  confiscation.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  several  of  the  Constables  discernible 
among  the  Royalists — to  wit,  Sir  Philip  of  Everingham, 
Sidney,  William,  Matthew,  and  John,  besides  "  Ralph 
Constable,"  whose  composition-fine  was  £yo  13s.  4d.  Of 
the  "  Marmaduke  Constable  of  Wassand  "  of  that  period, 
nothing  distinctive  (beyond  his  marriage)  is  recorded. 
The  children  of  Mary  Frankland  by  Mr.  Constable  were 
as  follows  : 

I.  Marmaduke,  his  heir. 

II.  Thomas,  a  clergyman  ;  married  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Charles  Goulton,  Esq.,  and  had  : 

1.  Charles,  heir  to  his  uncle  Marmaduke. 

2.  Marmaduke,  married,   1807,  Octavia,  daughter 
of  General  Hale  ;  no  issue. 


lyo  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

3.  Rachel  Marian,  married,  1808,  James  Salmond, 
Esq.     Their  son  Edward  died  s.p.  1821. 

4.  Frances  Elizabeth,  married,  1814,  William 
Bentinck,  Prebendary  of  Westminster,  eldest  son  of 
Lord  Edward  Charles  Cavendish  Bentinck. 

5.  Sarah,  died  young. 

III.  Mary,  married  to  Jonathan  Acklom,  of  Wiseton, 
Notts,  Esq.,  by  whom  she  had  one  son  and  four  daughters, 
viz. :  Richard,  Ann  Elizabeth,  Mary,  Lucy — who  mar- 
ried her  cousin  Charles  Constable,  see  below — and  Rosa- 
mund. The  eldest  daughter,  Anne  Elizabeth,  was  the 
wife  of  Christopher  Neville,  of  Thorney,  and  the  mother  of 
two  sons — Christopher  and  George — the  elder  of  whom 
married  Gertrude,  daughter  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hotham, 
of  York,  and  had  a  daughter — Charlotte,  1831 — and  a  son 
—George,  1833. 

IV.  Rosamund,  died  unmarried  in  1801. 

Mr.  Constable,  dying  in  1762,  aged  fifty-eight,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  elder  son. 

Marmaduke,  who  died  unmarried  in  1812,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  nephew, 

Charles,  M.A.,  and  a  clergyman,  also  in  the  Commis- 
sion of  the  Peace  for  the  three  Ridings  of  Yorkshire.  On 
succeeding  to  the  family  estates,  he  built  a  new  house  in 
place  of  the  mansion  which  had  stood  since  1530.  He 
married  his  cousin  Lucy,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Acklom, 
and  had  an  only  child — Mary — who  in  1818  married 
George,  eldest  son  of  Sir  William  Strickland,  of  Boynton, 
Bart. 

Family  of  Strickland. 

Mr.  George  Strickland  married  Mary  Constable 
aforesaid,  and  in  1834  succeeded  his  father  as  seventh 
Baronet.     They  had  issue  as  follows  : 

I.  Charles  William,  eighth  Baronet. 

II.  Frederick,  born  1820;  died  1849. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  171 

III.  Henry  Strickland  Constable,  of  Wassand,  who 
took  by  royal  license  the  additional  surname  of  Con- 
stable ;  married  Cornelia  Charlotte  Anne,  daughter  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  and  Lady  Sophia  Dumaresq 
(see  "  Lanesborough  "  in  the  Peerage),  and  had  issue : 

1.  Frederick  Charles,  i860. 

2.  Marmaduke. 

3.  Ethel. 

4.  Mary  Sophia. 

5.  Rosamund. 

6.  Lucy  Winifred. 

IV.  Lucy  Henrietta,  the  wife  of  J.  P.  Marriott,  after- 
wards Goulton  Constable  of  Cotesbach.  They  both  died 
in  1871. 

Sir  George  Strickland  died  in  1874,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  eldest  son, 

Sir  Charles  William  Strickland,  eighth  Baronet, 
barrister-at-law  ;  born  1819  ;  married  first  Georgina  Selina 
Septimia,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Milner,  of  Nun-Apple- 
ton,  Bart.,  and  by  her,  who  died  1864,  has  a  son — Walter 
William.  He  married  secondly  Ann  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Rev.  Christopher  Neville,  of  Thorney,  Notts,  and  has 
issue : 

I.  Frederick,  1868. 

II.  Eustace  Edward,  1870. 

III.  Henry,  1873. 

IV.  Esther  Anne. 

Family  of  Robinson  and  titles  of  Grantham,  De  Grey, 
Cowper,  Goderich,  and  Ripon. 

Frances,  fourth  daughter  of  Thomas  Worsley  (see 
page  167),  married,  about  1736,  her  cousin,  Sir  Thomas 
Robinson,  who  after  her  decease  became  the  first  Baron 
Grantham  in  the  county  of  Lincoln.  He  was  second  son 
to  Sir  Tancred  Robinson,  Rear-Admiral  of  the  White,  and 
twice  Lord  Mayor  of  York.     He  commenced  his  political 


172  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

career  as  Secretary  to  Sir  Horace  Walpole,  when  Am- 
bassador in  France,  and  attained  his  peerage  in  1761. 
His  wife  had  died  in  1750.     Their  children  were  : 

I.  Thomas,  his  successor. 

II.  Frederick,  married  Katharine  Gertrude  Harris, 
sister  to  the  first  Earl  of  Malmesbury. 

III.  Theresa,    married   John    Parker,    first    Lord 
Boringdon,  of  whom  hereafter. 

Lord  Grantham  died  in  1770,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  elder  son, 

Thomas,  second  Baron  Grantham ;    married,  in  1780, 

Mary  Jemima,  second  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Philip 

Yorke,  second  Earl  Hardwicke,  by  Jemima,  Marchioness 

De  Grey,   and  sister  and  heir  -  presumptive  of  Amabel, 

Countess  De  Grey,  by  whom  he  left  two  sons,  namely : 

Thomas  Philip,  Earl  De  Grey  (page  173). 

Frederick  John,  Viscount  Goderich  and  Earl  Ripon, 

who,  with  his  lady,  Sarah  Louisa  Albinia  Hobart,  only 

daughter  of  Robert,  fourth  Earl  of  Bucks,  inherited  the 

property  of  that  nobleman.    His  children,  besides  a  son 

who  died  in  infancy,  were  :  George  Frederick  Samuel, 

his  successor,  and  Eleanor  Henrietta  Victoria,  who 

died  young.     Frederick  John,  born  in  London  in  1782, 

was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge,  where  he 

obtained   Sir  William  Browne's  medal  for  the   best 

Latin  ode,  and  took  his  degree  in  the  following  year. 

He  began  public  life  as  secretary  to  his  Tory  relation, 

Lord  Hardwicke,  then  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 

till  the  death  of  Pitt  made  way  for  the  coalition  of 

"  All  the  Talents."     On  the  appointment  of  the  next 

Ministry,  that  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  in  1807,  Mr. 

Robinson,  as  Member  for  Ripon  (which  he  continued 

to   represent    for   twenty   years),    voted   as   a   Tory, 

and  forthwith  we  find  him  Under-Secretary  for  the 

Colonies  in  Mr.  Perceval's  Administration,  from  which 

date   he  passed  from  one  post  of  duty  to  another, 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Datcghter.  1 73 

always  to  a  higher,  giving  evidence  of  versatile 
capacity  and  plodding  industry,  till  his  utmost  powers 
were  taxed  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 

The  part  he  played  in  the  Corn-Law  Bill  led  to 
the  attack  on  his  house  by  a  London  mob  in  March, 
1815.  Almost  his  last  public  act  was  to  move  in 
the  House  of  Lords  the  second  reading  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  Bill  of  1846,  obliterating  that  measure,  and 
stultifying  the  doctrines  and  prophecies  of  thirty 
years  of  Protection. 
Thomas,  second  Baron  Grantham,  died  in  1786,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  elder  son, 

Thomas  Philip,  Earl  De  Grey,  Baron  Lucas  of 
Crudwell  in  Wilts,  and  Baron  Grantham ;  Commander 
of  the  Yorkshire  Hussars;  Lord  -  Lieutenant  and  Custos 
Rotulorum  of  Bedfordshire,  in  which  county  he  inherited 
the  Wrest  estate  from  his  aunt,  Amabel,  Countess  De 
Grey ;  and  Lord- Lieutenant  of  Ireland  under  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  Administration,  1841-44.  The  Earl's  political  bias, 
whatever  it  was,  had  not  prevented  him  on  a  previous 
occasion  from  advocating  the  cause  of  the  oppressed. 
This  was  in  the  matter  of  the  judicial  inquiry  into  the 
conduct  of  George  IV. 's  Queen,  Caroline  of  Brunswick, 
when,  as  Lord  Grantham,  together  with  other  peers,  he 
openly  recorded  his  disapproval  of  the  Bill  of  Pains  and 
Penalties,  though  put  in  execution  by  the  Ministry  of 
which  his  brother,  Frederick  Robinson,  was  a  member. 
In  private  life  Earl  De  Grey  was  a  liberal  patron  of  the 
decorative  sciences,  and  is  said  to  have  himself  exhibited 
skill  as  a  painter.  He  certainly  made  an  extensive 
and  tasteful  collection  of  works  of  art.  Of  the  various 
portraits  taken  of  him  from  time  to  time,  a  resemblance 
to  his  ancestor,  the  Protector,  seems  traceable  in  the 
quarto  engraving  after  John  Wood's  picture,  executed 
when  he  must  have  been  in  the  prime  of  life,  though  the 
same  can  hardly  be  said  of  that  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence. 


174  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Earl  De  Grey  married,  in  1805,  Henrietta  Frances  Cole, 
daughter  of  William,  first  Earl  of  Enniskillen,  and, 
besides  a  son  who  died  in  infancy,  had  two  surviving 
daughters  : 

I.  Anne  Florence,  Baroness  Lucas;  married,  in 
1833,  to  George  Augustus  Frederick,  sixth  Earl 
Cowper,  of  whom  presently. 

II.  Mary  Gertrude,  married,  in  1832,  to  Captain 
Henry  Vyner,  of  whom  presently. 

Earl  De  Grey  died  in  1859,  when  he  was  succeeded  in 
his  barony  of  Lucas  by  his  daughter,  Lady  Cowper,  and 
in  his  other  titles  by  his  nephew,  the  Earl  of  Ripon. 

Sir  George  Frederick  Samuel  Robinson,  born 
1827;  succeeded  his  father  as  Earl  of  Ripon  and  Viscount 
Goderich,  and  his  uncle  as  Earl  De  Grey,  Baron  Grantham, 
and  a  Baronet.  Previous  to  this  he  had  been  M.P.  in 
succession  for  Hull,  Huddersfield,  and  the  West  Riding. 
In  1859  he  was  Under-Secretary  for  War.  He  married 
Henrietta  Anne  Theodosia,  eldest  daughter  of  Captain 
Henry  Vyner,  and  grand-daughter  of  the  late  Earl  De 
Grey,  and  had  issue :  Frederick  Oliver,  Lord  De  Grey, 
born  1852 ;  and  Mary  Sarah,  who  died  in  1858. 

Earldom  of  Cowper. 

Anne  Florence,  elder  daughter  of  Earl  De  Grey,  who 
married  George  Augustus  Frederick,  sixth  Earl  Cowper 
and  Lord- Lieutenant  of  Kent,  had  issue  as  follows  : 

I.  Francis  Thomas  De  Grey,  who  in  1856  succeeded 
his  father  as  seventh  Earl,  and  also  as  a  Prince  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire.  He  subsequently  married  Katrine 
Cecilia,  daughter  of  Lord  William  Compton. 

II.  Henry  Frederick,  M.P.  for  Herts. 

III.  Henrietta  Emily  Mary,  died  1853. 

IV.  Florence  Amabel,  married,  in  1871,  to  the  Hon. 
Auberon  Herbert. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  175 

V.  Adine  Eliza  Anne,  married  to  Julian  Fane,  fourth 
son  of  John,  eleventh  Earl  of  Westmoreland,  and  died 
1868. 

VI.  Amabel,  married,  in  1873,  to  Lord  Walter  Kerr, 
R.N.,  son  of  the  late  Marquis  of  Lothian,  and  has  issue. 


Family  of  Vyner. 

Mary  Gertrude,  younger  daughter  of  Earl  De  Grey, 
was  married  in  1832  to  Captain  Henry  Vyner,  son  of 
Robert  Vyner,  of  Gautby,  and  his  wife,  the  Lady  Theo- 
dosia  Maria  Ashburnham,  and  had  six  children,  as 
follows : 

I.  Henry  Frederick  Clare,  1836,  of  Gautby,  Lincoln- 
shire ;  Newby  Hall,  Ripon,  Yorkshire ;  and  of  Coombe 
Hurst,  Kingston,  Surrey  ;  died  on  November  11,  1882. 

II.  Reginald  Arthur,  M.P.  for  Ripon  ;  died  1870. 

III.  Robert  Charles,  of  Fairfield,  Yorkshire ;  married, 
1865,  to  Eleanor,  daughter  of  Rev.  Slingsby  Duncombe 
Shafto.  His  eldest  daughter,  Mary  Evelyn,  was  married, 
in  1886,  to  Lord  Alwyne  Compton,  10th  Royal  Hussars, 
third  son  of  the  Marquis  of  Northampton.  His  younger 
daughter,  Violet  Aline,  was  married  in  July,  1890,  to  Lord 
Loughborough,  eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Rosslyn. 

IV.  Frederick  Grantham,  murdered  by  brigands  in 
Greece,  April  21,  1870.* 

V.  Henrietta  Anne  Theodosia,  present  Marchioness  of 

*  The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  in  his  Diary  thus  alludes  to  this  event : 
"  April  25. — Three  English  gentlemen,  among  whom  was  Fred  Vyner,  the 
son  of  my  old  friend,  Lady  Mary,  have  been  captured  and  slain  by  brigands 
near  Athens.  Cecil  [Ashley]  had  intended  to  join  the  party  to  Marathon.  A 
special  providence,  God's  interposing  mercy,  saved  him  from  it.  Had  not  the 
steamer  to  Italy  been  ordered  to  sail  the  next  day,  he  would  have  gone  with 
the  rest,  and  have  shared  their  fate. 

"April  27. — This  very  dreadful  event  has  seized  hold  of  my  imagination, 
and  haunts  me  day  and  night.  O  God,  to  whom  vengeance  belongeth,  show 
Thyself.  The  cruelty,  the  cowardice,  the  bloodthirstiness  of  the  deed  !  Poor 
boy,  poor  dear  boy  !     Fred  Vyner,  so  young,  so  gentle,  and  so  handsome  !" 


176  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Ripon,  having  married  her  cousin,  Sir  George  Robinson, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Ripon  and  De  Grey. 

VI.  Theodosia,  Marchioness  of  Northampton;  died  1864. 

Family  of  Parker  and  titles  of  Boringdon  and  Morley. 

Theresa,  only  daughter  of  Thomas,  first  Lord 
Grantham,  became,  in  1769,  the  second  wife  of  John 
Parker,  M.P.  for  the  county  of  Devon,  afterwards  created 
Baron  Boringdon  in  that  county.  His  children  by  Lady 
Theresa  were  John,  his  successor,  and  a  daughter, 
Theresa,  married  to  Hon.  George  Villiers,  of  whom  pre- 
sently. Lord  Boringdon  died  1788,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son, 

John,  born  1772  ;  created  Earl  of  Morley  in  1815.  He 
married,  first,  Augusta,  daughter  of  John,  Earl  of  West- 
moreland, by  whom  he  had  one  son,  who  in  1816,  at  the 
age  of  eleven,  met  his  death  at  St.  Maud,  near  Paris, 
through  inadvertently  swallowing  a  stalk  of  rye. 

Family  of  Villiers  and  titles  of  Hyde  and  Clarendon,  Lytton 
and  Skelmersdale. 

Theresa,  only  daughter  of  John,  first  Lord  Boringdon, 
married,  in  1798,  George,  third  son  of  Thomas  Villiers 
Earl  of  Clarendon,  and  died  in  1855.  Her  children 
were: 

I.  George  William  Frederick,  successor  to  his  uncle, 
the  third  Earl  of  Clarendon. 

II.  Thomas  Hyde,  died  1832. 

III.  The  Right  Hon.  Charles  Pelham  Villiers,  born 
1802 ;  M.A.  Cantab.,  barrister-at-law,  late  Judge-Advo- 
cate-General, and  a  Privy  Councillor  ;  President  of  the 
Poor  Law  Board,  1859;  M.P.  for  Wolverhampton  ever 
since  1835;  Deputy -Lieutenant  for  Herts.  Finally — 
and  here  his  fame  principally  rests — he  was  chairman  of 
the  memorable  Anti-Corn-Law  League.  While  Colonel 
Thompson,  Dr.  Bowring,  George  Wilson,  Richard  Cobden, 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter,  i  jj 

and  John  Bright  worked  the  question  out  of  doors,  to 
Mr.  Villiers  was  assigned  the  more  trying  task  of  fighting 
the  battle  of  Free  Trade  against  his  own  order — against 
the  entire  aristocratic  phalanx,  whether  Whig  or  Tory. 
While,  therefore,  we  wonder  not  that,  as  the  reward  of 
his  well-sustained  fortitude,  he  should  ever  enjoy  a  fixed 
and  abiding  place  in  the  esteem  of  the  mercantile  classes 
and  in  the  affections  of  the  labouring  classes,  it  were 
equally  true  to  add  that  his  merits  have  long  received  the 
like  homage  from  eminent  members  of  his  own  class.  In 
the  summer  of  1879  a  colossal  statue  of  the  veteran  states- 
man was  erected  in  the  town  which  he  had  represented 
for  forty-four  years. 

IV.  Edward  Ernest,  born  1806 ;  married,  in  1835,  to 
Elizabeth  Charlotte  Liddell,  fifth  daughter  of  Lord  Ravens- 
worth,  and  died  1843,  leaving  issue  : 

I.  Ernest,  born  1838. 

II.  Maria  Theresa;  married,  1864,  to  Captain 
Earl,  of  the  Rifle  Brigade. 

III.  and  IV.  Edith  and  Elizabeth,  twins.  Edith 
married  Sir  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton,  of  whom  pre- 
sently (page  181). 

V.  Henry  Montague,  D.D.,  of  Christchurch,  Oxon., 
born  in  1813.  Lord  Chancellor  Cottenham  presented 
him  to  the  vicarage  of  Kenilworth,  and  when  Dr.  T. 
Vowler  Short  was  advanced  to  the  bishopric  of  Sodor  and 
Man,  Dr.  Villiers  succeeded  Dr.  Short  at  St.  George's, 
Bloomsbury.  In  1847  he  was  nominated  by  Lord  John 
Russell,  then  Prime  Minister,  to  a  canon-residentiary  in 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  In  1856  Lord  Palmerston  advanced 
him  to  the  bishopric  of  Carlisle,  his  promotion  culminating 
at  Durham,  when  Dr.  Longley  attained  the  archbishopric 
of  York.  The  money  value  of  Durham  was  then  estimated 
at  £8,000  a  year,  with  considerable  patronage  attached. 
He  married,  in    1837,  Amelia   Maria,  eldest  daughter  of 

12 


178  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


William   Hulton,  of  Hulton   Park,   Lancashire,  and  had 
issue : 

1.  Henry  Montague,  M.A.,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Wilton  Place,  London ;  married  Victoria, 
second  daughter  of  Earl  Russell,  and  has :  Henry 
Montague,  John  Russell,  Thomas  Lister,  another 
son ;  Frances  Adelaide,  Gwendolen  Mary,  Rhoda 
Victoria,  Margaret  Evelyn,  Dorothy,  Mabel  Agatha, 
Katharine  Helen. 

2.  Frederick  Ernest,  born  1840. 

3.  Amy  Maria,  married  the  Rev.  Edward  Cheese. 

4.  Gertrude  Fanny. 

5.  Mary  Agneta. 

6.  Evelyn  Theresa. 

VI.  Augustus    Algernon,    of    the    Royal    Navy ;    died 

1834. 

VII.  Maria  Theresa,  married,  in  1830,  to  Thomas 
Henry  Lister,  Esq.,  of  Armitage  Park,  co.  Stafford.  Mr. 
Lister  dying  in  1842,  his  widow  remarried  Sir  George 
Cornewall  Lewis.    The  children  of  her  first  marriage  were  : 

1.  The  Hon.  Thomas  Villiers  Lister,  of  Armitage 
Hill,  Sunninghill,  and  61,  Eaton  Square;  born  1832  ; 
married,  first,  Fanny  Harriet,  daughter  of  William 
Coryton,  Esq.,  of  Pentillie,  in  Cornwall,  and  had : 
George  Coryton,  1863,  with  three  other  sons  and 
three  daughters.  He  married,  secondly,  1877,  Florence 
Selina,  daughter  of  William  John  Hamilton,  Esq., 
and  has  a  daughter.  Mr.  Lister,  who  was  educated 
at  Harrow,  and  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  (M.A. 
1853),  is  a  Deputy-Lieutenant  for  co.  Radnor,  and 
Assistant  -  Under  -  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs. 

2.  Maria  Theresa,  married  Mr.  (now  Sir)  William 
Vernon  Harcourt,  M.P.,  and  died  1863,  leaving  one 
son,  Lewis  Reginald. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  179 

3.  Alice  Beatrice,  married  Algernon  Borthwick, 
Esq.,  of  60,  Eaton  Place,  who  was  knighted  in  i88or 
made  a  peer  in  1895,  and  has  two  children. 

The  Lister  family  is  one  of  long  standing  and  celebrity 
in  the  Northern  counties,  whose  senior  branch,  now  repre- 
sented by  Lord  Ribblesdale,  is  reputed  to  have  been 
seated  at  Gisburn,  in  the  West  Riding,  for  five  centuries 
or  more.  During  the  period  of  the  great  Civil  War,  their 
leading  members  were  prominent  as  patriots. 

George  William  Frederick,  Earl  of  Clarendon  and 
Baron  Hyde,  of  Hindon,  in  Wilts,  K.G.,  G.C.B.,  P.C., 
D.C.L. ;  born  in  1800 ;  succeeded  as  fourth  Earl  on  the 
decease  of  his  uncle  in  1838  (page  176).  From  an  early 
period  Mr.  Villiers  selected  diplomacy  as  his  special 
sphere,  being  only  twenty  years  old  when  he  was  attached 
to  the  Embassy  at  Constantinople.  After  the  second 
Revolution  in  France  of  1830,  he  went  to  that  country  to 
arrange  a  commercial  treaty,  and  became  still  more  con- 
spicuous by  his  residence  in  Spain  as  Lord  Grey's  Envoy 
during  the  period  of  the  civil  war  between  the  Carlists 
and  the  Christinos.  He  never  concealed  his  preference 
for  the  people's  party,  and  when  the  success  of  the 
Christinos  had  confirmed  his  own  popularity,  he  used 
the  influence  so  acquired  for  the  advancement  of  liberty 
in  other  forms  than  in  the  mere  establishment  of  Queen 
Isabella's  throne,  negotiating,  among  other  schemes,  a 
treaty  for  the  more  effectual  suppression  of  the  slave 
trade.  In  George  Borrow's  "  Bible  in  Spain,"  an  instance 
is  recorded  of  his  prompt  solicitude  to  relieve  individual 
suffering.  Mr.  Borrow  had  been  thrown  into  prison  by 
the  Spanish  authorities  for  opening  a  shop  for  the  sale  of 
Bibles.  He  appealed  to  the  English  Ambassador,  and 
Mr.  Villiers  immediately  paid  him  a  visit,  heard  his  own 
explanation  of  the  affair,  and  then,  hastening  to  the 
Spanish  Minister,  at  once  procured  his  countryman's 
release.     Succeeding  to  the  earldom,  he  came  to  England 


i8o  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


in  1839  t°  take  his  place  in  the  House  of  Peers,  and,  as 
Lord  Privy  Seal,  to  strengthen  the  Melbourne  Administra- 
tion ;  but  the  days  of  that  Cabinet  were  already  numbered, 
and  the  advent  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  shut  him  out  of  office 
for  another  five  years.  But  the  interval  was  well  im- 
proved. He  performed,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother 
Charles,  the  chairman  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League, 
a  very  important  part  in  furthering  Sir  Robert  Peel's 
Corn-Law  Repeal  Bill  of  1846,  and  the  dislocation 
of  the  Conservative  Party  consequent  on  that  measure 
made  way  for  the  return  of  the  Whigs.  And  now  Lord 
Clarendon,  as  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  had  to  take  part  in 
another  civil  war,  though  on  a  much  smaller  scale  than 
that  in  Spain. 

From  the  Earl's  triumphs  in  Ireland,  we  pass  on  to 
his  important  Embassy  in  France  during  the  Crimean 
War. 

The  post  of  Ambassador  to  France  brought  into  requisi- 
tion all  the  experiences  of  his  past  life,  to  which  the  suavity 
of  his  manners  and  the  goodness  of  his  heart  were,  under 
the  circumstances  of  the  hour,  added  qualifications  of  the 
utmost  value.  If  it  were  too  much  to  say  that  no  other 
Englishman  could  have  supplied  his  place,  it  will  probably 
be  admitted  that  none  could  more  ably  have  forwarded  the 
views  of  Napoleon  III.  Whether  or  not  he  was  constitu- 
tionally in  love  with  the  policy  which  united  us  to  France 
is  a  matter  of  doubt. 

Lord  Clarendon's  latest  appointment  to  office  was  under 
Mr.  Gladstone,  in  1868,  and  his  death  eighteen  months 
after  was  felt  to  be  a  great  blow  to  the  stability  of  that 
Cabinet.  He  married,  in  1839,  Lady  Katharine,  daughter 
of  Walter  James,  first  Earl  of  Verulam,  and  widow  of 
John  Barham,  of  Stockbridge,  by  whom  (who  died  1874) 
he  had  : 

1.  Edward  Hyde,  died  in  infancy. 

2.  Edward  Hyde,  fifth  Earl. 


Descendants  of  the  Protector  s  Fourth  Daughter.  1 81 

3.  George  Patrick  Hyde,  born  1847  ;  Captain,  Grenadier 
Guards ;  Military  Secretary  to  Lord  Lytton  in  India, 
holding  a  staff  appointment  in  the  Afghan  Expedition  of 
1878. 

4.  Francis  Hyde,  married,  1876,  Virginia  Katharine, 
second  daughter  of  Eric  Carrington  Smith,  Esq. 

5.  Constance,  married,  1864,  to  Frederick  Arthur,  the 
younger  son  of  Edward,  fourteenth  Earl  of  Derby,  and  has 
issue  :  Edward  George  Villiers,  Victor  Albert,  Geoffrey 
and  Arthur — twins,  Geoffrey  dying  in  infancy — Ferdinand 
Charles,  Katharine  Mary,  and  others. 

6.  Alice ;  married,  i860,  to  Edward  Bootle  Wilbra- 
ham,  Baron  Skelmersdale,  of  Lancashire,  and  had  issue : 
Edward  George,  Villiers  Richard,  Randle  Arthur,  Reginald 
Francis,  Alice  Maud,  Constance  Adela,  Florence  Mary, 
Bertha  Mable,  Edith  Cecil. 

7.  Emily  Theresa,  married,  1868,  to  Odo  William 
Leopold  Russell,  Baron  Ampthill  of  Ampthill,  third  son 
of  the  late  Major- General  Lord  George  William  Russell, 
G.C.B.  Lord  Ampthill  died  in  August,  1884,  in  Berlin, 
where  he  was  then  British  Ambassador  to  Germany, 
and  had  issue  :  Arthur  Oliver  Villiers,  born  at  Rome, 
1870  ;  Victor  Alexander  Frederick  and  Alexander  Victor 
Frederick,  twins ;  Constance  Evelyn  Villiers. 

8.  Florence  Margaret,  died  in  infancy. 

His  lordship  died  in  1870,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  son, 

Edward  Hyde  Villiers,  fifth  Earl  of  Clarendon  and 
Baron  Hyde ;  an  officer  in  the  South  Herts  Yeomanry 
Cavalry ;  M.P.  for  Brecon,  1869.  Born  1846 ;  married, 
1876,  to  the  Lady  Caroline  Elizabeth  Agar  Ellis,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Normanton,  and  has  issue  :  George 
Herbert  Hyde,  born  1877.  The  earldom  of  Clarendon  is 
a  branch  of  the  earldom  of  Jersey,  but  derived  maternally 
from  the  Lord  Chancellor  Clarendon  of  the  Civil  War 
period. 


1 82  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

Barony  of  Lytton. 

Edith,  second  daughter  of  Edward  Ernest  Villiers  (see 
page  177);  married,  in  1864,  Sir  Edward  Robert  Lytton 
Bulwer-Lytton  (only  son  of  the  first  Baron  Lytton,  of 
Knebworth,  in  Herts),  late  Minister  at  Lisbon,  and  Viceroy 
of  India  in  1876.  In  the  following  year  the  Queen  con- 
ferred on  him  the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Civil  Division  of  the 
Order  of  the  Bath.     His  children  are  : 

I.  Rowland  Edward,  died  in  infancy. 

II.  Henry  Meredith  Edward,  died  young. 

III.  A  son  born  at  Simla  in  1876. 

IV.  Elizabeth  Edith. 

V.  Constance  Georgina. 

VI.  Emily. 

His  father,  the  first  Lord  Lytton,  distinguished  as  a 
novelist,  a  poet,  and  an  orator,  was  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey  in  1873.  Sir  William  Lytton,  of  Knebworth,  M.P. 
for  Herts  in  the  Long  Parliament,  was  one  of  the  Com- 
missioners to  treat  with  King  Charles  at  Uxbridge. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  YOUNGER  SONS  OF  SIR  HENRY  CROMWELL,  THE 
GRANDFATHER  OF  THE  LORD  PROTECTOR  OLIVER,  AND 
HIS  BROTHERS  AND  SISTERS. 


THE  descendants  of  Sir  Henry  Cromwell — "the 
Golden  Knight,"  as  he  was  termed  on  account  of 
his  lavish  generosity  and  hospitality — having 
been  traced  through  his  two  sons,  Sir  Oliver 
and  Mr.  Robert  Cromwell,  it  will  now  be  convenient  to 
add  a  brief  account  of  the  other  three  sons  of  Sir  Henry, 
namely,  Henry,  Richard,  and  Philip.  From  the  Register 
of  the  University  of  Oxford,  printed  by  the  Oxford  Histori- 
cal Society,  we  learn  that  each  of  these  gentlemen  had  the 
advantage  of  an  education  at  the  University  of  Oxford. 

Henry,  third  son  of  Sir  Henry,  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
was  matriculated  at  St.  John's  College,  in  1581,  and  was 
admitted  Fellow  in  1588,  after  having  taken  the  degree  of 
B.C.L.  He  resided  on  his  patrimony  at  Upwood,  was 
a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  was  returned  as  member  for 
the  borough  of  Huntingdon  in  the  first  Parliament  called 
by  James  I.  As  a  sign  of  his  interest  in  the  public  welfare, 
we  are  told  that  he  was  one  of  the  "  adventurers  "  who 
subscribed  their  money  for  the  colonization  of  the  infant 
colony  of  Virginia.  He  died  in  1630,  leaving  one  son — 
Richard — who  died  without  male  issue  in  1626,  and  was 
buried  at  Upwood. 


184  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Richard,  fourth  son  of  Sir  Henry,  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  was  matriculated  at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  in 
1587,  and  admitted  to  the  degree  of  B.A.  in  1590.  On  the 
authority  of  Willis's  Not.  Parlem.  we  are  told  by  Noble 
(vol.  i.  30)  that  this  Richard  Cromwell  was  member  for 
the  borough  of  Lostwithiel  in  Cornwall,  in  the  forty-third 
year  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  How  he  became  connected  with 
so  distant  a  part  of  the  country,  we  are  left  to  conjecture  ; 
and  it  is  just  possible  that  Willis  may  have  made  a  mis- 
take, and  may  have  confounded  this  Richard  Cromwell 
with  another  of  the  same  name  in  Wiltshire,  who  matricu- 
lated, in  1581,  at  Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford.  He  is  supposed 
to  have  left  no  child,  as  his  landed  property  passed  at  his 
death,  in  1628,  to  his  nephew  Oliver,  afterwards  the  Lord 
Protector. 

Philip,  fifth  son  of  Sir  Henry,  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
was  matriculated,  in  1592,  at  Brasenose  College,  like  his 
brother  Richard,  and  in  1599  was  admitted  at  St.  John's 
College  to  the  degree  of  B.C.L.  That  old  Sir  Henry 
should  thus  have  sent  three  of  his  sons  to  the  University 
may  be  accepted  as  some  indication  that  he  did  not 
undervalue  for  his  children  the  benefits  of  a  sound  educa- 
tion. After  leaving  the  University,  Philip  seems  to  have 
settled  down  into  the  position  of  a  country  gentleman, 
and  to  have  resided  on  his  estate  at  Biggin,  between  Ram- 
say and  Upwood,  in  Hunts.  He  was  knighted  by  James  I., 
at  Whitehall,  in  1604,  and  died  in  1629,  leaving  behind 
him  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  Three  of  these  sons 
fought  in  the  Civil  War,  two  of  them — Philip  and  Oliver 
— on  the  side  of  the  Parliament,  and  one — Thomas — on  the 
side  of  the  King,  thus  illustrating  the  terrible  nature  of  a 
Civil  War,  when  brothers  have  to  draw  the  sword  against 
each  other  on  the  field  of  battle. 

I.  Philip  was  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Bristol,  and 
died  of  his  wounds  (1645).  2.  Oliver,  after  seeing  service 
in   England,  accompanied   his  cousin,  the   Protector,  to 


Descendants  of  Sir  Henry  Cromwell.       185 

Ireland,  in  command  of  a  regiment,  and  there  died  in 
1649. 

3.  Thomas  espoused  the  King's  cause  on  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War,  and  passed  through  it  in  safety.  He  left 
one  son — Henry — whose  chief  claim  to  be  remembered  by 
posterity  is  that  he  was  numbered  amongst  the  friends  and 
correspondents  of  Alexander  Pope.  Pope's  letters  to 
Henry  Cromwell  may  be  read  in  his  correspondence. 
Nothing  more  is  known  about  him — whether  married  or 
not. 

4.  Richard,  youngest  son  of  Sir  Philip  Cromwell,  appears 
to  have  succeeded  in  keeping  out  of  service  in  the  Civil 
War,  and  at  the  Restoration  showed  his  dislike  of  the 
Protector's  memory  and  all  his  doings  by  quietly  abandon- 
ing the  name  of  Cromwell,  and  resuming  the  name  of 
Williams.     He  died  in  1661,  and  was  buried  at  Ramsay. 

The  Brothers  and  Sisters  of  the  Lord  Protector. 

Oliver  had  two  brothers,  Henry  and  Robert,  both  of 
whom  died  in  infancy,  and  seven  sisters :  Joan,  Elizabeth, 
Catharine,  Margaret,  Anna,  Jane,  and  Robina.  Of  these, 
Joan,  born  in  1598,  died  at  the  age  of  eight.  Of  the  other 
six  who  reached  maturity  a  brief  account  here  follows  : 

Elizabeth  Cromwell,  born  in  1593  ;  died  unmarried 
in  1672,  and  was  buried  within  the  Communion-rails  of  the 
chancel  of  Wicken.  An  interesting  letter  to  her  finds  its 
place  in  the  last  edition  of  "  Cromwell's  Letters  and 
Speeches."  Mr.  Carlyle  thus  introduces  it :  "  By  accident 
another  curious  glimpse  into  the  Cromwell  family.  Sister 
Elizabeth,  of  whom,  except  the  date  of  her  birth,  and  that 
she  died  unmarried,  almost  nothing  is  known,  comes 
visibly  to  light  here — living  at  Ely,  in  very  truth,  as 
Noble  had  guessed  she  did,  quietly  boarded  at  some 
friendly  doctor's  there,  in  the  scene  and  among  the 
people  always  familiar  to  her.  She  is  six  years  older 
than  Oliver — now  and  then  hears  from  him,  we  are  glad 


1 86  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


to  see,  and  receives  small  tokens  of  his  love  of  a  sub- 
stantial kind.  For  the  rest,  sad  news  in  this  letter  :  son 
Ireton  is  dead  of  fever  in  Ireland.  The  tidings  reached 
London  just  a  week  ago. 

"  For  my  dear  Sister  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  at  Dr. 
Richard  Stand's  house  at  Ely.     These. 

"  Cockpit, 

"  15  Dec,  1651. 

"  Dear  Sister, 

"  I  have  received  divers  letters  from  you.  I  must 
desire  you  to  excuse  my  not  writing  so  often  as  you  expect. 
My  burden  is  not  ordinary,  nor  are  my  weaknesses  a  few, 
to  go  through  therewith  ;  but  I  have  hope  in  a  better 
strength.  I  have  herewith  sent  you  Twenty  pounds  as  a 
small  token  of  my  love.  I  hope  I  shall  be  mindful  of  you. 
I  wish  you  and  I  may  have  our  rest  and  satisfaction  where 
all  saints  have  theirs.  What  is  of  this  world  will  be  found 
transitory,  a  clear  evidence  whereof  is  my  son  Ireton's  death. 
"  I  rest,  dear  Sister, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  Oliver  Cromwell. 

"  P.S. — My  Mother,  wife,  and  your  friends  here  re- 
member their  loves." 

Catharine  Cromwell,  the  Protector's  third  sister, 
born  1597,  married  Roger  Whitstone  (descended  from  a 
Peterborough  family),  who  served  in  the  British  forces  in 
the  pay  of  Holland,  where  also  most  of  her  children  were 
born,  and  where  he  himself  is  supposed  to  have  died  some 
time  before  his  brother-in-law's  rise  to  power.  The  widow 
and  her  children  then  returned  to  England,  Henry,  the 
eldest  of  them,  serving  as  a  sea-captain  under  Admiral 
Stokes.  But  neither  he  nor  his  three  brothers  appear  to 
have  left  descendants,  and  the  same  must  be  said  of  their 
sister  Levina,  who  in  1655  was  married  to  Major  Richard 


The  Sisters  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  187 


Beke,  of  Buckinghamshire.  This  lady  is  referred  to  as 
being  near  death,  in  the  postscript  of  a  letter  by  Lord 
Fauconberg.  From  another  document  here  following, 
we  gather  that,  on  the  Whitstone  family  returning  from 
abroad,  the  widow  and  her  daughter  Levina  shared  for 
some  time  the  dwelling-house  of  her  brother  Oliver  at  the 
Cockpit,  and  in  that  document  Mrs.  Whitstone  is  stated 
to  have  been  "his  best-beloved  sister." 

Among  the  troops  of  petitioners  besieging  the  throne  of 
the  restored  Charles  figures  Lady  Baker  (widow  of  Sir 
Thomas  Baker,  of  Exeter),  who,  while  recounting  the 
sacrifices  which  she  and  her  husband  had  made  during  the 
wars,  indulges  in  a  long  narrative  touching  her  own  corre- 
spondence with  the  Cromwell  family,  undertaken,  as  she 
represents,  solely  with  a  view  to  plead  the  King's  cause. 
She  had  commenced  proceedings  by  forming  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Mrs.  Whitstone,  "  Cromwell's  best  -  beloved 
sister,"  at  the  time  when  the  family  was  living  at  the 
Cockpit,  in  Westminster,  in  order  to  obtain  through  her 
means  a  personal  interview  with  her  brother,  expressing  to 
her  dear  friend  the  confident  hope  that,  if  she  could  only 
get  speech  of  my  Lord  General,  she  doubted  not  to  render 
him  the  happiest  man  alive.  In  pursuance  of  this  object, 
she  was  so  far  successful  on  one  occasion  as  to  induce 
Mrs.  Whitstone  to  carry  a  request  in  to  her  brother,  who 
was  no  farther  off  than  in  an  adjoining  room  ;  but  Mrs. 
Whitstone,  after  a  talk  with  him,  came  back  with  tears  in 
her  eyes,  saying  that  he  was  the  dearest  brother  in  the 
world,  and  she  would  never  forgive  herself  if  through  her 
means  any  injury  should  befall  him — in  short,  my  Lady 
Baker  was  given  to  understand  that  many  thought  her  a 
dangerous  person,  an  insinuation  which  she  repelled  with 
laughter,  asking  whether  they  thought  that,  because  she 
was  a  big  woman,  she  must  therefore  be  full  of  ammuni- 
tion. Henry  Cromwell  now  enters  the  room,  desiring  to 
know  the  object  of  the  lady's  mission,  and,  after  a  renewed 


1 88  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

colloquy  with  his  father,  revives  her  hopes  of  a  personal 
audience.  But  a  personal  audience  is  not  yet  attainable  ; 
her  benevolent  solicitude  is  again  met  with  a  message  of 
dismissal,  and  a  recommendation  to  put  her  thoughts 
upon  paper ;  and  so  ended  this  experimental  visit.  But 
shortly  afterwards  she  again  waited,  by  appointment,  on 
Mrs.  Cromwell  at  the  Cockpit,  and  begged  Mrs.  Whit- 
stone's  daughter  to  announce  her  arrival.  Mrs.  Crom- 
well, who  had  not  yet  left  her  private  apartments,  returned 
answer  that  it  was  out  of  no  disrespect  to  Lady  Baker  that 
she  was  not  up  ready  to  receive  her,  but  the  fact  was  that 
she  and  her  lord  had  not  slept  that  night ;  she  would,  never- 
theless, let  him  know  that  Lady  Baker  was  come.  The 
long-looked-for  opportunity  seemed  now  at  last  within 
reach  ;  but,  alas  !  instead  of  my  Lord  General  coming 
forward  to  greet  her,  he  was  represented  by  two  of  his 
officers — to  wit,  Pickering  and  Fiennes — to  whom,  of 
course,  she  stoutly  refused  to  give  any  explanation.  She 
had  not  come  to  see  them,  and  she  had  nothing  to  com- 
municate. Mrs.  Whitstone  now  urgently  recommended 
her  departure,  suggesting  that  very  possibly  there  might 
be  something  brewing  against  her.  Lady  Baker,  scorning 
to  be  supposed  accessible  to  fear  while  in  the  discharge  of 
her  duty,  was  proceeding  to  walk  into  the  garden,  where 
she  found  her  progress  again  checked  by  a  guard  of 
musketeers,  and  it  required  more  than  one  additional 
messenger  yet  to  persuade  her  to  quit  the  premises. 

It  could  not  have  been  long  after  this  affair  that  the 
widow  Whitstone  married  Colonel  John  Jones,  one  of  the 
regicides  who  suffered  the  penalty  of  high  treason  on  the 
King's  return,  from  and  after  which  event  the  lady  also 
sinks  out  of  history.  Mark  Noble  observes  respecting 
her :  "  She  is  said  to  have  been  very  unlike  to  her  brother, 
the  Protector." 

Margaret  Cromwell,  the  Protector's  fourth  sister, 
born  1601,  was  married  to  Colonel  Valentine  Wauton  (or 


The  Sisters  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  189 

Walton),  of  Great  Stoughton,  co.  Hunts,  a  member  of  a 
family  which  for  generations  back  had  been  in  cordial 
alliance  with  the  Cromwells,  and  by  this  marriage  the  old 
friendship  seemed  more  than  ever  confirmed.  In  one 
respect  only — namely,  in  silent  disapproval  of  the  Pro- 
tectorate— did  Wauton's  friendship  suffer  abatement.  On 
the  return  of  royalism,  Colonel  Wauton,  as  having  been 
one  of  the  most  impetuous  of  the  late  King's  judges,  could, 
of  course,  expect  no  mercy,  and  he  accordingly  retired  to 
some  spot  in  the  Low  Countries,  where  he  died  in  the 
following  year,  the  victim,  as  was  supposed,  of  disappoint- 
ment, anxiety,  and  dread.  His  first  wife,  Margaret  Crom- 
well, had  been  long  dead,  and  his  children  must  have  found 
themselves  great  sufferers  by  the  total  confiscation  of  their 
father's  estates.     These  children  appear   to    have   been : 

(1)  George,  born  1620,  died  in  infancy ;  (2)  Valentine, 
born  1623 ;  (3)  another  George,  slain  at  Marston  Moor ; 
(4)  Robert,  a  London  mercer,  ruined  by  a  contract  to 
supply  nearly  £7,000  worth  of  cloth  at  Oliver's  funeral ; 
he  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Pride ;  (5)  Anna,  born 
1622  ;  and  perhaps  (6)  Lieutenant  Ralph  Wauton,  who 
fell  in  Scotland  serving  under  General  Monk. 

Anna  Cromwell,  the  Protector's  fifth  sister,  born 
in  1603,  was  married  to  John  Sewster,  of  Wistow,  co. 
Hunts,  Esq.,  and  was  buried  at  Wistow  in  1646,  her 
husband  surviving  her  thirty-six  years.  They  were  a  quiet, 
unambitious  race,  and  the  "  particular  regard  "  which  the 
Protector  entertained  towards  them  was  no  doubt  based 
upon  the  Puritanism  common  to  both  houses.  The  chil- 
dren, six  in  number,  were :  (1)  John,  of  whom  presently  ; 

(2)  Robert,  buried  at  Wistow,  1705 ;  (3)  Lucy,  1631  ; 
(4)  Robina,  named  after  her  aunt,  became  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Ambassador  Lockhart ;  (5)  Catharine,  died  in  infancy, 
1642  ;   (6)  Anna,  died  in  infancy,  1647. 

John  Sewster,  eldest  son  and  heir,  died  in  1680  (the 
year  before  his  father),  leaving  two  daughters,  who  both 


190  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


married,  but  had  no  issue.  The  family  pictures  descended 
to  Mr.  Cowley,  of  Fenny-Stanton. 

Jane  Cromwell,  the  sixth  sister  of  the  Protector 
Oliver,  born  in  1606,  married,  1636,  John  Disbrowe,  after- 
wards one  of  the  Major-Generals  of  the  Protectorate,  and 
a  member  of  the  Upper  House.  The  family  was  seated  at 
Eltisley,  co.  Cambs,  and  were  very  prominent  Puritans  in 
matters  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil.  John  Disbrowe  was 
stoutly  opposed  to  his  brother-in-law's  acceptance  of  the 
kingly  title  ;  he  was  also  a  main  agent  in  upsetting  the 
Protector  Richard.  At  the  Restoration  he  went  abroad, 
but  was  summoned  back  by  the  proclamation  of  1665, 
requiring  certain  refugees  to  report  themselves.  He  lived 
to  exult  in  the  Revolution  of  1688,  which  virtually  banished 
the  Stuart  race  ;  and  it  is  thought  that  after  the  death  of 
his  wife,  Jane  Cromwell,  he  married  a  second  time. 

Lady  Jane  Disbrowe  is  believed  to  have  died  about  the 
year  1656,  as  various  letters  from  her  husband  at  that 
period,  while  he  was  executing  his  major-generalship  in 
Wiltshire,  refer  to  her  failing  health,  and  solicit  permission 
to  return  home. 

Robina  Cromwell,  the  Protector's  seventh  and 
youngest  sister,  was  married  to  Dr.  Peter  French,  a 
Puritan  divine,  Canon  of  Christchurch,  Oxford,  who  died 
in  1655  during  the  dominion  of  his  brother-in-law.  In 
the  following  year  she  became  the  wife  of  another  divine, 
the  learned  and  eccentric  Dr.  John  Wilkins,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Chester  ;  time  of  her  death  unknown.  By  her 
first  marriage  she  had  one  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married 
in  1664  to  John  Tillotson,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury. The  prelate's  children  were  three  in  number  : 
(1)  A  son  who  died  in  early  manhood  ;  (2)  Elizabeth,  died 
unmarried,  1681  ;  (3)  Mary,  married  to  James  Chadwick, 
of  Wanstead,  Esq.,  and  had  issue :  George,  John,  and 
Mary.  Of  these  last  three,  George  left  one  son,  Evelyn  ; 
and  Mary,  as  the  wife  of  Edward  Fowler,  son  of  Bishop 


Wills  and  Registers.  191 

Fowler  of  Gloucester,  had  two  daughters,  Anna  Maria  and 
Elizabeth. 

Wills  and  Registers. 

It  appears,  upon  a  review  of  the  family  history,  that  the 
Lord  Protector  had  ten  male  cousins,  many  of  them 
stanch  Royalists,  fighting  and  dying  for  their  King.  Only 
two  of  those  ten  cousins  left  a  son  each.  Both  of  these 
sons  bore  the  favourite  family  name  of  Henry,  and  both 
of  them  died,  so  far  as  is  known,  without  issue — one 
in  1673,  and  the  other  in  1712 — if  we  may  place  reliance 
upon  the  statements  made  by  the  Rev.  Mark  Noble  in  his 
"  Memoirs  of  the  House  of  Cromwell."  It  is  possible  that 
he  may  have  failed  to  trace  quite  accurately  the  history  of 
those  ten  cousins  of  the  Protector,  and  that  from  some  of 
them  may  have  descended  one  or  more  of  those  persons 
who,  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  lived 
and  died  in  London,  and  bore  the  name  of  Cromwell.  The 
registers  of  the  old  burial-ground  in  Bunhill  Fields,*  now 

*  Extracts  from  Registers  of  Burials  in  Bunhill  Fields. 

...     Mr.  Cromwell's  child  fr.  St.  Sepulchre's. 

Mr.  Cromwell's  child  fr.  Bartlett's  Buildings. 
...     Mrs.  Cromwell  fr.  Hamstid  (sic). 
...     Mrs.  C.  fr.  St.  George  the  Martyr. 
(She  was  the  wife  of  Major  Hy.  Cromwell.) 
...     Mr.  C.'s  child  fr.  St.  Sepulchre's. 
...     Mrs.  C.  fr.  Snowhill. 
...     Mr.  C.'s  child  fr.  Lingon's  Fields  (sic). 
...     Mr.  C.'s  child  fr.  Grasinlane  (sic). 
...     Mr.  Oliver  C.  fr.  Holeborn  (sic). 

Mr.  C.  fr.  Bridgwater  Square. 
...     Mr.  C.  from  Bocking  in  Essex. 
...     Miss  C.  fr.  Paternoster  Row. 
...     Mrs.  Sarah  C.  from  Hamstid. 

Edward  Cromwell  Esqr.  fr.  Hamstid. 
...     Mr.  Rob.  C.  fr.  Cheshunt. 
...     Mr.  Henry  C.  fr.  "  Bartolmew  "  Close. 
...     Mr.  Henry  C.  fr.  the  Old  Bailey. 
...     Wm.  C.  Esqr.  fr.  "  Holeborn." 
...     Mr.  C.'s  child  from  St.  Antlins. 

Miss  C.  fr.  "  Barkhamstead." 
...     Mr.  Oliver  C.  fr.  the  Strand. 


1727. 

Oct. 

18. 

1728. 

Feb. 

27. 

1731- 

July 

16. 

1732. 

Ap. 

1. 

1733- 

May 

18. 

I73& 

Ap. 

14. 

1741. 

May 

8. 

1741. 

Jn. 

23- 

1748. 

Aug. 

11. 

1748. 

Oct. 

16. 

1752. 

Mar. 

13- 

1753- 

Jiy- 

25- 

I759- 

May 

2. 

1759- 

Dec. 

10. 

1762. 

Feb. 

24. 

1769. 

Jan. 

12. 

1772. 

Feb. 

5- 

1772. 

J«iy 

15- 

1772. 

July 

22. 

1777. 

Oct. 

8. 

1785- 

Ap. 

22. 

ig2  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

kept  at  Somerset  House,  and  the  various  registers  of  the 
city  and  "suburbs  of  London,*  contain  numerous  entries 
of  that  name.  The  name  is  also  found  four  or  rive 
times  upon  the  Deed  Poll  of  the  Livery  Voters  in  the 
City  of  Londonf  in  the   early  years    of   the  eighteenth 

1789.     Nov.  25.     ...     Miss  L.  Cromwell  fr.  Hampstead. 
1 81 3.     Feb.     8.     ...     Mary  C  fr.  Ponder's  End  (age  108). 
1834.     March  7.     ...     Susannah  C.  fr.  Plamstead  End  (age  89). 

*  Extracts  from  Various  London  Parish  Registers. 
1 701.     John  C,  son  of  John,  bap.  at  St.  James's,  Clerkenwell. 
j  707.     John  C,  son  of  John,  buried  at  St.  Mary  Aldermanbury. 

1710.  Chas.  C.  buried  at  St.  Botolph's. 

1 71 1.  Jane  C.  married  at  St.  Dioni's  to  Chas.  Faethr. 

1 7 18.  John  C.  buried  at  St.  Mary  Aldermanbury. 

1 7 19.  Elizabeth  C.  buried  ditto. 

1741.     Eliz.  C.  daughter  of  James  and  Joanna  bap.  at  Mr.  Keith's  Chapel,  May 

Fair. 
1743.     Oliver  C.  (a  boy)  buried  at  St.  James,  Clerkenwell. 
1746.     James  C.  (a  boy)  ditto. 
1779.     Sophia  bap.  at  St.  Sepulchre's,  Newgate. 
1779.     Mary  C.  married  at  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square,  to  Robert  Lowe. 

+  Extracts  from  the  Deed  Poll  of  Livery  Voters  in  the 
City  of  London. 
1700.     Francis  Cromwell,  Citizen  and  Goldsmith. 
1700.     Henry  Cromwell,  Plaisterer. 
1 7 10.     Willm.  Cromwell,  Citizen  and  Baker. 
1 7 10.     Jonathan  Cromwell,  Scrivener. 

Copy  of  a  Certificate  from  Register  of  the  Masons'  Company, 

London. 
William  Cromwell  of  London,  Mason  was  admitted  into  the  Freedom  afore- 
said and  sworn  in  the  Mayoralty  of  Thos.  Wright  Esqr  Mayor  znAJohn  Wilkes 
Esq1"  Chamberlain  and  is  entered  in  the  book  signed  with  the  letter  A  relating 
to  the  Purchasing  of  Freedoms  and  the  Admissions  of  Freemen  (to  wit)  The 
4th  day  of  April  in  the  26th  Year  of  the  Reign  of  King  George  the  Third  And 
in  the  Year  of  our  Lord  1786  In  Witness  whereof  the  Seal  of  the  Office  of 
Chamberlain  of  the  said  City  is  hereunto  affixed  dated  in  the  Chamber  of  the 
Guildhall  of  the  same  City  the  day  and  year  aforesaid. 


Countersigned  with  the  initials  J.  W. 


Wills  and  Registers.  193 


century.  One  of  them  was  a  citizen  and  goldsmith, 
another  a  plasterer,  another  a  baker,  another  a  scrivener, 
and  another  a  mason.  In  Chester's  "  London  Marriage 
Licenses  "*  also  may  be  found  five  or  six  entries  in 
the  seventeenth  century ;  and  in  Phillimore's  "  Note- 
book of  London  and  Middlesex"!  some  interesting  in- 
formation about  the  family  is  contained.  The  Register 
of  Gray's  Inn}  shows  that  eight  or  nine  members  of  the 
family  were  at  various  times  enrolled  in  that  home  of  legal 
learning.  The  first  was  Thomas  Cromwell,  who  after- 
wards became  Earl  of  Essex,  and  for  a  time  the  greatest 
man  in  England  under  Henry  VII. 

*  Extracts  from  Chester's  "London  Marriage  Licenses." 

1661.  John  Cromwell  of  Eling  married  Joan  Bennett. 

1663.  George  C.  of  Eling  married  Elizabeth  Bolles. 

1686.  Clement  C.  of  St.  Dunstan's  married  Christina  Stanniford. 

1700.  John  C.  of  St.  Mary  Abchurch  married  Elizabeth  Aston. 

1702.  Robert  C.  of  Kensington,  widower,  married  Margaret  Benton. 

f  Extracts  from  Phillimore's  "  Notebook  of  London  and 
Middlesex." 

Walter  Cromwell  of  Ealing,  yeoman,  by  his  Will  dated  July  16,  1668,  devised 
Hangers  to  his  son,  John,  and  to  his  Wife  ^40  a  year.  To  the  Poor  of  Ealing 
he  bequeathed  ^ioa  year. 

In  Feltham  Churchyard  are  several  monuments  to  this  family. 

Mr.  Joseph  Cromwell,  brewer  and  maltster  of  Hammersmith,  died  Nov.  4, 
1 816,  aged  70. 

Mr.  Geo.  Cromwell  died  July  25,  1825,  aged  85. 

Jas.  Cromwell,  Esqr.,  brewer  and  maltster  of  Hammersmith,  died  June  3, 
1 84 1,  aged  89. 

X  Extracts  from  the  Admission  Register  of  Gray's  Inn. 

1524.  Thomas  Cromwell  (afterwards  Earl  of  Essex). 

1 56 1.  Francis  C.  (probably  son  of  Sir  Richard). 

1609.  Giles  C.  of  Westerham,  Kent. 

1620.  Henry  C.  son  of  Sir  Philip  of  Ramsey. 

1654.  Henry  C.  son  of  the  Protector. 

1703.  Oliver  C.  son  of  Henry  of  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn. 

1709.     Samuel  C.  son  of  Samuel  of  Mansfield,  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
1747.     Richard  C.  of  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn. 
1806.     Oliver  C.  son  of  Thomas  of  Enfield. 

13 


194  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

The  wills  proved  in  the  Prerogative  Court  of  Canter- 
bury,* and  the  wills  at  Somerset  House,-f-  are  full  of 
interest,  the  earliest  carrying  us  back  to  the  time  of 
Henry  VI.,  and  the  latest  bringing  us  down  to  George  III.'s 
reign.  When  the  eye  glances  over  these  various  records 
of  the  past,  one  is  inevitably  led  to  the  conclusion  that 
long  before  the  days  of  Oliver  Cromwell  there  were  in 
and  around  London  not  a  few  persons  who  bore  the  same 
surname.  We  know  that  John  Cromwell,  who  died  at 
Lambeth  in  1523,  left  sons  ;  and  probably  they  married 
and  left  progeny. 

Passing  from  London  to  York,:}:  we  shall  find  some  very 

*  Wills  proved  in  Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury. 

A.D. 

1455.     Rolph,  Lord  Cromwell  of  Tattershall. 
J523-     John  Cromwell  of  St.  Mary's,  Lambeth. 
1534.     Maude  Cromwell  of  St.  Mildred,  Poultry. 

1546.     Sir  Rd.  Cromwell,  alias  Williams  (sic)  of  Hinchinbrook  in  the  county 
of  Huntingdon. 

(He  was  the  nephew  of  Thomas,  Earl  of  Essex.) 

t  Wills  at  Somerset  House. 

1748.     Thos.  C.  :  his  Executors  his  Brothers  Wm.  and  Henry.     He  left  a  son 

Henry.     Affidavit  to  Will  sworn  by  Rd.  Cromwell. 
1772.     Ann  Cromwell,  from  "Herts  "  (sic). 
1779.     Geo.  C.  of  Feltham,  yeoman  :  left  sons  Geo.  and  Wm. 

X  Extracts  from  Wills  at  the  Registry,  York. 

William  Cromewell  of  lownde.  Will  dated  26  July  1525;  proved  12 
October  1525.  My  bodie  to  be  buried  in  the  church  of  Sutton  of  Saint 
Bartilmowe  within  the  belhouse,  and  the  church  to  have  iijs  iiijd.  To  my 
broder  Rchard  Cromewell.  To  ych  on'  of  my  sisters  a  shepe.  Residue  to  my 
.  .  .  Cecilie  my  executrix.  Supervisors,  Ric.  Cromwell  my  fader  and  John 
Atkinson.  Witnesses,  Vicar  of  Sutton,  John  pecke  yonger,  and  Ric.  Crowme- 
well,  with  others.     (Vol.  9,  folio  323. ) 

Richard  Cromewell  of  Sutton.  Will  dated  18  December  1528  ;  proved 
7  May  1529.  My  bodie  to  be  buried  in  the  church  of  Sutton  of  Sainte 
Bartilmowe.  To  our  ladie  of  Southwell  ijd.  To  Sutton  church  Beldyng  ijs. 
To  my  iij  doughters.  To  Jenet  pynchebeke.  To  ich  on'  of  my  childer 
childer.  To  Thomas  and  henry  Cromewell  my  brether  childer.  To  my 
broder  Roberte.  Residue  to  Richard  Cromewell  my  sone.  William  dpyng 
dann'  and  John  Atkynson  my  executors.  Witnesses,  William  hawmond,  vicar 
of  Sutton,  Thomas  Colby  the  elder,  and  William  fedean.  (Vol.  9,  folio 
396.) 


Wills  and  Registers.  195 


quaint  entries  of  wills  made  by  persons  who  bore  the  name 
of  Cromwell.  They  all  belong  to  the  first  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

But  it  is  in  the  West  of  England  that  we  shall  find  a 
greater  number  of  representatives  of  the  name  from  the 
sixteenth  century  onwards. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Devizes  and  of  Bath,  the 
registers  of  several  parish  churches  have  been  searched, 
with  the  result  of  showing  that  from  the  sixteenth  century 
downwards  many  persons  bearing  this  name  lived  there. 
For  example,  in  the  parish  register  of  All  Cannings,  near 
Devizes,*  we  find  three  entries  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Henrie  Cromewell  of  Sutton  opon  loundc.  Will  dated  4  November 
1546;  proved  5  May  1547.  My  bodie  to  be  buried  within  the  churche  yerde 
of  Sainte  Barthilmewe  of  Sutton.  To  Thomas  Cromewell  my  son.  To 
dorothie  my  dough ter.  Residue  to  Isabell  my  wif  my  executrix.  Supervisor, 
Thomas  Cromewell  my  broder.  Witnesses,  Thomas  Cromewell,  husbandman, 
Will'm  kendall,  and  John  Preston.     (Vol.  13,  folio  322.) 

Alexander  Cromewell  of  Moregaite  in  p'ish  of  Clareborough.  Will 
dated  8  Aprile  1550  ;  proved  9  October  1550.  My  bodie  to  be  buried  within 
the  churche  yerde  of  Clareborough.1  To  Thomas  Johnson  dwellinge  at 
Bolsore.  To  John  my  sone.  To  Agnes  my  doughter.  To  the  poore  folks  at 
the  daie  of  my  buriall  viijd.  To  Jennett  Cromwell  and  to  Elizabeth  Cromwell 
my  doughters.  Residue  and  make  them  my  executors.  Supervisors,  Thomas 
Cromwell  my  brother  and  Thomas  Cromwell  my  cousin.  Witnesses,  Sir 
William  Carre,  prest,  Roger  Bramston,  Roberte  Spenser,  Will'm  hides  the 
clerke,  with  other  moo'.     (Vol.  13,  folio  665.) 

Thomas  Crowmwell  of  morhous.  Will  dated  28  August  1558;  proved 
13  October  1558.  To  the  me'ding  of  morhouse  chappell  iijs  iiijd.  To  the  pore 
folks  in  Laxton  &  morhous  iijs  iiijd.  To  Will'm  browne.  To  Jasper  Sainpall. 
To  leonard  Wilson  my  servant.  To  barbara  temple,  Will'm  pomfrett,  and 
Dorothe  Flyntham.  To  barbara  my  wife  all  my  messuage  in  morhows  with  all 
the  lands,  etc.,  as  they  lye  in  the  towne  and  Feilds  in  the  Iordshippes  of 
Laxton  and  Ossington.2  Residue  to  barbara  my  wife  my  sole  executrix. 
Witnesses,  Sir  hugh  pullan,  vicar  of  Laxton,  Christopher  bettnay,  George 
pullaine,  and  Will'm  browne.     (Vol.  15,  part  ii.,  folio  364.) 

*  From  the  Parish  of  All  Cannings,  Co.  Wilts. 

Maria  Cromwell,  filia  Johan'  Cromwell  baptisata  8  Oct.  1585. 

John  Cromwell  buried  28  Nov.  1586. 

John  Beale  and  Elizabeth  Cromwell  married  12  June  1598. 

1  Clareborough  is  near  Retford. 

2  Laxton  and  Ossington  are  near  Newark. 


196 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


And  in  the  parish  of  Rodney-Stoke,*  numerous  entries  are 
found  between  the  years  1656  and   1775.     Similarly,  in 


From  the  Register  of  Baptisms,  Marriages,  and  Burials  in  the 
Parish  of  Rodney  Stoke,  Somerset,  1654-1787. 


1656. 

1656. 
1658. 
1660. 

1660. 
1662. 


1663. 
1675. 

1676. 
1692. 
1694. 

1695. 
1699. 
1705. 
1716. 
1719. 
1720. 
1720. 

1724. 
1727. 
1729. 
i73i- 
1733' 
1736. 
1737- 
1737 
1738 
1741, 
1744 
1745 
1747 
1749 

1751 
1759 


Parish  Register 


(greater 


Lenard  Cromwell  to  be 

part  illegible) 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  born  ... 
Leonard,  son  of  Thos.  Cromwell,  born... 
Agnes,  daughter  of  Thomas  Cromwell  and  ffrancis  his  wife, 

baptised    ... 
Leonard  Cromwell  signs  the  Rector's  declaration 
William  and  Agnes,  son  and  daughter  of  Thos.  and  ffrancis 

Cromwell,  baptised 
Agnes,  grand-daughter  of  Thos.  Cromwell,  buried 
William,  grandson  of  Thos.  Cromwell,  buried 
Leonard  Cromwell,  buried 

Edward  Cromell  (sic)  son  of  Mark  Cromell,  buried 
Mark  Cromwell,  buried 
George  Cromwell  and  Joan  Sage,  married 
George,  son  of  George  Cromwell,  baptised 
George,  son  of  George  and  Joan  Cromwell,  buried 
George,  son  of  George  and  Joan  Cromwell,  baptised 
Esther,  daughter  of  George  and  Joan  Cromwell,  baptised  ... 
Frances,  daughter  of  George  and  Jone  Cromwell,  baptised 
Tohn,  son  of  George  and  Jone  Cromwell,  baptised 
Hester  Cromwell,  buried 

Hester,  daughter  of  George  and  Jone  Cromwell,  baptised  ... 
George  Cromwell  and  Jone  Denmead  of  Cheddar  parish, 

married    ... 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  George  and  Jone  Cromwell,  baptised 
George,  son  of  George  and  Joan  Cromwell,  Junr.,  buried  ... 
Joan  Cromwell,  buried 
Mark  Cromwell,  buried 
Frances  Cromwell,  buried 

John  Cromwell  and  Hannah  Williams,  married  ... 
Frances,  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  Cromwell,  baptised 

8.  George  Cromwell,  buried 

9.  Mary,  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  Cromwell,  baptised  ... 
George,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  Cromwell,  baptised 
John,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  Cromwell,  baptised 

Jane,  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  Cromwell,  baptised  ... 
James,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  Cromwell,  buried 
James,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  Cromwell,  baptised 
George  Cromwell,  Junr.,  buried 
John  Cromwell,  buried 
Jane  Cromwell,  buried 
Jone  Cromal  {sic),  buried 


Oct. 

8. 

Nov. 

1. 

Feb. 

25- 

Mar. 

3i 

Aug. 

8. 

Aug. 

9- 

Aug. 

11. 

Feb. 

21. 

June 

17. 

Oct. 

5- 

Jan. 

24. 

Oct. 

21. 

Nov. 

18. 

Mar. 

22. 

Ap. 

9- 

Feb. 

21. 

May 

1. 

Feb. 

11. 

Oct. 

3- 

May 

17. 

Oct. 

5- 

Sep. 

8. 

Feb. 

20. 

Nov. 

29. 

Feb. 

4- 

May 

2. 

Aug. 

12. 

Jan. 

2. 

Jan. 

21. 

Aug. 

9- 

Ap. 

1. 

Nov. 

3- 

Aug. 

2. 

AP. 

2. 

Jan. 

21. 

Nov. 

6. 

June 

18. 

Mar. 

2. 

Wills  and  Registers.  197 

several  of  the  parish  registers  of  churches  in  the  city  of 
Bath*  many  entries  have  been  found  of  the  name  Crom- 
well between  the  years  1726  and  1791. 

It  seems  difficult  now  to  ascertain  what  was  the  link  of 
connection  between  members  of  the  family  in  Wiltshire 
and  Somersetshire,  and  those  in  the  Eastern  counties  and 
London.  So  far  as  is  known  to  the  writer  of  these  lines, 
the  name  of  Cromwell  has  entirely  fallen  away  in  the 
Eastern  counties,  where  it  was  so  well  known  and  dis- 
tinguished between  two  and  three  centuries  ago  ;  and  not 
more  than  half  a  dozen  representatives  of  the  name  are 
known  at  the  present  day,  so  completely  has  the  hand  of 
Time  reduced  to  obscurity  and  insignificance  the  repre- 
sentatives of  one  of  the  greatest  names  inscribed  upon  the 
pages  of  English  history. 

George  Cromal  (sic),  buried  ...  ...  ...  ...     June    22. 

1766.  John  Cromwell,  buried  ...  ...  ...  ...     Oct.    22. 

1775-     James  Cromwill  (sic),  buried  ...  ...  ...    June      6. 

*  Extracts  from  St.  James's  Baptismal  Register,  Bath. 

1726.  Wm.  C.  son  of  James,  baptised. 

1745.  Jas.  C.  son  of  Joseph,  baptised. 

1749.  Joseph  C.  son  of  Joseph,  baptised. 

1754.  Oliver  C.  son  of  Peter,  baptised. 

1755-  John  C.  son  of  Oliver,  baptised. 

1767.  James  C.  son  of  James,  baptised. 

1785.     Willm.  C.  son  of  Oliver  and  Catherine,  baptised. 

Extracts  from  Widcombe  Baptismal  Register. 
1732.     Peter  C.  son  of  Oliver,  baptised. 
1 75 1.     James  C.  son  of  Joseph,  baptised. 

1754.  Benjamin  C.  son  of  Joseph,  baptised. 
1764.     Joseph  C.  son  of  Joseph,  baptised. 

Extracts  from  Walcot  Registers,  near  Bath. 

1755.  Dec.  30.     ...     Willm.  C.  married  Elizh.  Rawlins. 
1757.     Oct.     2.     ...     JohnC.  bapd. 

1789.     June    7.     ...     Joseph  C.  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  bapd. 
1797.     Nov.  12.     ...     Oliver  C.  son  of  John  and  Hannah,  bapd. 

Extract  from  Baptismal  Registers  of  St.  Michael's,  Bath. 
1760.     Mar.  30.     ...     Ann,  daughter  of  James  and  Susannah  C. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


SOME  ANECDOTES  AND  TRAITS  OF  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 


THE  list  of  officers  who  fell  on  the  King's  side  at 
Marston  Moor  includes  the  names  of  Charles 
Towneley,  of  Towneley,  Esq.,  a  Lancashire 
Papist,  connected  with  whose  death  we  have 
a  family  tradition  illustrative  of  Oliver's  humanity. 
Towneley's  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Trappes, 
was,  during  the  anxious  period  of  the  battle,  waiting 
with  her  father  at  Knaresborough,  where  the  news  of  her 
husband's  death  was  brought  to  her  on  the  following 
morning  and  prompted  her  to  go  and  search  for  his  body. 
On  reaching  the  fatal  field,  where  the  attendants  of  the 
camp  were  stripping  and  burying  the  dead,  she  was  ac- 
costed by  a  general  officer,  to  whom  she  told  her  melan- 
choly story.  He  heard  her  with  great  tenderness,  but 
earnestly  besought  her  to  quit  a  place  where,  besides  the 
distress  of  witnessing  such  a  scene,  she  might  probably  be 
insulted.  She  complied,  and  he  called  a  trooper,  who 
took  her  en  croup.  On  her  way  to  Knaresborough  she 
inquired  of  the  man  the  name  of  the  officer  to  whose 
civility  she  was  indebted,  and  learnt  that  it  was  Lieutenant- 
General  Cromwell.  The  lady  survived  till  1690,  dying  at 
Towneley,  and  being  buried  in  the  family  chapel  at  Burnley, 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   199 

aged  ninety-one.  The  anecdote  was  told  to  Dr.  Whitaker, 
the  editor  of  "  Sir  George  Radcliffe's  Correspondence," 
by  the  then  representative  of  the  family,  to  whom  it  had 
been  handed  down  by  his  ancestress,  Ursula  Towneley  (a 
Fermor  of  Tusmore,  and  aunt  to  Pope's  Belinda),  who 
had  it  from  the  lady  herself.  (J.  Langton  Sanford's 
"  Studies  and  Illustrations  of  the  Great  Rebellion,"  p.  611.) 

His  Faithful  Valet. 

During  the  severe  illness  which  prostrated  the  Lord 
General  in  Edinburgh,  he  was  watched  and  tended  by  a 
most  devoted  French  servant  named  Duret,  one  who 
heartily  loved  and  appreciated  him,  and  was  in  return 
treated  with  unreserved  confidence.  Cromwell  not  only 
committed  to  him  the  management  of  domestic  affairs 
while  campaigning,  but  during  this  illness  he  would  receive 
food  and  medicine  from  no  other  hand.  This  unremitting 
assiduity  on  the  part  of  Duret,  involving  as  it  did  pro- 
tracted midnight  watchings,  had  at  length  a  fatal  result 
for  the  watcher  himself,  and  Oliver,  as  he  advanced 
towards  recovery,  had  the  intense  grief  to  discover  that 
his  friend  was  rapidly  sinking.  It  was  now  his  own  turn 
to  act  as  nurse  and  spiritual  consoler.  Duret,  for  himself, 
cheerfully  accepted  his  fate ;  he  was  quite  satisfied  to  lay 
down  his  life  in  such  a  cause  and  for  such  a  master,  and 
he  merely  desired  that  the  case  of  his  mother,  sister,  and 
two  nephews  might  be  taken  into  consideration ;  they 
were  still  in  France,  and  were  in  some  measure  dependent 
on  his  services.  "  I  will  look  to  that,"  said  Cromwell. 
"  My  obligations  to  you  are  so  great  that  it  were  impos- 
sible for  me  to  do  otherwise."  Immediately,  therefore, 
after  Duret's  death,  a  message  was  sent  to  the  survivors, 
begging  the  entire  family  to  come  to  England ;  and  at  the 
same  time  Cromwell  gave  to  his  wife,  by  letter,  a  full 
account  of  the  affair,  representing  that  she  should  treat 
the  strangers  on  their  arrival  in  London  in  a  manner  cor- 


200  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

responding  with  her  just  sense  of  the  merits  and  good 
offices  of  the  deceased,  and  that,  as  it  was  entirely  to 
Duret's  care,  pains,  and  watchings,  that  he  owed  the 
preservation  of  his  own  life,  she  would  proportion  the 
kindness  shown  to  them  to  the  love  which  she  bore  to 
himself  as  her  husband.  The  Duret  family  at  once 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  were  welcomed  into  Mrs. 
Cromwell's  household  with  the  utmost  cordiality.  Madame 
Duret  was  of  course  promoted  to  her  table,  the  sister 
became  a  maid  of  honour,  and  the  two  nephews  occupied 
the  post  of  pages.  Cromwell  had  still  an  arduous  cam- 
paign to  complete,  which  kept  him  in  Scotland  for  several 
weeks  longer,  and  it  was  not  until  after  fighting  the  battle 
of  Worcester  that  he  at  last  found  an  opportunity  of  re- 
visiting the  sanctuary  of  home,  and  of  ratifying  by  his 
personal  salutation  the  new  domestic  alliance.  The  scene 
at  that  moment  must  have  been  redolent  of  Christian 
pathos.  The  mutual  tears  and  incoherent  greetings  had 
an  eloquence  of  their  own,  for  it  was  through  the  medium 
of  his  daughters,  who  were  better  skilled  in  the  French 
language  than  himself,  that  he  testified  to  the  old  lady 
how  he  rejoiced  at  her  arrival,  assuring  her  at  the  same 
time  that,  as  she  had  lost  her  first  son  in  his  service,  he 
would  do  all  possible  to  fill  the  vacancy  as  her  second 
son.  Moreover,  he  took  pains  to  acquire  sundry  French 
phrases  wherewith  to  salute  her  whenever  they  might 
chance  to  meet. 

The  Spoliation  of  Churches. 

Not  only  the  capture  of  bells,  but  every  other  form  of 
church  spoliation,  wherever  found  in  England,  is  habitually, 
but  wrongly,  attributed  to  the  personal  agency  of  Crom- 
well. It  was  rather  the  previous  age  (that  of  the  Reforma- 
tion) which  witnessed  these  defacements,  concerning  which 
let  a  statement  from  Goodwyn's  "  Catalogue  of  Bishops," 
published  forty  years  before  the  Civil  War,  be  heard  re- 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  201 


specting  Ely  Cathedral,  under  whose  shadow  the  Crom- 
wells  dwelt.  Bishop  Hotham,  he  tells  us,  "  lieth  entombed 
in  a  monument  of  alabaster  that  was  some  time  a  very 
stately  and  goodly  building,  but  now  [1601]  shamefully 
defaced,  as  are  also  all  other  monuments  of  the  church." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  fanaticism  of  some  few 
iconoclasts,  no  wanton  destruction  either  in  respect  of 
churches,  towns,  or  country-houses,  is  chargeable  on  the 
Cromwell  family.  It  is  even  told  of  Oliver  that,  when  the 
Parliament  dismantled  Nottingham  Castle,  he  was  heartily 
vexed  at  it,  and  told  Colonel  Hutchinson  that  if  he  had 
been  in  the  House  when  it  was  voted,  he  would  not  have 
suffered  it  to  be  done.  Nor,  indeed,  are  the  Parlia- 
mentarians, as  a  rule,  to  be  credited  with  the  house- 
burnings  and  town-burnings  belonging  to  that  period. 
Such  actions  were  almost  without  an  exception  the  work 
of  the  Royalists,  and  were  frequently  quite  independent 
of  the  accidents  or  exigencies  of  war.  This  is  not  a 
statement  loosely  made,  but  is  the  result  of  a  pretty 
close  and  prolonged  investigation  of  the  recorded  facts. 
Prince  Rupert,  a  foreigner,  and  one  who  acquired  the 
sobriquet  of  "  Prince  Robber,"  first  set  the  example  by 
burning  Cirencester  and  Marlborough,  and  devastating 
Fawley  Court,  belonging  to  Bulstrode  Whitelock.  Then 
followed  the  destruction  of  Bridgnorth,  unhousing  three 
hundred  families,  and  consuming  £90,000  -worth  of 
property.  Wooburn,  in  Bedfordshire,  was  treated  in  like 
manner  in  1645,  and  in  the  year  following  the  combined 
towns  of  Great  Faringdon  and  Westbrook,  in  Berkshire, 
were  burnt,  to  the  value  of  £56,976,  as  appraised  by 
judges  of  assize  at  Reading.  These  afflictions,  together 
with  the  sack  of  Leicester,  the  Parliament  endeavoured 
from  time  to  time  to  mitigate  by  the  action  of  a  Com- 
mittee of  Burnings,  and  by  ordering  public  contributions 
for  the  sufferers  to  be  made  either  throughout  the  realm 
or  in  a  group  of  counties.     (In  respect  of  Leicester,  see 


202  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

the  Lords'  Journals,  vii.  665 ;  the  Bridgnorth  affair, 
ibid.,  ix.  657 ;  Great  Faringdon,  ibid.,  x.  485.  Consult 
also  the  Commons'  Journals.) 

Yet,  if  only  a  tradition  survive  in  any  domestic  history 
that  the  family  estate  was  wrecked  in  the  Civil  Wars, 
it  will  almost  invariably  be  found  that  such  tradition  is 
made  to  do  duty  for  the  wrong  party.  The  house,  so  the 
family  annalist  usually  informs  us,  "  was  burnt  by  the 
rebels,  and  the  money  estate  was  all  lost  in  the  royal 
cause."  Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  Drake  of  Ashe. 
The  Drakes,  like  the  families  of  naval  heroes  generally, 
went  in  roundly  for  the  Parliament,  and  the  petition 
of  Lady  Ellen  Drake  (Commons'  Journals,  v.  508),  as 
well  as  a  mass  of  documents  among  the  Composition 
Papers,  all  attest  that  the  destroyer  of  the  family  mansion 
was  the  Cavalier  Lord  Pawlet,  who  had  to  make  ample 
restitution  for  the  same.  Yet  the  modern  annalist  of  the 
Drake  family  tells  us  that  it  was  the  work  of  the  rebels. 
(Burke's  "  Extinct  and  Dormant  Baronetage.") 

Dean  Stanley,  in  his  "  Memorials  of  Westminster 
Abbey,"  remarks  that :  "  After  the  overthrow  of  Charles  I., 
the  Abbey  was  placed  for  twelve  years  in  the  hands  of  the 
Commonwealth  and  the  Protector.  The  royal  monuments 
in  the  Abbey,  which  suffered  cruelly  under  Henry  VIII. , 
remained  uninjured,  so  far  as  we  know,  under  Cromwell." 
This  testimony  should  never  be  forgotten  when  one  hears 
the  verger  of  a  cathedral  ascribe  every  act  of  vandalism  to 
Cromwell. 

The  Ceremony  of  Kissing  Hands. 

"  Our  Lord  Protector  gave  a  noble  audience  to  the 
Dutch  ambassadors  last  Saturday.  His  part  was  just  as 
the  King's  used  to  be,  only  kissing  his  hand  excepted." 
(From  an  intercepted  letter,  March,  1654.)  The  testimony 
of  the  three  Ambassadors  themselves,  Beverning,  Nieuport, 
and  Jongestall,  is  still  more  graphic.    After  the  final  inter- 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   203 

change  of  friendly  expressions  in  the  banqueting-room  at 
Whitehall,  "  we  presented  unto  his  Highness  twenty  of 
our  gentlemen,  who  went  in  before  us,  being  followed  by 
twenty  more,  to  have  the  honour  to  kiss  his  hand.  But 
instead  thereof,  his  Highness  advanced  near  the  steps  and 
bowed  to  all  the  gentlemen  one  by  one,  and  put  out  his 
hand  to  them  at  a  distance,  by  way  of  congratulation." 

In  1653,  some  person  addressing  him  in  St.  James's 
Park,  and  omitting  what  was  called  "  the  homage  of  the 
hat,"  induced  him  to  relate,  with  a  smile,  a  circumstance 
which  he  remembered  to  have  witnessed  on  the  same  spot 
some  years  back,  when  the  late  King  was  once  walking 
there.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  on  that  occasion  was 
advancing  towards  his  Majesty  without  uncovering,  where- 
upon an  indignant  Scot  in  the  King's  train  at  once  struck 
off  the  Duke's  hat. 

But  while  Oliver  gracefully  waived  the  accustomed 
forms  of  personal  worship,  he  was  not  solicitous  to  abate 
the  innocent  parade  of  sovereignty  which  might  be  sup- 
posed due  to  the  nation's  representative.  For  instance, 
"  My  Lord  of  Leda  gave  his  adieu  yesterday  to  my  Lord 
Protector,  who  sent  his  own  coach  of  six  white  horses. 
Certain  it  is,  as  many  told  me,  that  none  of  the  English 
Kings  had  ever  any  such.  And  with  it  ten  more  coaches 
of  six  horses,  with  many  cavaliers.  So  was  Leda  con- 
ducted and  re-conducted ;  but  what  he  did  at  the  interview 
is  not  known."  (James  Darcy  to  Dr.  John  Smith  of  Dun- 
kirk, June  13,  1655.  See  also  Carlyle's  narrative  of  the 
ceremonious  reception  of  the  Swedish  Ambassador  in  July, 
1655O 

His  Love  of  Horses  and  other  Animals,  and  also  of  Races  and 
other  Sports. 

The  epicedium  by  Andrew  Marvell  says : 

"  All,  all  is  gone  of  our  or  his  delight 
In  horses  fierce,  wild  deer,  or  armour  bright." 


204  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Writing  to  Cornet  Squire  just  after  Gainsborough  fight, 
he  says  :  "  I  will  give  you  all  you  ask  for  that  black  horse 
you  won  last  fight."  Two  months  later  Squire  captures 
another  horse,  for  which  also  he  makes  application  :  "  I 
will  give  you  sixty  pieces  for  that  black  horse  you  won  at 
Horncastle,  if  you  hold  to  a  mind  to  sell  him,  for  my  son, 
who  has  a  mind  to  him."  In  after-days  Longland,  his 
agent  at  Leghorn,  and  Sir  Thomas  Bendysh,  in  Turkey, 
busied  themselves  in  procuring  Barbary  horses.  Races 
continued  in  Hyde  Park  during  the  Protectorate  ;  and 
Dick  Pace,  the  owner  of  divers  horses  who  live  in  racing 
chronicles,  was  the  Protector's  stud-groom.  His  adven- 
ture in  the  Park  when  attempting  to  drive  his  own  coach- 
horses  is  too  well  known  to  need  repetition.  We  therefore 
pass  to  the  "  wild  deer  "  mentioned  by  Marvell.  This 
probably  refers  to  the  twelve  reindeer,  which,  together 
with  their  two  Laplander  drivers,  were  sent  by  the  Queen 
of  Sweden  in  1654.  (See  Bulstrode  Whitelocke's  narra- 
tive.) Oliver  is  also  said  to  have  "  fallen  in  love  with  the 
company"  of  Sir  James  Long,  of  Wiltshire,  a  gentleman 
eminent  as  a  naturalist.  During  the  fighting  days  of  1645 
this  knight,  then  Sheriff  of  Wilts,  was,  together  with  his 
entire  regiment,  captured  by  Cromwell  and  Waller,  near 
Devizes.  Sir  James  is  described  by  his  friend  Aubrey  as 
orator,  soldier,  historian,  and  romancer,  as  excelling  in  the 
arts  of  fencing,  falconry,  horsemanship,  and  the  study  of 
insects — in  short,  a  very  accomplished  gentleman.  The 
belligerents  probably  had  not  met  since  the  scrimmage  at 
Devizes  placed  Sir  James  in  a  private  position,  till  one  day 
when  Oliver  (now  Protector),  hawking  on  Hounslow 
Heath,  recognised  his  old  antagonist,  who,  we  may 
suppose,  was  engaged  in  the  like  pastime.  The  knight's 
discourse  was  so  skilfully  adjusted  to  the  altered  state  of 
affairs  that  Oliver  forthwith  fell  in  love  with  his  company, 
and  commanded  him  to  wear  his  sword,  and  to  meet  him 
again  when  they  should  next  fly  their  hawks.     All  which 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   205 

caused  some  of  the  stricter  cavaliers  to  look  upon  Sir  James 
with  an  evil  eye.     (Aubrey.) 

His  Opinions  on  Agriculture  and  the  Scheme  for  a  Canal 
between  Bristol  and  London. 

John  Aubrey  says  :  "I  heard  Oliver  Cromwell,  Pro- 
tector, at  dinner  at  Hampton  Court  in  1657  or  8,  tell  the 
Lord  Arundel  of  Wardour  and  the  Lord  Fitz- Williams 
that  he  had  been  in  all  the  counties  of  England,  and  that 
the  Devonshire  husbandry  was  the  best.  And  at  length 
we  [in  Wiltshire]  have  obtained  a  great  deal  of  it."  Hartlib, 
a  Pole,  who  translated  Child's  Treatise  on  the  Agriculture 
of  Flanders,  obtained  a  pension  from  the  Protector.  It 
was,  no  doubt,  the  canals  of  Flanders  which  suggested  the 
scheme  for  uniting  by  a  canal  the  Bristol  Avon  with  the 
Thames,  which  Captain  Francis  Matthew  having  illus- 
trated with  a  map,  the  Protector  would  have  put  into 
execution  had  he  lived  long  enough.  ("  Natural  History 
of  Wilts.")  A  hundred  and  thirty  years  later  it  was 
accomplished  by  John  Rennie. 

His  Natural  Eloquence,  and  Protection  of  Learning. 

Bishop  Burnet,  on  the  authority  of  Lieutenant-General 
Drummond  (afterwards  Lord  Strathallan),  mentions  that 
in  Drummond's  presence  Cromwell  engaged  in  a  long 
discourse  with  a  group  of  Scots  Commissioners,  on  the 
nature  of  the  regal  power  according  to  the  principles  of 
Mariana  and  Buchanan;  and  Drummond's  conclusion  was 
that  Cromwell  had  manifestly  the  better  of  the  Commis- 
sioners at  their  own  weapon  and  upon  their  own  principles. 
Indeed,  a  modern  French  writer  declares  him  to  have  been 
the  only  eloquent  man  in  the  kingdom.  "  En  effet,"  says 
Villemain,  "  dans  la  Revolution  Anglaise,  il  n'y  eut  qu'un 
homme  eloquent,  et  c'est  celui  qui  aurait  pu  se  passer  de 
l'etre,  grace  a  son  epee — Cromwell.  Hormis  Cromwell, 
eloquent  parce  qu'il  avait  de  grandes  idees  et  de  grandes 


2o6  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


passions,  la  Revolution  Anglais  n'inspirait  quedes  rheteurs 
theologiques,  en  qui  la  verite  du  fanatisme  meme  etait 
faussee  par  un  verbiage  convenu.*' 

Beverning,  one  of  the  Dutch  Ambassadors,  writing  home 
in  1653,  says  :  "  Last  Saturday  I  had  a  discourse  with  his 
Excellency  above  two  hours,  no  one  else  being  present. 
He  spoke  his  own  language  so  distinctly  that  I  could 
understand  him.     I  answered  again  in  Latin." 

Touching  the  various  schemes  adopted  during  his  brief 
tenure  of  power  for  the  advancement  of  learning,  it  is 
unnecessary  to  enlarge.  A  passage  from  Anthony  a  Wood, 
a  very  unexceptional  witness  in  a  case  of  this  nature,  may 
suffice.  In  his  biographical  notice  of  Henry  Stubbs, 
keeper  of  the  Bodleian,  who  took  his  degree  in  the  days  of 
Owen,  he  remarks  :  "  While  he  continued  undergraduate 
it  was  usual  with  him  to  discourse  in  the  public  schools 
very  fluently  in  the  Greek  tongue.  But  since  the  King's 
restoration  we  have  had  no  such  matter,  which  shows  that 
education  and  discipline  were  more  severe  then  than  after- 
wards, when  scholars  were  given  more  to  liberty  and 
frivolous  studies."  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Oliver 
proposed  to  found  a  University  at  Durham  for  the  benefit 
of  education  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and 
that  Westminster  School  and  its  famous  head-master — 
Dr.  Busby — shared  his  protection  and  favour  all  through 
the  troublous  days  of  the  Civil  War. 

His  Interview  with  Archbishop  Usher. 

The  Irish  prelate  was  considerably  his  senior  ;  and  this 
circumstance,  combined  with  his  fervid  Churchmanship, 
enabled  him  to  present  a  defiant  front  when  in  colloquy 
with  the  Protector,  who,  nevertheless,  was  most  generously 
disposed  towards  him,  and  anxious  to  have  a  courteous 
interview.  Usher's  own  account  is  that  he  at  last  con- 
sented to  accept  the  invitation  of  the  Protector  only  lest 
further  evil  towards  his  brethren  should  grow  out  of  his 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   207 

refusal.  At  their  first  meeting,  the  Protector's  opening 
observations  about  advancing  the  Protestant  interest  in 
Europe  appeared  to  the  Archbishop  little  better  than 
"  canting  discourse  "  ;  and  as  he  was  evidently  too  much 
of  an  enthusiast  to  take  his  (the  Archbishop's)  advice  in 
the  matter,  a  civil  dismissal  closed  the  affair.  On  the  next 
occasion,  the  Archbishop,  carrying  in  his  hand  a  petition 
for  enlarged  liberty  to  the  clergy  in  the  matter  of  preach- 
ing, found  Oliver  under  the  hands  of  a  doctor,  who  was 
removing  a  boil  from  his  breast.  After  begging  his  guest 
to  be  seated,  Oliver  said  : 

"  If  this  core  were  once  out,  I  should  be  quickly  well." 

Archbishop  :  "  I  doubt  the  core  lies  deeper.  There  is  a 
core  at  the  heart  that  must  be  taken  out,  or  else  it  will  not 
be  well." 

Oliver :  "  Ah,  so  there  is  indeed  !"  and  sighed. 

The  Archbishop,  finally  gathering  that  the  curb  was  not 
to  be  removed  from  the  Royalist  clergy,  departed  to  his 
home  in  grief,  and  placed  on  record  his  indignant  judg- 
ment :  "  This  false  man  has  broken  his  word.  Royalty 
will  now  speedily  return."  It  is  commonly  added  that  at 
the  death  of  Usher,  which  followed  shortly  after,  the  Pro- 
tector decreed  a  public  funeral  for  him  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  but  left  the  family  to  bear  the  charges,  which 
Henry  Cromwell's  testimony  indirectly  shows  to  be 
destitute  of  all  credibility.  (See  also  the  Mcrcurius  Politicus, 
March  and  April,  1656.) 

His  Contributions  to  the  Repairs  of  a  Church. 

Richard  Byfield,  the  Rector  of  Sutton,  in  Surrey,  con- 
tested the  repairs  of  the  church  with  his  patron,  Sir  John 
Evelyn,  of  Godstone.  To  put  an  end  to  the  contest,  the 
Protector  got  them  together  in  his  presence,  when  Sir 
John  charged  the  minister  with  reflecting  on  him  in  his 
sermons,  which,  of  course,  Byfield  repelled.  Oliver  then 
addressed   the   belligerents  in  the   following   terms :    "  I 


20S  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


doubt,  Sir  John,  there  is  something  indeed  amiss.  The 
word  of  God  is  penetrating,  and  if,  as  I  suspect,  it  has 
found  you  out,  you  will  do  well  to  search  your  ways." 
He  succeeded  in  making  them  good  friends  before  parting, 
and,  to  mollify  the  knight's  chagrin,  ordered  his  secretary 
Malyn  to  pay  him  £100  towards  the  repairs  of  the 
church.  Byfield  was  afterwards  one  of  the  ejected 
of  1662. 

His  Patronage  of  Music  and  Painting. 

The  Protector  of  England  had  many  personal  traits  in 
common  with  Martin  Luther.  Zwingle's  zeal  in  destroy- 
ing pictures  and  organs  in  the  churches  of  Zurich  has  often 
been  contrasted  with  the  conduct  of  Luther,  who  system- 
atically protected  and  honoured  art.  As  Carlyle  has  said  : 
"  Death  defiance  on  the  one  hand,  and  such  love  of  music 
on  the  other.  I  could  call  these  the  two  opposite  poles  of 
a  great  soul.  Between  these  two  all  great  things  had 
room."  And  again  :  "  Who  is  there  that  in  logical  words 
can  express  the  effect  that  music  has  on  us  ? — a  kind  of 
inarticulate,  unfathomable  speech,  which  leads  us  to 
the  edge  of  the  Infinite,  and  lets  us  for  moments  gaze 
into  that." 

Cromwell's  order  that  Dr.  Wilson  should  regularly  give 
his  music  lecture  at  Oxford,  though  passed  over  by 
Walton,  is  commented  on  in  an  essay  in  the  Edinburgh 
Review  (No.  193).  John  Hingston,  a  scholar  of  Orlando 
Gibbons,  after  being  in  the  service  of  Charles  I.,  became 
organist  to  Cromwell  at  a  pension  of  £100  a  year,  and 
instructed  his  daughters  in  music.  His  portrait  was  in 
the  music  school  at  Oxford.  (Braybroke's  Pepys,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1667.)  The  first  step  towards  the  revival  of 
dramatic  music  after  the  Civil  War  took  place  in  1653,  in 
the  performance  of  Shirley's  mask  of  Cupid's  death,  and 
three  years  later  Davenant  obtained  a  license  to  open  a 
theatre  for  operas.     A  modern  chronicler  of  the  town  of 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   209 

Tewkesbury,  while  gossiping  about  its  abbey,  narrates 
as  follows  :  "  The  organ,  now  placed  in  a  gallery  between 
two  of  the  pillars  in  the  nave,  beneath  which  is  the  prin- 
cipal entrance  to  that  portion  of  the  church  appropriated 
for  Divine  service,  is  not  more  distinguished  for  its  ex- 
terior appearance  and  great  powers  than  for  the  singu- 
larity of  its  history.  It  originally  belonged  to  Magdalen 
College,  Oxford.  Oliver  Cromwell,  who  was  fond  of 
music,  and  particularly  of  that  of  an  organ,  which  was 
proscribed  under  his  Government,  was  so  delighted  with 
the  harmony  of  this  instrument  that,  when  it  was  taken 
down  from  its  station  in  the  college,  according  to  the 
Puritanical  humour  of  the  times,  as  an  abominable  agent 
of  superstition,  he  had  it  conveyed  to  Hampton  Court, 
where  it  was  placed  in  the  great  gallery  for  his  entertain- 
ment. It  remained  there  till  the  Restoration,  when  it  was 
sent  back  to  Oxford ;  but  another  organ  having  been 
presented  to  the  college,  it  was,  in  the  year  1737,  removed 
to  Tewkesbury."  The  local  cicerone  of  Tewkesbury 
further  avers  that  this  was  the  instrument  on  which  John 
Milton  was  in  the  habit  of  performing  for  the  delectation 
of  the  Protector's  family,  a  perfectly  possible  case,  and, 
were  it  authenticated,  a  very  welcome  fact,  for  it  would  be 
the  furnishing  of  one  instance,  in  the  absence  of  any  other, 
of  Cromwell  and  Milton  being  sometimes  found  in  personal 
communion. 

At  the  sale  of  Charles  I.'s  pictures,  Oliver  secured  the 
cartoons  of  Raphael  to  the  nation  for  £300,  and  fifty  years 
later  William  III.  took  measures  for  their  preservation 
and  restoration.  In  the  interval  they  had  a  narrow  escape. 
Charles  II.  was  on  the  point  of  selling  them  to  Louis  XIV., 
and  it  was  all  that  the  Lord  Treasurer  could  do  to  save 
them  from  the  clutches  of  Barillon.  Probably  Danby 
found  by  some  other  means  the  money  they  were  to  have 
raised.  Yet  we  fancy  that  even  Charles  II.  would  hardly 
have  thrown  away  the  chance,  which  in  more  modern  days 

14 


2io  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


presented  itself  to  an  English  Prime  Minister,  of  securing 
the  entire  collection  of  paintings  in  the  Pitti  Palace. 
When  the  French  republican  armies  were  overrunning  the 
North  of  Italy,  and  commencing  their  wholesale  system  of 
plunder,  the  Grand-Duke  of  Florence  offered  this  magnifi- 
cent gallery  to  the  English  nation  for  the  comparatively 
small  sum  of  £100,000 ;  but  this  offer  was  declined  by  the 
English  Government. 

When  the  Dutch  Envoys  arrived  in  March,  1653,  to 
settle  the  terms  of  peace,  they  seem  to  have  brought  over 
with  them  some  of  Titian's  paintings.  The  intercepted 
letter  of  a  Royalist  (name  unknown)  has  the  following  : 
"  One  that  was  present  at  the  audience  given  in  the 
banqueting-house  told  me  that  Cromwell  spent  so  much 
time  looking  at  the  pictures,  that  he  judged  by  it  that  he 
had  not  been  much  used  heretofore  to  Titian's  hand." 
(Thurloe,  ii.  144.)  Might  we  not  rather  say  that,  the 
more  he  had  seen  of  Titian,  the  longer  he  loved  to  linger  ? 

Beyond  the  pencils  employed  to  execute  the  portraits  of 
the  members  of  his  family,  there  is  not  much  evidence  of 
Oliver's  patronage  of  living  artists.  Three  entries  in  the 
Exchequer  accounts  for  1657-58  refer  to  a  sum  of  £150 
paid  "to  Mr.  Francis  Clyne  for  the  designing  of  two 
stories  by  the  tapestry  men."  He  also  engaged  a  naval 
painter  named  Isaac  Sailmaker,  a  pupil  of  Gildrop,  to 
execute  a  sea-view  of  the  English  fleet  as  it  lay  before 
Mardyke  during  Sir  John  Reynolds'  assault  on  that  fort 
in  1657.  Sailmaker  lived  to  paint  the  naval  fight  between 
Sir  George  Rooke  and  the  Count  de  Toulouse. 

On  February  22,  1649,  Lieutenant-General  Cromwell 
reports  from  the  Council  of  State  "  that  divers  goods 
belonging  to  the  State  are  in  danger  of  being  embezzled, 
whereupon  it  is  ordered  that  the  care  of  the  public  library 
at  St.  James  and  of  the  statues  and  pictures  there  be 
committed  to  the  Council  of  State  to  be  preserved  by 
them."     (Commons'  Journals.) 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   2 1  r 


The  goods  here  referred  to  were  the  pictures,  statues, 
household  furniture,  and  other  personal  estate  of  the  late 
King,  which  the  House  thereupon  ordered  to  be  in- 
ventoried, appraised,  and  sold.  The  sale  soon  afterwards 
commenced,  and  went  on  till  August,  1653.  The  prices 
were  fixed,  but  if  more  was  offered,  the  highest  bidder 
became  the  purchaser.  Part  of  the  goods  were  sold  by 
inch  of  candle.  The  buyers,  called  "  contractors,"  signed 
a  writing  for  the  several  sums ;  but  if  they  disliked  the 
bargain  they  were  at  liberty  to  withdraw  from  the  engage- 
ment on  payment  of  a  fourth  part  of  the  sum  stipulated. 
Among  the  contractors  appears  Mr.  John  Leigh,  who, 
August  1,  1649,  buys  goods  for  the  use  of  Lieutenant- 
General  Cromwell  to  the  value  of  £"109  5s.,  and  on  the 
15th  are  sold  to  the  Right  Hon.  the  Lady  Cromwell  goods 
to  the  amount  of  £200.*  But  no  sooner  was  Oliver  in 
possession  of  the  supreme  power  than  he  not  only  put  a 
stop  to  the  sale,  but  detained  from  some  of  the  purchasers 
goods  for  which  they  had  contracted.  Such,  at  least,  was 
the  affirmation  made  in  a  petition  addressed,  after  the 
Protector's  death,  to  the  Council  of  State  by  Major 
Edward  Bass,  Emanuel  de  Critz,  William  Latham,  and 
Henry  Willett,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  divers  others, 
in  which  they  represent:  "That  in  the  year  1651  the 
petitioners  did  buy  of  the  contractors  for  the  sale  of  the 
late  King's  goods  the  several  parcels  thereunder  named, 
and  did  accordingly  make  satisfaction  unto  the  treasurer 
for  the  same.  But  forasmuch  as  the  said  goods  are  in 
Whitehall,  and  some  part  thereof  in  Mr.  Kinnersley's 
custody  in  keeping,  the  petitioners  do  humbly  desire  their 
Honours'  order,  whereby  they  may  receive  the  said  goods, 
they  having  been  great  sufferers  by  the  late  General 
Cromwell's  detaining  thereof."  The  goods  specified  are 
hangings  and  statues,  the  latter  adorning  the  gardens  at 
Whitehall.     This  charge  against  the  Protector  of  some- 

*  This  last-mentioned  may  have  been  a  Countess  of  Ardglass. 


212  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

thing  little  short  of  felony  is  one  which  there  are  probably 
now  no  means  of  adjusting.  Had  the  petitioners  made 
their  appeal  during  his  lifetime,  we  might  have  had  an 
honest  explanation. 

"  Oliver  Cromwell  at  Hampton  Court'" 

is  the  title  of  a  paper  contributed  to  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  by  John  B.  Marsh,  containing  a  survey  of  the 
state  of  the  palace  and  park  just  before  the  Restoration, 
and  an  account  of  the  drawing  up  of  an  inventory  of  their 
contents  by  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  Mr.  C.  Dendy,  and  Mr. 
John  Embree,  derived  from  the  State  Paper  Office.  But 
as  the  association  of  the  works  of  art  there  with  the  Pro- 
tector's memory  is  no  more  than  an  accident,  which  he 
shares  with  his  predecessors  and  successors,  Mr.  Marsh's 
facts,  though  highly  interesting  throughout,  hardly  claim 
more  specific  notice  in  this  place  than  may  be  supplied  by 
a  few  random  extracts. 

According  to  tradition,  Cromwell's  bedchamber  was 
upon  the  ground-floor,  and  had  in  the  time  of  Charles  I. 
been  used  as  a  day  room — the  same  room  where  it  is  said 
the  King  with  some  of  his  children  was  once  standing  at 
the  open  window,  when  a  gips3r  woman  solicited  per- 
mission to  tell  the  children's  fortune.  The  King  refused, 
whereupon  she  handed  him  a  small  mirror,  in  which,  with 
terror,  he  beheld  a  severed  head.  To  give  the  legend 
rotundity,  she  is  further  credited  with  a  prophecy  that 
when  a  dog  should  die  in  that  room  the  King's  son  would 
regain  his  throne,  all  which  came  to  pass,  the  dog  being 
Cromwell's  favourite. 

What  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  King's  own  bed- 
room remained  unoccupied  and  unfurnished  during  the 
time  of  Cromwell. 

The  Earl  and  Lady  Fauconberg's  bedroom  had  been 
stripped  before  the  inventory  was  taken ;  but  we  are  told 
that  in  one  of  their  rooms,  formerly  occupied  by  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  the  walls  were  hung  about  with  old 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   213 

green  perpetuano,  and  there  were  two  black  stools,  three 
folding  stools,  and  one  footstool  covered  with  old  green 
cloth.  The  Lady  Frances  Cromwell,  widow  of  Mr.  Rich, 
had  "lodgings"  in  what  was  formerly  the  late  King's 
cabinet  room.  Then  followed  a  list  of  the  furniture,  all 
which  had  belonged  to  Charles  I.  There  were  three 
rooms  used  by  Lady  Claypoole  as  nurseries :  one  was  at 
the  end  of  the  passage  leading  to  the  tennis-court ;  a 
second  was  a  portion  of  the  armoury,  a  room  hung  round 
with  striped  stuff;  and  the  third  was  a  room  formerly 
occupied  by  the  "  Bishop  of  Canterbury,"  which,  from 
its  furniture  and  hangings,  must  have  been  the  largest 
and  the  best.  This  chamber  contained  one  of  the  few 
looking-glasses  remaining  in  the  palace  (four  only  occur- 
ring in  the  entire  inventory),  and  is  described  as  "  One 
large  looking-glass  in  an  ebony  frame,  with  a  string  of 
silk  and  gold." 

Colonel  Cromwell  and  John  Howe  the  preacher  had 
bedrooms  adjoining  each  other.  Howe's  room  is  "  hung 
round  in  gray-striped  stuff,  and  contains  one  standing  bed, 
with  feather-bed  and  bolster,  two  blankets,  and  a  rug. 
The  furniture  of  the  like  striped  stuff.  One  bed  had  a 
head-cloth  and  four  curtains.  Dr.  Clarke  lay  not  far  from 
Mr.  Howe,  and  in  his  room  were  one  half-headed  bed- 
stead, one  deal  table,  and  a  form.  Colonel  Philip  Jones, 
the  comptroller,  occupied  as  a  bedroom  that  which  had 
formerly  been  the  Lord  Chamberlain's."  The  lodgings  of 
all  the  personal  attendants  of  the  above  are  also  fully 
described.  "  In  a  room  below  stairs,  where  the  servants 
dine,  formerly  called  the  vestry,"  there  are  five  tables  and 
eight  forms. 

The  gardens  boasted  of  various  sun-dials,  a  large  foun- 
tain surmounted  with  a  brass  statue  of  Arethusa,  and 
divers  objects  in  marble.  In  the  privy-garden  there  was 
a  brass  statue  of  Venus,  ditto  of  Cleopatra,  and  marble 
statues  of  Adonis  and  Apollo.  Of  these,  the  Venus  is  the 
only  one  now  remaining,  which  the  modern  palace  guide 


214  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

calls  Diana.     George  II.  is  credited  with  having  removed 
the  others  to  Windsor. 

Hampton  Court  has  been  greatly  altered  since  Crom- 
well's time.  The  Great  Hall,  of  course,  remains,  in  which 
were  two  organs,  the  larger  one  a  gift  from  Cromwell's 
friend,  Dr.  Goodwyn,  president  of  Magdalen  College, 
Oxford ;  but  the  traditions  of  this  part  of  the  building 
belong  to  Wolsey's  entertainments  and  subsequent  dra- 
matic pageants  rather  than  to  any  scenes  in  the  Puritan 
Protector's  life.  The  Mantegna  Gallery,  with  its  vast 
pictures  representing  the  triumphs  of  Julius  Caesar  (pur- 
chased by  Charles  I.)  it  is  reasonably  thought  must  have 
often  attracted  his  notice,  though  this  is  mere  conjecture. 
But  in  respect  of  the  armoury  there  is  ground  for  thinking 
that  the  collection  of  specimens  may  have  been  in  great 
part  the  result  of  his  personal  taste,  for  Andrew  Marvell 
tells  us  that  he  delighted  in  bright  armour. 

"Here  Edward  VI.  was  born,  and  here  his  mother, 
Jane  Seymour,  died.  Here  Queen  Mary  and  Philip  of 
Spain  spent  their  dull  honeymoon,  and  here  Queen  Eliza- 
beth held  her  Christmas  festivities.  Here  James  I.  sat  as 
Moderator,  and  listened  to  the  arguments  of  Presbyterians 
and  Churchmen,  and  here  Queen  Anne  his  wife  died,  in 
1618.  Here  Charles  I.  and  Queen  Henrietta  passed  their 
honeymoon,  and  here  Charles  I.  was  kept  a  prisoner  pre- 
vious to  his  trial  and  execution.  Here  Mary  Cromwell 
was  married  to  Earl  Fauconberg  in  1657,  and  here,  in 
r658,  died  little  Oliver  and  his  mother,  the  Lady  Elizabeth 
Claypoole  ;  while  almost  at  the  same  time  Cromwell  him- 
self was  seized  with  the  illness  which  eventually  terminated 
in  his  death  at  Whitehall." 

Oliver's  Wound  at  Marston  Moor. 

The  proclamation  offering  a  large  reward  for  killing  the 
Protector,  issued  in  1654  by  Charles  II.,  has  been  duly- 
noticed  by  Carlyle.  Though  no  adventurer  ever  laid  claim 
to  the  glittering  reward   promised,   there  was   a  certain 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   215 

young  gentleman  who  lived  to  taste  the  royal  bounty  in 
consideration  of  the  inferior  feat  of  wounding  Oliver  in 
battle.  This  was  Marcus  Trevor,  Esq.,  who  declared 
himself  the  author  of  the  sword-thrust  which  drew  blood 
from  Oliver  at  Marston  Moor ;  and  Trevor's  claim  being 
allowed  at  the  Restoration,  he  was  two  years  later  created 
Viscount  Dungannon.  At  the  Archaeological  Meeting  at 
Shrewsbury  in  1855,  a  modern  Viscount  Dungannon  dis- 
played from  Brynkinault  the  original  patent,  being  a 
richly-emblazoned  document  in  which  Richard  St.  George, 
Ulster  King-of-Arms,  grants  to  the  first  Lord  Dungannon 
a  lion  and  a  wolf  as  supporters,  and  recites  that  King 
Charles  II.,  taking  into  consideration  the  faithful  services 
of  his  beloved  councillor,  Mark  Trevor,  Esq.,  and  parti- 
cularly his  valiant  action  at  the  battle  of  Marston  Moor, 
where,  after  many  high  testimonies  of  his  valour  and 
magnanimity,  he  that  day  personally  encountered  that 
arch-rebel  and  tyrant  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  wounded  him 
with  his  sword,  had  created  the  said  Mark  Trevor  Viscount 
Dungannon.  Dated  September  20,  1662.  (See  also  the 
Peerages  under  the  article  "  Downshire.") 

His  Assassination  attempted. 

The  story  of  his  being  shot  at  by  Miss  Granville,  on  his 
passage  into  the  City  to  dine  with  the  Lord  Mayor  in 
1654,  has  been  discussed  more  than  it  merits.  Raguenet, 
who  was  the  first  to  print  it,  in  his  French  history  of  the 
Protector,  says  that  he  derived  it  from  the  manuscript  of 
M.  de  Brosse,  docteur  de  la  faculte  de  Paris,  an  eye-witness 
of  the  event,  which  manuscript  he  was  ready  to  show  to 
anyone  who  desired  it.  According  to  our  French  authority, 
the  young  lady's  lover,  who  was  brother  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  had  fallen  at  the  battle  of  St.  Neot's  by 
Cromwell's  own  hand.  Hence  her  long-nursed  revenge, 
and  until  the  above  opportunity  presented  itself  she  prac- 
tised pistol-shooting  at  a  picture  of  Oliver.  As  the  caval- 
cade passed  her  balcony  on  its  way  to  the  City,  she  dis- 


216  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


charged  her  weapon  at  something  more  substantial  than 
his  picture,  but  the  shot  took  effect  only  on  the  horse  of 
his  son,  Henry  Cromwell,  whereupon  she  delivered  herself 
in  an  appropriate  tragic  speech,  and  her  attendants  assuring 
those  who  were  sent  to  arrest  her  that  her  mind  had  long 
been  in  a  disordered  state,  the  scene  shifts  to  Grocers' 
Hall,  where  my  Lord  Mayor  must  have  been  verily  guilty 
of  thoughtless  discourtesy  if  he  failed  to  congratulate  his 
Highness  on  his  recent  escape.  On  this  point,  however, 
the  reporters  are  unaccountably  silent,  though  otherwise 
the  day's  proceedings  are  graphically  described  in  the 
Perfect  Diurnal  of  February  6  to  13. 

Even  that  (so  styled)  amiable  gentleman,  Mr.  Secretary 
Nicholas,  saw  no  impropriety  in  the  plan  of  assassination. 
"  We  have  here  seen,"  says  he,  writing  to  Lord  Culpepper 
from  Bruges,  "  a  most  excellent  treatise  entitled  '  Killing 
no  Murder,'  dedicated  to  Cromwell,  showing  both  Scrip- 
ture and  many  reasons  that  it  is  not  only  lawful,  but  even 
necessary,  to  kill  him,  being  an  usurper  and  a  tyrant  who 
ought  no  more  to  have  any  law  than  a  wolf  or  a  fox ;  and 
I  hear  that  Cromwell  is  no  less  fearful  than  Cain  was  after 
the  murder  of  his  brother  Abel." 

Fairfax's  Desertion  and  Hutchinson's. 

One  of  the  deep  sorrows  of  the  Protector's  latter  days 
was  the  alienation  of  former  friends.  His  secretary, 
Thurloe,  who  perhaps  more  than  any  other  of  those 
about  him  could  estimate  its  depressing  effect,  is  fre- 
quently quite  touching  in  his  narratives  to  Henry  Crom- 
well of  "  the  great  man's  "  trials.  He  could  bear  with 
comparative  indifference  the  barking  of  Cornet  Day  and 
John  Sympson,  who,  preaching  —  as  it  was  called  — 
no  farther  off  than  Allhallows  Church,  assailed  the 
Government  as  "the  thieves  and  robbers  of  Whitehall." 
But  when  more  creditable  divines  resisted  his  project 
for  the  admission   of  Jews   into  the   country,   and  in   a 


Anecdotes  and  Traits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.   217 

variety  of  ways  checked  his  intelligent  patriotism,  Thurloe 
writes  : 

"  I  do  assure  you  his  Highness  is  put  to  exercise  every 
day  with  the  peevishness  and  wrath  of  some  persons  here. 
But  the  Lord  enables  him  with  comfort  to  bear  the  hard 
speeches  and  reproaches  he  is  from  day  to  day  loaded 
with,  and  helps  him  to  return  good  for  evil,  and  goodwill 
for  their  hatred — which  certainly  is  the  way  to  heap  coals 
of  fire  on  their  head,  to  melt  them  and  bring  them  into  a 
better  frame  and  temper."  And  again,  shortly  after  :  "  His 
Highness  meets  with  his  trials  here  at  home,  of  all  sorts  ; 
being  under  daily  exercises  from  one  hand  or  another.  I 
wish  he  may  not  have  occasion  to  say,  My  familiar  friends 
in  whom  I  trusted  have  lift  up  their  heel  against  me. 
These  things  should  make  him  and  all  his  relations  to 
depend  the  more  upon  God,  and  to  take  heed  of  all  carnal 
confidences.  Trials  work  patience,  and  patience  ex- 
perience, and  experience  hope.  That  hope  will  never 
make  ashamed,  but  all  hope  in  men  will." 

Here  is  one  of  Carlyle's  sketches  :  "  Colonel  Hutchin- 
son, as  his  wife  relates  it,  Hutchinson,  his  old  battle-mate, 
coming  to  see  him  on  some  indispensable  business,  much 
against  his  will — Cromwell  follows  him  to  the  door  in  a 
most  fraternal,  domestic,  conciliatory  style,  begs  that  he 
would  be  reconciled  to  him,  his  old  brother-in-arms ;  says 
how  much  it  grieves  him  to  be  misunderstood,  deserted  by 
true  fellow-soldiers  dear  to  him  from  of  old.  The  rigorous 
Hutchinson,  cased  in  his  Presbyterian  formula,  sullenly 
goes  his  way." 

Among  trials  of  this  nature,  Fairfax's  desertion  must 
have  especially  increased  his  sense  of  isolation,  and  tested 
his  magnanimity.  Thomas  Lord  Fairfax,  enriched  by  the 
forfeited  spoils  of  the  profligate  Duke  of  Buckingham,  had 
an  only  daughter,  Mary,  who,  though  very  unattractive 
in  appearance,  it  was  thought  might  be  utilized  to  bring 
about   a  reconciliation  with  the  royal  exiles,  and  at  the 


2i8  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


same  time  ensure  the  settlement  of  the  newly-acquired 
estates.  The  young  lady's  mother,  who  was  a  Vere,  was 
probably  the  contriver  of  this  precious  scheme.  Whether 
or  not  Buckingham  had  previously  made  overtures  for  the 
hand  of  Frances  Cromwell,  as  commonly  reported,  must 
ever  remain  doubtful ;  but  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  it 
was  with  no  sort  of  reference  to  that  transaction  that 
Cromwell  viewed  the  Fairfax  intrigue  with  disgust  and 
pity,  for  in  this  he  did  but  share  the  sentiment  of  all  the 
honest  party.  The  marriage,  nevertheless,  was  performed 
with  great  splendour  at  Nun-Appleton  in  Yorkshire,  in 
September,  1657,  which  was  only  a  few  weeks  before  that 
of  Frances  Cromwell  with  Lord  Rich  ;  and  Fairfax  then 
posted  off  to  London  to  have  a  talk  with  the  Protector 
about  it.  Thurloe  can  best  tell  us  what  passed.  In  a 
letter  to  Henry  Cromwell,  he  says:  "I  suppose  your 
lordship  hath  had  a  full  account  of  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham's marrying  the  lord  Fairfax's  daughter.  My  Lord 
Fairfax  was  here  this  day,  27  Oct.,  with  his  Highness 
to  desire  favour  in  behalf  of  the  Duke  and  his  new  wife, 
the  Duke  being  now  sought  for  to  be  committed  to  the 
Island  of  Jersey.  His  Highness  dealt  friendly  with  him. 
but  yet  plainly,  and  advised  him  to  do  that  now,  which  he 
should  have  done  before,  that  is,  to  consult  with  his  old 
friends,  who  had  gone  along  with  him  in  all  the  wars,  as 
to  what  was  fit  for  him  to  do ;  and  no  longer  listen  to 
those  who  had  brought  him  into  this  evil,  but  to  regard 
them  as  enemies  both  to  his  honour  and  his  interest.  My 
Lord  Fairfax  laboured  to  justify  himself  as  well  as  he 
could.  He  was  willing  to  believe  that  the  Duke  was 
a  better  man  than  the  world  took  him  to  be ; — and  so  his 
Highness  and  he  parted."  And  the  parting  appears  to 
have  been  final,  and  the  alienation  complete.  Those  who 
watched  the  ex-General  stalking  from  the  presence-cham- 
ber, took  notice  that  he  cocked  his  hat  and  cast  his  cloak 
under  his  arm  in  a  style  which  he  was  wont  to  adopt  when 


A   Singular  Medal  of  Oliver  Cromwell      219 

his  wrath  was  roused.  He  lived  to  see  verified  the  words 
of  his  brother-in-arms — that  both  honour  and  interest  had 
been  bartered  for  this  specious  alliance.  A  few  years  later 
his  promising  son-in-law,  in  furtherance  of  an  intrigue  with 
the  Countess  of  Shrewsbury,  slew  that  lady's  husband  in 
a  duel,  and  Fairfax  outlived  the  event.  As  for  his  own 
dear  daughter,  naught  but  neglect  and  obloquy  fell  to  her 
share,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

"  It  is  high  time,"  observes  a  recent  critic,  "  that  the 
great  and  good  Lord  Fairfax,  as  Mr.  Markham  calls  him, 
should  be  made  to  appear  in  his  true  contemptible  light ; " 
and  he  refers,  among  other  authorities,  to  Fairfax's  own 
"  Apologia,"  which,  it  is  averred,  clears  his  memory  from 
not  a  single  blot.  (Notes  and  Queries,  February  24,  1877.) 
Possibly  true  enough.  But  what,  it  may  be  asked,  is  the 
use  of  parading  one  defaulter,  when  the  entire  population 
was  in  full  march  back  to  Egypt  ?  Though  otherwise  the 
spectacle  is  not  unsuggestive,  which  presents  to  view  one 
historic  name  after  another  dropping  away  from  the  once 
beloved  "  Cause "  and  hiding  itself  in  ignominy,  as  if 
to  leave  the  Cyclopean  figure  of  the  Puritan  King  unap- 
proachable in  its  solitary  grandeur. 

A  singular  medal,  known  as  the  Cromwell  and  Fairfax 
medal,  is  preserved  at  Brussels,  and  was  first  published  in 
England  by  Mr.  Henfrey.  The  obverse  bears  a  head  of 
Cromwell  wearing  a  sort  of  imperial  crown.  The  head  is 
double,  and  when  reversed  represents  that  of  a  demon. 
In  front  of  the  faces  is  the  word  "  Cromwel."  The  surround- 
ing Dutch  legend  ("  Den  een  mens  is  den  anderen  siin 
duivel  ")  means,  "  This  one  [Cromwell]  is  the  evil  genius  of 
the  other  "  [Fairfax].  The  reverse  has  a  head  representing 
Fairfax  in  a  Puritan  hat,  reversible  in  like  manner,  and 
then  displaying  a  fool's  head  with  cap  and  bells,  and 
opposite  the  faces  the  word"  Farfox."  The  circumscription 
in  this  case  ("Deen  sot  is  den  anderen  siin  gek")  signifies, 
"  This  simpleton  [Fairfax]  is  the  other's  [Cromwell's]  fool " 
or  dupe.     ("  Numismata  Cromwelliana.") 


220  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Oliver's  Corpse  torn  from  Westminster  A  bbey. 

Here  follows  the  mason's  receipt  of  wages  for  exhuming 
the  bodies  of  Cromwell,  Ireton,  and  Bradshaw,  at  the 
Restoration  of  Charles  II.,  as  copied  by  Dr.  Cromwell 
Mortimer,  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society. 

"  May  the  4th  day.  1661.  Recd  then  in  full  of  the 
worshipful  Sergeant  Norfolk,  fiveteen  shillings  for  taking 
up  the  corpes  of  Cromell  and  Ierton  and  Brasaw.  Rec. 
by  mee,  John  Lewis." 

For  a  full  account  of  the  expulsion  from  the  Abbey  of 
these  and  sundry  other  of  the  buried  heroes  of  the 
Commonwealth,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  classic  pages 
of  Dean  Stanley's  "  Historical  Memorials  of  Westminster 
Abbey."  The  following  appear  to  have  escaped  the 
execution  of  the  warrant  :  Elizabeth  Claypoole ;  the  Earl 
of  Essex ;  Grace,  wife  of  General  Scott,  a  regicide ; 
General  Worsley  ;  and  George  Wilde,  Lord  Chief  Baron 
of  the  Exchequer. 

Over  the  breast  of  the  Protector  was  found  a  copper 
plate,  double  gilt,  engraved  on  the  one  side  with  the  arms 
of  the  Commonwealth  impaling  those  of  the  deceased,  and 
upon  the  reverse  this  legend  :  "  Oliverius  Protector 
Reipublicae  Anglise,  Scotiae,  et  Hiberniae.  Natus  25° 
Aprilis  Anno  1599.  Inauguratus  16°  Decembris  1653. 
Mortuus  30  Septembris  Anno  1658,  hie  situs  est."  This 
plate,  together  with  the  canister  in  which  it  was  enclosed, 
was  appropriated  by  Mr.  Sergeant  Norfolk,  of  the  Heralds' 
College  above  mentioned,  who  at  first  imagined  it  to  be 
gold.  From  him  it  descended,  through  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Hope  Gifford,  of  Colchester,  into  the  hands  of  the 
Hon.  George  Hobart,  of  Nocton  in  Lincolnshire,  and 
from  that  family  it  has  again  passed  into  the  possession  of 
the  present  Earl  of  Ripon  and  De  Grey. 

For  "  the  savage  ceremonial,"  as  Dean  Stanley  termed 


The  Corpse  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  221 

it,  "  which  followed  the  Restoration,"  the  Dean  himself 
made  what  atonement  he  could  by  placing  a  large  tablet 
in  the  centre  of  the  apse  of  Westminster  Abbey,  engraved 
as  follows : 


In  this  Vault  was  interred 

Oliver  Cromwell.     1658 

And  in  or  near  it 

Henry  Ireton.    his  son  in  law.       165  i 
Elizabeth  Cromwell,    his  mother.   1654 

JANE    DESBOROUGH.      His  Sister.  1 656 

Anne  Fleetwood. 

Also  Officers  of  his  Army  and  Council. 

Richard  Deane.  1653 

Humphrey  Macworth.  1654 

Sir  William  Constable.  1655 

Robert  Blake,    admiral.  1657 

Dennis  Bond.  1658 

John  Bradshaw.    president  of 

The  High  Court  of  Justice.  ^59 

And  Mary  Bradshaw.    his  wife. 
These  were  removed  in  1661. 


The  bones  of  Oliver  share  the  honour  which  has 
apparently  been  common  to  heroes  from  Moses  down- 
wards— that  of  becoming  the  subject  of  fierce  debate  and 
endless  conjecture.     Dryden  said  of  him  :  "  His  ashes  in 


222  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

a  peaceful  urn  shall  rest  "  ;  and  perhaps  Dry  den  for  once 
was  right.  At  any  rate,  no  attempt  will  be  made  in  this 
place  to  marshall  the  rival  claims  either  of  the  aforesaid 
urn,  or  of  the  river  Thames,  or  the  field  of  Naseby,  or  the 
vault  of  the  Claypooles  at  Northampton,  or  the  crypt 
beneath  Chiswick  Church,  close  to  the  residence  of  the 
Fauconbergs,  or  the  Fauconbergs'  home  in  Yorkshire,  or, 
lastly,  of  the  storm  fiend,  who  howled  through  the  two 
nights  or  more  preceding  his  death.  But  inasmuch  as  it 
is  pleasant  to  meet  with  any  corroboration  of  the  filial 
devotion  of  Lady  Mary  Fauconberg,  of  which,  indeed, 
there  was  never  any  reasonable  doubt,  but  which  the 
Royalists  have  sometimes  sought  to  tarnish,  an  exception 
will  be  briefly  made  in  favour  of  the  Newburgh  tradition, 
as  the  one  also  which  more  recently  than  others  has 
invited  public  attention.  The  following  passage  from  an 
account  of  Sir  George  Orby  Wombwell's  home-life  at 
Newburgh  is  quoted  from  the  World  of  September  n, 
1878: 

"There  is,  however,  a  mightier  memory  than  that  of 
Laurence  Sterne  associated  with  Newburgh.  In  the  long 
gallery  is  a  glass  case  containing  the  saddle,  holsters,  bit, 
and  bridle  of  the  greatest  prince  who  ever  ruled  in 
England.  The  saddle  and  holster  cases  are  by  no  means 
of  Puritan  simplicity,  being  of  crimson  velvet,  heavily 
embroidered  in  gold.  The  pistols  are  of  portentous 
length,  and  very  thin  in  the  barrel ;  and  the  bit  is  a  cruel 
one,  with  the  tremendous  cheek-pieces  common  two 
centuries  ago.  Doubtless  the  Lord  Protector  liked  to 
keep  his  horse  like  his  Roundheads — well  in  hand.  Not 
quite  opposite  to  these  relics  hangs  the  portrait  of  a  lady 
clad  in  dark-green  and  demureness.  This  serious-looking 
dame  is  Mary  Cromwell,  wife  of  the  second  Lord  Faucon- 
berg. It  was  she  who,  with  keen  womanly  instinct, 
sharpened  yet  more  by  filial  affection,  foresaw  that,  the 
Restoration  once  achieved,  the  men  who  had  fled  before 


The   Tomb  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  223 

Oliver  at  Naseby  and  Worcester  would  not  allow  his 
bones  to  rest  in  Westminster.  At  dead  of  night  his 
corpse  was  removed  from  the  vault  in  the  Abbey,  and 
that  of  some  member  of  the  undistinguished  crowd  substi- 
tuted for  it.  In  solemn  secrecy  the  remains  of  him  of 
whom  it  was  said,  '  If  not  a  king,  he  was  a  man  whom  it 
was  good  for  kings  to  have  among  them,'  were  conveyed 
to  Newburgh,  where  they  yet  repose,  the  insane  fury  of 
the  Royalist  ghouls,  who  hung  the  supposed  body  of  Crom- 
well, as  well  as  that  of  Ireton,  on  the  gallows  at  Tyburn, 
having  thus  been  cheated  of  its  noblest  prey.  The  tomb 
of  Cromwell  occupies  the  end  of  a  narrow  chamber  at  the 
head  of  a  flight  of  steep  stairs,  and  is  an  enormous  mass 
of  stonework  built  and  cemented  into  the  walls,  apparently 
with  the  object  of  making  it  impenetrable.  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  this  story,  preserved  in  the 
Bellasyse  family  for  two  centuries  and  a  quarter.  It  is  not 
a  legend,  but  a  genuine  piece  of  family  history,  and 
implicitly  believed  on  the  spot.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  the  over-curious  have  again  and  again  begged  the 
lords  of  Newburgh  to  have  the  tomb  opened,  but  this 
request  has  met  with  invariable  refusal,  even  when 
proffered  by  the  most  illustrious  personages.  '  No,  no,' 
observes  Sir  George  Wombwell,  heartily  as  ever,  but 
quite  firmly,  '  we  do  not  make  a  show  of  our  great 
relative's  tomb,  and  it  shall  not  be  opened.  In  this 
part  of  Yorkshire  we  no  more  dig  up  our  remote  great- 
uncles  than  we  sell  our  grandmothers.  The  Protector's 
bones  shall  rest  in  peace — at  least,  for  my  time.'  "  (Notes 
and  Queries,  October  5,  1878.)  Sir  George  Wombwell,  the 
second  Baronet,  married  in  1791  Lady  Anne  Bellasyse, 
daughter  of  Henry,  second  Earl  of  Fauconberg. 

The  Newburgh  tradition  might  very  safely  take  a  slightly 
altered  and  more  credible  form  by  making  the  acquisition 
of  the  Protector's  body  an  event  subsequent  to  the  Tyburn 
exposure.     Whether  or  not  the  three  bodies  were,  after 


224  ^"Ife  House  of  Cromwell. 


decapitation,  buried  beneath  the  gallows,  as  commonly 
alleged,  two  of  them,  at  least,  were  recovered  by  friends 
and  carried  off,  as  proved  by  Mr.  Godfrey  Meynell's  dis- 
covery of  the  coffins  of  Ireton  and  Bradshaw  in  the  vault 
beneath  Mugginton  Church  in  Derbyshire  ;  and  in  respect 
of  the  recover}'  of  the  third  body,  Lord  and  Lady  Faucon- 
berg  were  just  the  persons  who  of  all  others  might  be  most 
reasonably  credited  with  it.  Compared  with  them,  there 
were  not  at  that  moment  any  of  the  Protector's  represen- 
tatives possessing  a  tithe  of  the  power  and  influence 
necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  so  hazardous  a 
scheme.  The  first  place  of  concealment  might  then  have 
been  the  Chiswick  crypt.  Beyond  this  point  we  tremble 
to  advance. 

The  Head  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

The  genuineness  of  the  embalmed  head  belonging  to 
Mr.  Horace  Wilkinson,  of  Sevenoaks,  is,  of  course,  depen- 
dent on  the  previous  question,  Was  it  the  Protector  who 
was  hung  at  Tyburn  ?  That  the  head  in  question  is  the 
same  which  (together  with  a  portion  of  the  pikestaff)  fell 
from  the  pinnacle  of  Westminster  Hall  in  James  II. 's 
reign  is  sufficiently  credible,  and  every  portion  of  its 
internal  evidence  is  so  far  favourable  as  to  make  it  im- 
possible to  gaze  on  the  relic  without  deep  emotion.  The 
history  of  its  transmission  and  of  its  present  condition 
has  been  exhaustively  treated  by  the  late  C.  Donovan, 
Esq.,  in  two  numbers  of  the  Phrenological  Journal  for 
1844.  There  is  also  "An  Account  of  the  Embalmed 
Head  of  Oliver  Cromwell  at  Shortlands  House  in  Kent," 
by  Colonel  Sir  James  Edward  Alexander,  in  the  "  Trans- 
actions of  the  Glasgow  Archaeological  Society,"  vol.  ii., 
p.  35.     The  following  scanty  notice  must  suffice : 

The  upper  half  of  the  skull  has  been  sawn  off ;  this 
was  for  the  purpose  of  embalming.  The  lower  half  being 
then  filled  with  the  spicy  composition,  long  since  con- 


The  Head  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  225 

creted,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  this  portion  of  the  head, 
including  the  lower  jaw  and  the  pike  passing  through  it 
all,  is  cemented  into  one  mass,  a  state  of  things  which,  it 
has  been  asserted,  could  not  be  predicated  of  any  other 
known  head,  since  the  long  exposure  of  thirty  years  would 
in  ordinary  cases  have  detached  the  lower  jaw  and  destroyed 
the  fleshy  covering.  And  whereas  the  crown  of  the  skull 
would  be  pushed  off  by  the  upward  action  of  the  pike,  this 
difficulty  was  met  by  piercing  the  crown  with  a  central 
hole,  through  which  the  pike  then  passed,  and  appeared 
above  the  skull.  Phrenologically  speaking,  the  head  has 
no  large  or  small  organs,  all  being  nearly  alike  well 
developed,  consequently  it  is  absolutely  a  large  head,  the 
circumference  over  the  occipital  bone  and  round  the  super- 
ciliary region  being  22  inches ;  in  life  it  would  have  been 
23  inches.  The  spot  where  the  well-known  wart  over  the 
right  eye  was  placed  is  indicated  by  a  small  cavity  in  the 
bone,  the  excrescence  having  dropped  away.  The  ragged 
remains  of  hair,  which  is  of  a  reddish  chestnut,  and  which 
covers  the  jaw,  corresponds  with  the  account  of  his  remain- 
ing unshaved  during  the  anxious  weeks  passed  at  Lady 
Claypoole's  bedside,  and  with  the  remark  made  by  his 
relations  when  they  saw  the  post-mortem  plaster  cast, 
that  his  habitual  practice  had  latterly  been  to  preserve  a 
clean  chin.  The  elder  Mr.  Wilkinson,  writing  in  1827, 
says  :  "This  head  has  been  in  my  possession  nearly  fifteen 
years.  I  have  shown  it  to  hundreds  of  people,  and  only 
one  gentleman  ever  brought  forward  an  objection  to  any 
part  of  the  evidence.  He  was  an  M.P.,  and  a  descendant 
by  a  collateral  branch  from  Oliver  Cromwell.  He  told  me, 
in  contradiction  to  my  remark  that  chestnut  hair  never 
turned  gray,  that  he  had  a  lock  of  hair  at  his  country 
house  which  was  cut  from  the  Protector's  head  on  his 
death-bed,  and  had  been  carefully  passed  down  through 
his  family  to  his  own  possession,  which  lock  of  hair  was 
perfectly  gray.     He  has  since  expressed  his  opinion  that 

15 


226  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


the  long  exposure  was  sufficient  to  change  the  colour." 
In  the  Dublin  University  Magazine,  April,  1843,  it  is  stated 
that  a  lock  cut  from  Charles  I.'s  head,  when  washed,  was 
of  a  bright  brown  colour,  though  it  is  known  to  have  been 
of  a  grizzled  black  in  life  ;  the  embalming  materials  prob- 
ably wrought  the  same  effect  in  both.  The  ground  on 
which  the  sculptor  Flaxman  pronounced  in  its  favour  was 
the  squareness  of  the  lower  jaw,  a  marked  speciality  in 
the  Cromwell  family.  Oliver  Cromwell,  Esq.,  of  Cheshunt, 
after  comparing  it  with  the  mask  taken  after  death,  ex- 
pressed himself  satisfied  ;  while  Dr.  Southgate,  librarian  of 
the  British  Museum,  and  Mr.  Kirk,  the  medallist,  reached 
the  same  conviction  from  their  knowledge  of  the  Oliverian 
coins  and  medals. 

Cromwellian  Personal  Relics. 

Of  these,  as  may  well  be  supposed,  there  is  a  large 
crop.  In  briefly  cataloguing  them,  it  will  be  best  to 
begin  with  the  heirlooms  of  the  Cromwell  family  pre- 
served in  the  custody  either  of  the  Rev.  Paul  Bush,  Hon. 
Canon  of  Truro  Cathedral  and  Rector  of  Duloe,  Cornwall, 
or  the  Rev.  Thomas  Cromwell  Bush  (eldest  son  of  Canon 
Paul  Bush),  of  Cheshunt  Park,  and  Rector  of  Michel 
Dean,  Gloucestershire. 

The  portraits  at  Duloe  Rectory  are  (1896)  as  follows  : 

1.  Oliver  Cromwell,  Lord  Protector,  by  Walker.  (Mr. 
Bush  possesses  the  receipt.) 

2.  Elizabeth  Bourchier,  wife  of  the  above,  by  Sir  Peter 
Lely. 

3.  Richard  Cromwell,  Protector,  by  Walker. 

4.  Henry  Cromwell,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  by 
Christian  Dusart. 

5.  Mary  Cromwell,  wife  of  Lord  Fauconberg,  by  Michael 
Dahl,  the  Danish  painter. 

6.  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  wife  of  John  Claypole. 


Relics  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  227 

7.  Frances  Cromwell,  Lady  Russell,  by  John  Riley. 

8.  Major  Henry  Cromwell,  son  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  by  W.  Wissing. 

9.  Hannah     Hewling,     wife    of    the    above,     by    W. 
Wissing. 

10.  William  Cromwell,  of  Kirby  Street,  fourth  son  of 
Major  Henry  Cromwell,  by  Jonathan  Richardson. 

11.  Richard  Cromwell,  fifth  son  of  Major  Henry  Crom- 
well. 

12.  Sarah  Gatton,  wife  of  the  above. 

13.  Eleanor  Gatton  (Mrs.  Hynde),  sister  of  the  above. 

14.  Thomas  Cromwell,  seventh  son    of  Major   Henry 
Cromwell,  by  Jonathan  Richardson. 

15.  John  Thurloe,  secretary  to  the  Lord  Protector,  by 
Dobson. 

16.  General  Stewart,  uncle  to  the  Lord  Protector. 

17.  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  daughter  of  the  Protector 
Richard. 

18.  Oliver  Cromwell,  son  of  Richard  Cromwell,  of 
Hampstead. 

19.  Oliver  Cromwell,  of  Cheshunt  Park,  died  in  1821. 

20.  Morgan  Morse. 

21.  Mrs.  Morgan  Morse. 

22.  Artemidorus  Cromwell  Russell,  of  Cheshunt  Park, 
grandfather  of  Rev.  Thomas  Cromwell  Bush. 

23.  Mr.  Russell,  of  Hereford,  grandfather  of  the 
above. 

24.  A  family  group,  comprising  Richard  Cromwell,  fifth 
son  of  Major  Henry  Cromwell ;  Sarah  Gatton,  his  wife, 
with  an  infant  son  in  her  lap ;  two  daughters,  Elizabeth 
in  blue  and  Anna  in  red  ;  Mrs.  Letitia  Thornhill  in  yellow ; 
Mrs.  Eleanor  Gracedieu  in  white  ;  the  widow  of  Mr.  Robert 
Thornhill ;  Mrs.  Hynde  making  tea — painted  by  Richard 
Philips. 

The  following  heirlooms  have  descended  to  the  Rev. 


228  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Thomas  Cromwell   Bush  at  Michel  Dean  Rectory,  near 
Gloucester : 

Oliver  Cromwell's  mask  ;  Henry  Cromwell's  helmet ; 
Long  -  Parliament  hat,  wide  -  brimmed  ;  spurs  ;  Oliver 
Cromwell's  powder-flask ;  another  helmet ;  seal  of  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland  ;  Oliver  Cromwell's  private  seal ; 
four  pieces  of  padded  armour ;  pedigree ;  pair  of  leather 
leggings ;  Oliver  Cromwell's  stirrups  ;  eight  swords,  one 
serpentine ;  mourning  sword  belonging  to  the  last  Oliver 
Cromwell,  Esq. ;  dagger ;  Henry  Cromwell's  Bible  and 
Prayer-book ;  piece  of  the  pear-tree  planted  by  Oliver 
Cromwell  in  the  garden  of  Sidney  Sussex  College,  Cam- 
bridge ;  piece  of  Shakespeare's  mulberry-tree  ;  portrait  of 
Thomas  Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex,  by  Holbein  ;  ditto, 
Henry  VIII. ;  Oliver  Cromwell's  father  and  mother ; 
Charles  I.,  in  needlework;  John  Pym;  Richard  Cromwell ; 
ditto  in  locket ;  Lord  and  Lady  Thomond,  by  S.  Cooper  ; 
Nicholas  Skinner,  by  the  same  painter  ;  hatchment  carried 
at  the  Protector's  funeral ;  small  gilt-edged  diary ;  banner ; 
Oliva  pacis ;  small  cannon-ball ;  medicine-chest ;  large 
Tuscan  cabinet  in  ebony,  of  elaborate  design,  for  per- 
fumes, presented  by  the  Grand-Duke  of  Tuscany  to  his 
Highness  on  the  arrival  of  his  portrait  in  Florence ;  small 
picture  of  Mary,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Skinner,  widow  of 
Thomas  Cromwell,  who  died  in  1813,  at  the  age  of  104 
(see  pp.  61,  62) ;  various  Lives  of  the  Protector  and  mis- 
cellaneous papers,  in  cabinet. 

His  Highness's  coach  appears,  from  an  entry  in  the 
Commons'  Journals,  May  28,  1660,  to  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  service  and  use  of  Charles  II.,  or  such  at 
least  was  the  design,  though,  from  a  passage  in  the  first 
volume  of  "  State  Papers,"  p.  266,  it  seems  to  have 
eventually  reached  the  hands  of  Lord  Hollis.  Mark 
Noble  tells  us  (but  this  was  a  hundred  years  ago)  that  a 
large  barn  built  by  Oliver  at  St.  Ives  still  (1785)  goes  by 


Relics  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  229 

his  name ;  and  the  farmer  renting  the  estate  still  marks 
his  sheep  with  the  identical  marking-irons  which  Oliver 
used,  having  "  O.  C."  upon  them.  State-coach  and 
marking-irons  ought  certainly  to  have  been  secured  by 
Lord  Hollis. 

Respecting  the  articles  which  descended  through  Mary 
Cromwell,  Mark  Noble  has  the  following :  "  The  present 
Earl  of  Fauconberg  (1785)  possesses  some  valuables  which 
were  the  first  nobleman's  of  that  title,  and  presented 
to  him  by  his  Highness,  his  lordship's  father-in-law. 
Amongst  these  are  a  sabre  worn  by  Oliver  at  Naseby. 
His  head  is  engraved  upon  the  blade,  with  this  inscrip- 
tion :  '  Oliver  Cromwell,  General  for  the  English  Parlia- 
ment, 1652';  above  it,  'Soli  Deo  gloria';  below  it,  'Fide, 
sed  cui  vide.'  On  the  other  side  of  the  blade  is  the 
same  head  and  inscription,  and  a  man  on  horseback, 
with  the  words  'Spes  mea  est  Deo,'  and  'Vincere  aut 
mori.'  "  A  similar  weapon  is  described  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  for  1793,  p.  209,  belonging  to  some  other  party. 
This  may  suffice  for  the  O.  C.  swords,  which  might  fill  an 
armoury. 

But  the  Fauconberg  collection  long  included  an  object 
of  still  greater  interest,  which  has  now  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  Earl  of  Chichester.  This  was  Oliver's 
pocket  Bible,  an  edition  printed  for  the  assignees  of  Robert 
Barker  in  1645,  bound  in  four  thin  volumes  for  portability, 
and  having  Cromwell's  autograph  at  the  beginning  of 
vol.  hi.,  thus,  "O.  C.  el.  1645,"  and  the  words  "Qui 
cessat  esse  melior  cessat  esse  bonus."  Each  volume  also 
contains  "  Lord  Fauconberg  his  Book,  1677."  Lastly 
must  be  mentioned  Lady  Mary's  knife,  fork,  and  spoon  in 
a  shagreen  case,  which  she  derived  from  her  father,  and 
which  she  bequeathed  to  Miss  Plaxton,  from  whom  they 
passed  to  her  descendant,  Mr.  Thomas  Beckwith,  of  York, 
painter  and  F.A.S. 

Mr.  H.  R.  Field,  formerly  of  Munster  Lodge,  Tedding- 


230  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

ton,  possesses  the  portrait  of  Elizabeth  Bourchier,  the 
Protector's  mother,  by  some  Dutch  master,  a  marble  bust 
of  the  Protector,  several  original  letters,  various  articles 
belonging  to  his  medicine-chest,  one  of  the  brass  breast 
ornaments  worn  on  the  belt  of  his  troopers,  Gillray's 
caricature  representation  of  George  III.  inspecting  a 
miniature  of  Cromwell,  and  a  collection  of  drawings 
formerly  at  Brantingsay. 

At  the  thirty  days'  sale,  in  1806,  of  Sir  Ashton  Lever's 
museum,  Oliver's  helmet  and  gorget,  and  a  buff  doublet, 
were  bought  for  five  guineas.     They  were  presented  by 
a  descendant  of  General   Disbrowe  to   Mr.  Busby,  who 
gave   them    to    Sir   Ashton.      A   three  -  quarter    bust    in 
armour  cut  in  white  paper,  and  regarded  as  the  work  of 
his   daughter,    Mrs.    Bridget    Fleetwood,   is   now    in    the 
United  Service  Institution ;  where  also  are  divers  other 
Cromwelliana.     A  clock,  now  in  the  Philadelphia  Library, 
and  regarded  as  the  oldest  clock  in  America,  is  called 
Oliver  Cromwell's  clock.     His  watch,  delineated  in  a  print 
in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  December,  1808,  is  now  in 
the    British    Museum.      His    oval    brass    snuff-box    was 
minutely  described  in  Notes  and  Queries,  October  29,  1864. 
At  an  archaeological  meeting  in  York,  September,  1846, 
another  watch  turned  up,  a  repeater,  maker's  name  Jaques 
Cartier,  exhibited  by  Mr.  F.  H.  Fawkes,  of  Farnley  Hall, 
near  Otley,  together  with  the  original    matrix  in   silver 
of  a  seal  for  the  approbation  of  parish  ministers.     Mark 
Noble   believed   himself   to   be   the   happy   possessor   of 
the  Protector's  steel  tobacco-box.     His  boots,  with  many 
other    articles,    used    to    be    shown   to   visitors    at    the 
Chequers,    in    Buckinghamshire ;    while   a   rival   pair   of 
boots  formed  part  of  Mr.  Mayer's  Museum  at  Liverpool, 
together  with  a  cocoanut  cup   mounted  in  silver ;    and 
there  is  a  silver  shoe-buckle  in  the  rooms  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Antiquaries.     Mrs.  Inigo  Thomas,  of  Ratten,  had 
his  brooch.     Even  his  finger-ring  was  found  in  1824  at 


Portraits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  231 

Enderby,  near  Leicester,  having  a  pointedly-cut  diamond 
between  rubies,  and  "  O.  C."  on  each  side  of  the  rubies. 
Inside  the  ring  were  the  words  "  For  the  Cause  "  {Gentle- 
man's Magazine,  July,  1824).  Thomas  Dickenson  Hall, 
Esq.,  of  Whatton  Manor,  co.  Notts,  has  his  silver 
drinking-cup,  with  a  cover.  The  numerous  articles  in- 
herited by  the  Dickenson  family  were  likely  to  be  genuine, 
as  they  came  through  the  Claypooles.  An  aunt  of 
Daines  Barrington  formerly  rejoiced  in  the  possession  of 
an  intricate  lock,  manufactured  in  Scotland,  but  attached 
to  a  chamber-door  in  Whitehall.  Other  possessors  of 
relics  are,  or  were,  Mr.  Goodall,  of  Dinton  Hall,  Ayles- 
bury ;  Sir  Peter  Dick,  of  Sloane  Street,  Chelsea ;  and  the 
owner  of  the  armoury  in  the  chapel  of  Farley  Castle,  the 
ancient  seat  of  the  Hungerfords,  in  Wiltshire.  The  above 
list,  copious  though  it  may  appear,  is  far  from  being 
exhaustive,  and  a  small  space  must  still  be  claimed  for 
objects  more  strictly  belonging  to  the  Protectress's  de- 
partment. It  remains,  then,  to  state  that  at  a  sale  of 
porcelain  belonging  to  Miss  Wroughton,  of  Wilcot,  near 
Devizes,  one  lot  was  styled  Oliver's,  probably  a  set  of 
Delft  earthenware,  which  was  popular  in  England  from 
1600  to  1660.  And  when  about  the  same  time  the  antique 
furniture  of  Chavenage  House,  near  Tetbury,  was  sold  by 
auction,  amongst  various  Oliverian  relics,  his  quilt  in 
satin,  trimmed  with  silk  fringe,  was  sold  for  £3.  A 
similar  quilt  of  Ireton's  fetched  one  guinea.  Nor  must 
an  article  belonging  to  Ireton's  wife,  Bridget  Cromwell, 
be  overlooked.  This  is  a  brass-mounted  pair  of  bellows 
adorned  with  scroll-work  and  flowers  encircling  a  portrait 
of  her  father,  exhibited  by  Mr.  Burkitt  at  the  archaeo- 
logical meeting  in  1845.  Lastly,  a  kettle — a  camp-kettle, 
a  gift  from  Mrs.  Russel,  of  Cheshunt — was  cherished  by 
the  late  Sir  Charles  Reed,  of  Hackney,  derived  through 
his  wife  from  her  father,  Edward  Baines,  Esq.,  M.P.,  of 
Leeds. 


232  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

There  was  a  gentleman  resident  in  the  Paragon  at 
Hackney,  Mr.  De  Kewer  Williams,  the  pastor  of  an  Inde- 
pendent Church,  whose  Cromwellian  museum,  in  one  re- 
spect at  least,  was  emphatically  unique,  for  it  included  233 
different  engraved  portraits  of  him,  180  being  English,  39 
French,  7  Dutch,  6  German,  1  Italian  ;  and  by  this  time  the 
collection  is  doubtless  still  further  enriched.  Other  items 
in  this  gathering  were  portraits  in  oil  (one  apparently  an 
original) ;  miniatures  on  various  grounds  and  bas-relievos  of 
every  material ;  a  statuette  of  considerable  age,  possibly 
contemporary ;  besides  coins,  medals,  seals,  silver  lockets,  a 
large  ivory  tankard,  the  carving  around  which  represents 
the  Dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament ;  all  the  best  en- 
gravings of  Oliver,  inclusive  of  caricatures  native  and 
foreign  ;  and  lastly  a  book-case  of  characteristic  device, 
containing  a  selection  of  rare  works  illustrative  of  his 
career,  in  various  languages. 

In  the  execution  of  his  picture  of  the  Dissolution  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  Benjamin  West  was  anxious  to  examine 
a  miniature  of  great  repute,  then  belonging  to  an  old  lady, 
a  member  of  the  Russell  family.  "  Lord  Russell "  is 
described  as  the  mediating  channel  through  whom  per- 
mission to  inspect  was,  after  much  difficulty,  obtained. 
But  permission  was  only  one  step  in  advance.  Sundry 
preliminaries  had  to  be  observed,  for  which  the  painter 
was  hardly  prepared.  The  box  containing  the  miniature 
lay  at  the  lady's  banking-house,  and  whenever  it  was 
brought  to  her  own  home,  the  servants  were  all  put  into 
livery  as  for  a  State  reception,  and  visitors  were  required 
to  appear  in  Court  dress.  Benjamin  West's  Quaker  pre- 
judices revolted  against  the  sword  and  other  paraphernalia 
belonging  to  that  costume ;  but  deeming  it  best  to  waive 
his  objections  for  the  nonce,  he  was  duly  ushered  along 
with  others  into  the  lady's  bedroom,  where  she  appeared 
propped  up  with  pillows  and  dressed  with  plumes  and 
jewels.      The   box   was   opened,  and    Mr.   West   had   at 


Portraits  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  233 

last  the  satisfaction  of  holding  the  Protector's  miniature 
in  his  hand.  A  glance  sufficed  to  verify  the  report  of  its 
excellence.  He  had  never  before  seen,  he  said,  so  ex- 
pressive a  likeness  of  "  Cromwell."  At  the  word  "Crom- 
well "  the  old  lady's  eager  hand  had  plucked  the  jewel  from 
his  profane  grasp  and  replaced  it  in  its  casket.  With  an 
agitated  voice  she  declared  that  Mr.  West  could  not  again 
be  permitted  to  handle  it.  "  You  must  know,"  she  added, 
"  that  in  my  presence  he  is  never  spoken  of  but  as  my 
Lord  Protector."  Lord  Russell  here  interposed,  and  after 
suitable  apologies  and  explanations  obtained  for  Mr.  West 
the  privilege  of  another  long  inspection,  in  the  course  of 
which  the  courtly  painter  found  sundry  opportunities  for 
magnifying  the  name  and  virtues  of  our  Lord  Protector. 
After  the  lady's  death,  he  made  another  effort  to  see  it 
through  her  executors,  but  all  the  information  he  could 
get  was  that  when  the  box  was  recovered  from  the  banker's 
the  picture  was  absent,  and  was  supposed  to  have  gone 
abroad.  Thus  it  seemed  hopelessly  lost,  but  Mr.  West 
was  of  opinion  that  the  beauty  of  its  execution  would 
ensure  its  restoration  to  the  light.  (Notes  and  Queries, 
July  15,  1865.)  Possibly  its  subsequent  history  may  be 
read  in  a  statement  occurring  in  a  letter  to  the  present 
writer,  written  in  1848  by  the  late  Sir  Thomas  Frankland 
Lewis,  to  the  effect  that  the  best  portrait  of  Oliver  he  had 
ever  seen  was  "  a  miniature  in  the  hands  of  Sir  Augustus 
Foster,  who  had  purchased  it  at  Turin.  It  was  by  Cooper, 
and  had  belonged  to  some  of  Oliver's  descendant's."  As 
to  the  lady  herself,  who  paid  such  affectionate  homage  to 
his  memory,  she  may  be  conjecturally  identified  with  one 
of  the  two  members  of  the  Russell  family  who  successively 
filled  the  office  of  bed-chamber  woman  to  the  Princess 
Amelia. 

The  portrait  (life  -  size)  in  Sidney  Sussex  College, 
Cambridge,  was  probably  the  last  taken  from  life,  for  it 
represents  him  worn  and  faded  from  the  fatigues  of  office 


234  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


and  indoor  life.  It  was  presented  to  the  college,  in  1766, 
by  Thomas  Hollis,  the  antiquary,  who  accompanied  the 
gift  with  two  unsigned  letters  as  follows : 

"  To  the  Master  and  Fellows  of  Sidney  Sussex  College, 
Cambridge. 

"  An  Englishman,  an  assertor  of  liberty,  citizen  of  the 
world,  is  desirous  of  having  the  honour  to  present  an 
original  portrait  in  crayons  of  the  head  of  O.  Cromwell, 
Protector,  drawn  by  Cooper,  to  Sidney  Sussex  College  in 
Cambridge.     London,  Jan.  15,  1766. 

'  I  freely  declare  it,  I  am  for  old  Noll ; 
Though  his  government  did  a  tyrant's  resemble, 
He  made  England  great,  and  her  enemies  tremble." 

"  It  is  requested  that  the  portrait  should  be  placed  so  as 
to  receive  the  light  from  left  to  right,  and  be  free  from 
sunshine.  Also  that  the  favour  of  a  line  may  be  written 
on  the  arrival  of  it,  directed  to  Pierce  Delver,  at  Mr. 
Shore's,  bookbinder  in  Maiden  Lane,  Covent  Garden, 
London." 

Second  letter : 

"  A  small  case  was  sent  yesterday  by  the  Cambridge 
waggon  from  the  Green  Dragon,  Bishopsgate  Street, 
directed  to  Dr.  Elliston,  Master  of  Sidney  Sussex  College, 
Cambridge,  free  of  carriage.  It  contains  a  portrait  which 
the  Master  and  Fellows  of  that  College  are  requested  to 
accept.     London,  Jan.  18,  1766." 

How  and  when  the  donor's  real  name  was  discovered  is 
uncertain,  but  the  letters  were  so  characteristic  that  it 
could  not  long  remain  a  secret.  Thomas  Hollis  died  in 
1774,  but  we  learn  from  his  memoirs  that  it  was  known  in 
1780.     (Notes  and  Queries,  February  24,  1872.) 


The  Standard  of  Oliver  Cromwell.         235 

The  Standard  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

Mr.  Henfrey  observes,  writing  in  1875,  that  there  seems 
to  be  only  one  example  of  a  Commonwealth  flag  now  in 
existence  in  this  country.  It  was  the  standard  hoisted 
during  that  period  on  the  flagstaff  at  Chatham  Dockyard, 
and  it  is  still  preserved  at  the  private  house  of  the  Captain- 
Superintendent  of  the  dockyard,  Captain  Charles  Fellowes, 
C.B.  It  is  there  deposited  in  a  curious  chest  of  carved 
cypress,  taken  by  Sir  George  Rook  out  of  a  Spanish 
galleon  in  Vigo  Bay  in  1704,  and  which  was  used  for  hold- 
ing colours.  The  following  notice  of  it  occurs  in  the 
Kentish  Gazette,  January  11,  1822  : 

"  Cromwell's  Standard. — When  his  Royal  Highness  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester  visited  the  dockyard  at  Chatham  a 
few  days  since,  he  was  shown  Cromwell's  standard, 
supposed  to  be  the  only  one  remaining  in  the  kingdom. 
Its  ancient  simplicity  and  good  preservation  excited  the 
attention  of  his  Royal  Highness.  When  his  late  Majesty 
visited  the  yard  in  1781,  it  was  shown  to  him,  and  he 
expressed  a  desire  that  particular  care  might  be  taken  of 
it.  The  flag  is  red,  twenty-one  feet  by  fifteen,  having  on 
it  St.  George's  Cross,  red  on  a  white  field,  and  the  Irish 
harp,  yellow  on  a  blue  field,  the  shield  surrounded  by 
branches  of  palm  and  laurel." 

Respecting  which  memorandum,  Mr.  Henfrey  further 
observes  that  the  writer  errs  in  calling  it  Cromwell's 
standard,  since  it  carries  the  arms  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  England  and  Ireland  only,  which  differ  considerably 
from  the  bearings  of  the  Protectorate.  On  May  18,  1658, 
an  order  of  Oliver's  Council  directed  "  That  the  standard 
for  the  General  of  his  Highness's  fleet  be  altered,  and  do 
bear  the  arms  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  with 
his  Highness's  escutcheon  of  pretence  according  to  the 
impression  of  the  great  seal  of  England,  and  that  the 
jack-flags   for  the   flag-officers  of  the  fleet   and   for   the 


236  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


general  ships  of  war  of  his  Highness  be  the  arms  of 
England  and  Scotland  united,  according  to  the  ancient 
form,  with  the  addition  of  the  harp,  according  to  the 
model  now  shown,  and  that  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Admiralty  and  Navy  do  take  order  that  the  standard  and 
jack-flags  be  prepared  accordingly."  The  standard  thus 
determined  on  bore  quarterly,  first  and  fourth,  argent,  the 
cross  of  St.  George,  gules,  for  England ;  second,  azure,  a 
saltire,  argent,  being  St.  Andrew's  cross  for  Scotland ; 
third,  azure,  a  harp,  or,  stringed,  argent,  for  Ireland.  On 
an  escutcheon  of  pretence  in  the  centre  were  the  paternal 
arms  of  Cromwell,  sable,  a  lion  rampant,  argent. 

The  National  Ensign  was  in  all  probability  down  to 
1658  the  flag  of  St.  George  introduced  by  the  Common- 
wealth in  1649 ;  but  by  the  order  above  quoted  we  learn 
that  the  old  Union  Jack,  bearing  the  combined  crosses  of 
St.  George  and  St.  Andrew,  was  revived,  with  the  singular 
alteration  of  placing  the  Irish  harp  "over  the  centre"  (as 
Mr.  Henfrey  supposes)  of  the  flag.  This  altered  Union 
Jack  was,  of  course,  disused  upon  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II.,  nor  was  Ireland  again  represented  in  the 
Union  flag  until  the  reign  of  George  III.,  when  the  cross 
of  St.  Patrick  was  added  to  the  jack  on  the  union  with 
Ireland,  January  1,  1801.  During  the  short  period 
between  the  resignation  of  the  Protector  Richard  and  the 
return  of  the  King,  the  standard  was  probably  that  of  the 
Protectorate  with  the  Cromwell  escutcheon  omitted.  The 
ensign  was  perhaps  the  Union  Jack  as  altered  in  1658. 
(From  a  paper  by  H.  W.  Henfrey  on  the  "  Commonwealth 
Flags.")  In  the  matter  of  colours,  costumes,  and  badges 
worn  by  the  several  companies  of  the  fighting  armies  in 
the  early  stages  of  the  war,  much  information  is  supplied 
in  the  life  of  Admiral  Deane  by  his  descendant,  John 
Bathurst  Deane. 


The  Coins  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  237 

The  Coins  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

"  Numismata  Cromwelliana ;  or,  The  Medallic  History 
of  Oliver  Cromwell,  illustrated  by  his  Coins,  Medals,  and 
Seals,  dedicated  by  permission  to  the  Marquis  of  Ripon, 
'the  eminent  statesman,  the  patron  of  archaeology  and 
art,  and  a  descendant  of  the  Cromwell  family,' "  by 
William  Henry  Henfrey,  author  of  "  A  Guide  to  English 
Coins,"  member  of  the  Numismatic  and  other  learned 
societies  (4to.,  1877),  *s  a  fascinating  and  exhaustive 
treatise  on  a  department  of  our  history  concerning  which, 
notwithstanding  the  extant  account  of  Simon's  works, 
little  before  was  known.  With  a  copious  history  of  mint- 
ing operations  during  the  period  in  question,  it  supplies 
also  the  biographies  of  the  artists  engaged,  and  is  rich  not 
only  in  scientific  data,  but  in  contemporary  anecdote. 
The  pictorial  delineations,  which  are  of  extraordinary 
beauty,  being  the  product  of  the  Autotype  Company, 
include  all  the  English  specimens,  and  also  foreign  imita- 
tions and  Dutch  satirical  pieces.  In  presence  of  so 
finished  a  work  of  art,  it  would  be  an  impertinence  to 
treat  its  details  in  a  cursory  style.  Beyond,  therefore,  a 
notice  of  the  Dunbar  medal,  but  little  attempt  will  be 
made  to  rifle  its  contents. 

Oliver's  numismatic  history  commences  with  the  victory 
of  Dunbar,  September  3,  1650.  Two  days  after  the  news 
of  that  event  reached  the  House,  a  resolution  was  passed 
for  a  general  distribution  of  memorial  pieces  to  the  army, 
and  constitutes  the  first  instance  in  English  history  of  the 
same  medal  being  granted  to  officers  and  men  alike,  as  is 
our  present  practice.  Nor  was  it  ever  done  again  till  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  in  1815,  when  a  distribution  of  silver 
medals  was  in  like  manner  made  to  every  man  present  at 
the  action.  Relics  of  this  kind  in  commemoration  of 
great  men  and  great  events  have,  of  course,  been  common 
time  out  of  mind ;  but  in   the  whole  space  of  our  own 


238  The  House  of  CromwelL 

history  preceding  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  Common- 
wealth of  England  stands  alone  in  the  gift  of  this  form  of 
decoration  to  every  man  of  every  grade  in  the  army. 

It  was  proposed  that  the  Dunbar  medal  should  exhibit 
on  the  one  side  a  view  of  the  Parliament  sitting,  and  on 
the  other  an  effigy  of  the  victorious  General,  backed  by  a 
distant  view  of  the  army,  and  superscribed  "The  Lord  of 
Hosts,"  which  had  been  the  battle-cry  on  the  occasion  ; 
and  Thomas  Simon,  the  renowned  medallist,  was  sent 
down  to  Scotland  to  convey  to  him  the  wishes  of  the 
House,  and  to  make  the  necessary  studies  for  the  bust. 
Oliver  expressed  his  cordial  approval  of  the  design,  except 
that  he  wished  his  own  portrait  to  be  left  out ;  but  as  this 
would  not  be  listened  to,  Simon  went  back  to  London 
furnished  with  those  materials,  which  have  issued  in  that 
representation  of  the  General  in  middle  life,  which  we 
instinctively  feel  to  be  the  true  one,  well  executed  in  the 
Dunbar  medals,  but  still  better  expressed  in  the  Inaugura- 
tion medal.  Both  are  represented  in  Plate  I.  of  the  auto- 
types in  Mr.  Henfrey's  work. 

In  executing  the  reverse  for  the  smaller  of  the  Dunbar 
medals,  namely,  the  view  of  the  Parliament  sitting,  Simon 
used  up  a  die  which  he  had  formerly  engraved  for  the 
Meruisti  medal.  This  was  a  medal  which  had  been  ordered 
in  1649  to  decorate  several  sea-captains  who  had  done 
good  service  to  the  Commonwealth  ;  and  it  had  on  the 
obverse  the  Commonwealth  arms  in  the  form  of  the 
English  and  Irish  shields  suspended  from  an  anchor,  and 
the  word  Meruisti.  These,  with  their  gold  chains,  were 
ready  for  delivery  in  1653,  and  Cromwell  having  in  the 
meanwhile  become  Protector,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  per- 
sonally presenting  them  to  Generals  Blake  and  Monk,  to 
Vice-Admiral  Penn,  Rear-Admiral  Lawson,  and  others. 

Of  the  Cromwellian  coinage  generally,  Mr.  Henfrey, 
after  reciting  the  eulogies  of  various  numismatic  authorities, 
concludes  with  those   of   B.  Nightingale   and    R.  Stuart 


The  Coins  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  239 

Poole,  the  latter  being  the  Keeper  of  the  Coins  in  the 
British  Museum.  Says  Mr.  Nightingale :  "  They  have 
always  been  considered  the  most  truthful,  graceful,  and 
highly-finished  specimens  of  modern  medallic  art.  Indeed, 
they  have  never  been  surpassed  by  any  productions  of  the 
English  Mint.  Perhaps  we  might  say  they  have  never 
been  equalled."  Mr.  Poole  says  :  "  The  great  Protector's 
coins,  designed  by  Simon,  the  chief  of  English  medallists, 
are  unequalled  in  our  whole  series  for  the  vigour  of  the 
portrait,  a  worthy  presentment  of  the  head  of  Cromwell, 
and  the  beauty  and  fitness  of  every  portion  of  the  work." 

But,  beautiful  as  the  Protector's  money  was,  it  had  but 
a  very  limited  circulation.  As  he  died  within  a  few  months 
after  the  great  coinage  of  1658,  the  specimens  then  afloat 
would  very  naturally  be  hoarded  as  memorials  of  him  and 
as  curiosities.  Samuel  Pepys  tells  us  that  even  so  early 
as  1662  Cromwell's  pieces  were  prized  and  bought  up  by 
connoisseurs.  From  the  circumstance  that  no  specific 
mention  is  made  of  them  in  Charles  II. 's  proclamation 
calling  in  the  Commonwealth  money,  it  has  even  been 
argued  that  they  were  never  in  public  circulation.  This 
Mr.  Henfrey  does  not  admit,  and  thinks,  with  Sir  Henry 
Ellis,  that  it  must  have  been  deemed  quite  unnecessary  to 
prohibit  in  a  proclamation  the  currency  of  coins  which  had 
virtually  gone  out  of  sight. 

Oliver's  seal  on  the  death-warrant  of  the  King  differs 
from  that  which  he  commonly  used,  inasmuch  as  the 
demi-lion  holds  a  fleur-de-lys  instead  of  a  javelin  or  ring. 
The  same  seal  follows  Harrison's  name.  Perhaps  he  was 
without  a  seal  at  the  time,  and  Cromwell,  standing  by,  lent 
him  his.  The  published  facsimiles  of  the  warrant  do  not 
correctly  represent  this  seal. 


240  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Church  Policy  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

Oliver  Cromwell  was  a  man  of  prayer.  To  his  honest 
apprehension  the  hand  of  Providence  was  throughout  his 
career  as  distinct  and  palpable  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens. 
To  retain  the  benefit  of  this  sure  defence,  it  followed  that 
the  only  possible  course  open  to  him  was  that  of  childlike 
obedience.  Along  this  path  he  moved  with  the  serene 
confidence  only  known  to  the  sons  of  faith,  and  the 
power  of  his  genius  was  born  of  the  innocency  of  his 
heart.  Personal  supremacy  was  valuable  only  as  it 
furnished  the  means  for  carrying  out  those  maxims  of 
religious  liberty,  civil  order,  and  Protestant  ascendancy  in 
Europe,  which  he  often  told  his  brother  sovereigns  abroad 
were  the  terms  of  his  Divine  commission.  In  Rome  he 
discerned  the  chief  enemy  to  the  liberties,  the  prosperity, 
and  the  piety  of  mankind,  and  in  nations  devoted  to  her 
sway  the  strongholds  of  tyranny  and  vice.  In  face  of 
such  a  state  of  things,  he  was  not  called  upon  when 
smitten  on  the  one  cheek  to  offer  the  other  also.  That 
might  be  a  personal  duty.  Possibly  it  might  not  be  a 
national  duty.  Nationality  was  an  element  not  of  his 
creation,  but  it  was  a  factor  which  went  for  a  great  deal  in 
the  history  of  human  progress,  and  he  found  himself,  by 
the  will  of  Heaven,  in  possession  of  a  national  sword. 
Without  adopting  the  fiction  of  a  Christian  nation,  he  had 
to  ask  himself  the  question  why  that  sword  was  placed  in 
his  hand  as  a  Protestant  potentate  in  the  then  state  of 
Europe.  His  answer  to  that  question  was,  as  we  know, 
a  systematic  plan  of  resistance  to  Papal  influences 
abroad.  By  parity  of  reasoning  it  appeared  to  him  just 
and  right  to  exercise  the  same  law  of  force  at  home  ;  and 
he  exercised  it  so  far  as  to  meet  and  ratify  the  universal 
craving  for  an  outward  and  visible  profession  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  combining  therewith  absolute  toleration  for  all 
doctrines  that  were  not  opposed  to  the  nation's  peace. 


Church  Policy  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  241 

To  him,  as  to  Milton,  the  attainment  of  those  ends  was  a 
more  important  object  than  the  symmetry  of  the  machinery. 
The  respective  views  of  the  two  men  in  matters  ecclesiastic 
may  or  may  not  have  corresponded  in  some  executive 
details,  but  Milton  had  the  good  sense  not  to  stand  against 
the  Protector's  decision  under  the  circumstances  of  the 
hour.  Milton  was  born  to  be  a  theologian  ;  Cromwell 
was  born  to  be  a  Ruler.  Milton's  views  of  Church 
organization  were  manly,  Apostolic,  and  evangelical ;  and 
when  looked  at  from  the  private  Christian's  standpoint, 
they  were  all-sufficient.  But  Cromwell  had  to  look  at  the 
matter  from  the  Ruler's  standpoint,  and  this  was  a  very 
different  affair.  He  had  to  sweep  a  politico-ecclesiastic 
horizon  which  was  charged  with  thunder-clouds,  an  horizon 
of  far  wider  reach  than  that  of  Milton's  model  Church, 
which  only  asked  to  be  guided  back  into  Apostolic  order. 

The  period  between  the  battle  of  Worcester  and  the 
dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament  was  greatly  occupied 
by  national  discussions  on  what  was  called  "the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  " — a  term  embracing  the  whole  question 
of  the  alliance  of  Church  and  State,  the  selection  ot 
pastors,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  old  system  of  tithes 
versus  a  declaration  of  absolute  voluntaryism.  Committees 
were  sitting,  books  printed,  petitions  presented,  proposals 
entertained,  in  all  which  Cromwell  was  a  patient  worker 
and  watcher  ;  and  we  must  therefore  conclude  that,  when 
he  reached  the  conviction  that  England  was  not  yet  ready 
for  the  experimental  adoption  of  Milton's  theories,  he  had 
weighed  the  matter  with  all  the  powers  he  possessed. 

Now,  it  has  often  been  stated  that  his  resolution  to 
maintain  the  parochial  clergy  by  force  and  arms  was  the 
one  point  in  which  he  thoroughly  disappointed  John  Milton 
and  his  brother  voluntaries.  It  may  be  so.  Perhaps  he 
much  more  disappointed  himself.  But  before  surveying 
the  difficulties  of  his  position,  let  us  clear  the  ground  by 
first  disposing  of  Richard  Baxter's  objections.     It  was  the 

16 


242  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

recorded  opinion  of  this  divine  that  Cromwell  systemati- 
cally prepared  the  public  mind  for  his  own  personal 
exaltation  by  first  stimulating  the  religious  extravagances 
of  the  hour,  in  order  that  himself  might  be  welcomed  as 
the  patron  and  restorer  of  order  ;  and  that,  having  attained 
his  end,  he  trusted  thenceforward  to  the  policy  of  doing 
good  for  his  continued  security,  "  that  the  people  might 
love  him,  or  at  least  be  willing  to  have  his  government  for 
that  good."  So,  then,  we  are  to  understand  it  was  all  in 
furtherance  of  his  own  interest.  Any  solution  will  satisfy 
Baxter  rather  than  admit  that  the  Protector  adopted  the 
course  which  he  deemed  most  righteous  for  righteousness' 
sake.  But  to  those  of  us  who  believe  that  Cromwell 
possessed  what  the  Scriptures  term  "  a  single  eye,"  the 
crooked  policy  here  attributed  to  him  is  altogether  inad- 
missible. To  a  dignitary  like  Baxter,  who  caused  Quakers 
to  be  put  in  the  stocks  at  Kidderminster,  and  to  other 
ministers  who  shared  his  sentiments  of  clerical  domination, 
the  Protector's  decision,  one  would  think,  might  have 
been  sufficiently  palatable,  let  the  motive  be  what  it 
might.  It  was  the  amount  of  toleration  which  went  along 
with  it  which  the  Presbyterian  champion  so  resented. 
No  man  loved  better  than  he  did  the  order  and  power 
implied  in  the  phrase  "  Church  and  State,"  and  liberty  of 
conscience  consequently  took,  in  his  estimation,  the  place 
of  rank  heresy — liberty  of  the  lay  conscience,  that  is  to  say  ; 
for  ministers  were  the  only  true  guides  of  opinion.  "  If," 
says  he,  referring  to  the  early  stages  of  the  struggle,  "  there 
had  been  a  competent  number  of  ministers,  each  doing  his 
part,  the  whole  plot  of  the  furious  party  might  have  been 
broken,  and  King,  Parliament,  and  religion  preserved." 
By  the  "furious  party"  here  are  meant  the  Anabaptist 
soldiers,  who  in  the  days  of  his  army  chaplaincy  had  so 
often  outraged  his  official  dignity  by  controverting  his 
dogmas  of  Church  polity. 

But  leaving  Baxter  to  learn  in  the  after-school  of  tribu- 


Church  Policy  of  Oliver  Cromwell.         243 

lation  the  lesson  of  mutual  forbearance,  we  may  now  look 
at  some  other  of  Oliver's  difficulties,  and  in  so  doing  take 
a  glance  at  the  actual  state  of  English  churches.  They 
comprehended,  then,  to  begin  with,  the  entire  population. 
Everyone  who  had  been  made  a  Christian  by  baptism 
could  claim  a  legal  right  to  church  privileges,  by  which 
fiction  it  came  to  pass  that  church  discipline  was,  as  it 
always  must  be  under  the  circumstances,  a  farce.  When 
Peter  Ince,  one  of  the  conscientious  pastors  of  South 
Wilts,  ventured  to  restrict  communion  by  instituting  a 
character  test,  all  the  parish  rose  in  arms.  The  church 
was  theirs,  not  his.  Still  more  dire  must  have  been  the 
confusion  and  clash  of  tongues  when  the  incumbent  hap- 
pened, as  was  sometimes  the  case,  to  be  a  Baptist.  Such 
was  the  nature  of  parochial  church  life  which  Cromwell 
had  to  deal  with — a  system  wrought  for  ages  past  into 
the  very  fabric  of  society,  one  which  he  had  no  hand 
in  initiating,  and  which  he  certainly  had  no  power  to 
arrest. 

Church  discipline,  then,  must  for  the  present  be  re- 
garded as  unattainable,  even  if  it  had  ever  been  possible 
to  bring  it  within  the  reach  of  an  ecclesiastical  police  ;  and 
congregations  must  be  treated,  not  as  Christians,  but  as 
citizens.  Cromwell  knew  as  well  as  anyone  that  Churches 
of  the  primitive  age  had  their  organization  in  their  own 
hands,  but  he  also  knew  that  as  soon  as  they  learned  to 
look  to  earthly  authority  in  support  or  recognition  of  their 
spiritual  status,  from  that  moment  they  became  merged  in 
surrounding  influences.  Their  spiritual  status  was  quenched 
in  their  citizenship,  and  forthwith  became,  if  not  a  myth, 
at  least  an  undefinable  quantity  outside  of  the  legislator's 
notice.  Milton,  with  the  daring  of  youth,  had  once  said  : 
"  A  commonwealth  ought  to  be  but  as  one  huge  Christian 
personage,  one  mighty  growth  and  stature  of  an  honest 
man."  The  aspiration  was  poetic — it  was  even  prophetic 
and  Biblical — but  as  yet  it  was  far  enough  out  of  sight  in 


244  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

England ;  and  when  he  and  Cromwell  found  at  last  an 
opportunity  of  giving  to  their  endeavours  a  practical 
shape,  the  reform  had  to  drop  down  to  the  regulation  of 
parish  churches  ;  and  how  to  exalt  and  purify  even  these 
by  legislative  action  it  was  felt  could  only  be  a  very 
superficial  affair. 

But  in  addition  to  them,  the  legislator  had  also  to 
recognise  the  existence  of  other  gatherings  of  Christian 
men.  From  the  days  of  Constantine  downwards,  Catholic 
unity  had  forcibly  preserved  the  peace  in  this  respect ;  but 
Protestantism  is  the  nurse  of  sects,  and  as  England  and 
Scotland  were  Protestant,  so  the  sects  abounded.  They 
could  not  be  obliterated.  Nay,  putting  aside  the  bitter- 
ness of  rivalry  kept  alive  in  them  by  the  action  of  paid 
teachers,  they  are  a  healthy  symptom  of  life.  In  any  case, 
then,  let  them  enjoy  a  common  share  of  that  protection 
which  is  their  undoubted  right  as  citizens,  though  not  as 
spiritual  persons.  Even  Milton  could  not  withhold  this 
amount  of  governmental  support. 

By  this  principle,  therefore,  Cromwell  appears  to  have 
guided  his  course.  The  various  religious  parties  were 
given  to  understand  that  they  had  perfect  liberty  to  think 
and  let  think.  He  attempted  neither  to  define  nor  to 
defend  the  theological  position  of  any  one  of  the  belligerents, 
but  he  was  resolved,  if  possible,  to  keep  them  one  and  all 
from  cutting  each  others'  throats.  How  this  amicable 
neutrality  could  be  secured,  when  the  beneficed  clergy 
retained  the  power  of  summoning  the  civil  sword  in  defence 
of  their  tithes,  could  never  have  been  very  clear.  Ap- 
parently, there  was  at  present  no  mode  of  escape  out  of 
the  dilemma  ;  but  so  far  as  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
permitted,  he  became  what  has  been  termed  "  a  despot  for 
freedom  of  conscience,"  paradoxical  as  it  may  sound. 
Could  a  succession  of  Cromwells  be  counted  on,  the 
system  of  compromise  thus  put  into  action  might  possibly 
retain  some  healthy  efficiency,  and  the  religious  freedom, 


Church  Policy  of  Oliver  Cromwell.         245 

which  he  secured  in  spite  of  the  parochial  clergy,  be 
indefinitely  perpetuated.  Still,  it  was  but  a  compromise, 
a  temporary  expedient  adopted  in  hope  of  something  better 
turning  up  ;  and,  so  far  as  his  own  conscience  was  con- 
cerned in  the  matter,  it  is  satisfactory  to  know  from  his 
repeated  declarations  that  he  believed  he  had  pursued  the 
right  course. 

Was  there  any  other  prominent  object  to  be  considered? 
Yes,  there  was  the  selection  and  payment  of  ministers. 
Here,  also,  if  legislation  would  but  consent  to  sit  still  and 
ignore  the  existence  of  Christianism,  Milton's  conclusions 
were  irresistible.  And  as  England  then  was,  another  con- 
clusion also  was  irresistible — every  parish  would  become 
in  succession  the  seat  of  civil  war.  Those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  schedules  of  estates  called  "  particulars," 
which  the  Royalists  had  to  furnish  when  they  compounded 
for  their  "  delinquency,"  will  have  observed  how  frequently 
the  rural  rectories  were  in  the  hands  of  laymen,  who, 
while  they  kept  the  tithes  to  themselves,  and  maintained 
the  fabric  of  the  church  in  repair  or  disrepair,  as  the  case 
might  be,  met  the  ecclesiastical  wants  of  the  people 
by  paying  a  small  stipend  of  from  £40  to  £jo  to 
some  curate  or  vicarius,  who  was  very  much  at  their 
mercy.  And  as  were  the  Royalist  landowners,  so  were  all 
other  landowners.  Now,  let  it  be  conceived  for  a  moment 
what  would  have  been  the  result  of  tearing  up  such  a 
system  as  this  in  countless  parishes,  where  there  could  be 
no  possible  agreement  in  doctrinal  matters,  and  conse- 
quently no  concord  in  the  choice  of  a  pastor — at  a  time, 
too,  when  the  Quakers  were  perambulating  every  village  in 
the  realm  and  sowing  broadcast  the  seeds  of  ecclesiastical 
revolt.  Was  it  not  better  to  allow  the  right  of  presenta- 
tion to  remain  for  the  present  with  the  landowners  or 
other  patrons,  and  qualify  the  evil  by  subjecting  the 
nominees  to  the  strait  gate  of  examination  ?  So  Oliver 
appears  to  have  reasoned. 


246  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


And  this  brings  us  at  last  in  sight  of  the  county  courts 
of  arbitrators,  called  "  tryers  "  or  "  expurgators,"  and  by 
the  episcopal  party  basanistai,  or  "tormentors,"  selected 
from  professors  of  different  Protestant  creeds,  lay  and 
clerical,  and  appointed  to  pronounce  on  the  fitness  or 
otherwise  of  candidates  for  benefices.  They  were  not 
altogether  a  new  institution,  Acts  for  the  ejectment  of 
scandalous  and  insufficient  divines  having  been  on  the 
statute-books  ever  since  the  time  of  James  I.  (see  the 
Commons'  Journals  as  far  back  as  June  22,  1604),  but  under 
the  Commonwealth  the  system  was  brought  into  more 
rigorous  practice.  This  is  what  Professor  David  Masson, 
in  his  "  Life  of  John  Milton,"  so  repeatedly  terms  "  Crom- 
well's State  Church,"  but  which,  after  all,  means  no  more 
than  this  :  that  he  met  the  helpless  cry  for  a  paid  pastorate 
by  furnishing  the  best  article  within  his  reach ;  and  in 
furtherance  of  this  object  it  must  be  admitted  that  his 
supervision  was  anxious  and  incessant.  In  Marchmont 
Needham's  book,  published  in  1657,  entitled  "The  Great 
Accuser  Cast  Down,"  we  are  told  that  "  His  Highness, 
having  near  one  half  of  the  livings  in  England  one  way  or 
other  in  his  own  immediate  disposal  by  presentation,  he 
seldom  bestoweth  one  of  them  upon  any  man  whom  him- 
self doth  not  first  examine  and  make  trial  of  in  person. 
Save  only  that  at  such  times  as  his  great  affairs  happen  to 
be  more  urgent  than  ordinary,  he  useth  to  appoint  some 
other  to  do  it  in  his  behalf.  Which  is  so  rare  an  example 
of  piety,  that  the  like  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  stories  of 
princes." 

And  then,  touching  the  sources  of  income,  how  to  find 
a  substitute  for  tithes  was  felt  to  be  a  bottomless  question. 
There  was  some  talk  of  experimenting  in  Ireland,  and 
gathering  tithes  into  a  common  fund  for  re-distribution 
among  incumbents,  but  it  came  to  nothing.  Oliver 
evidently  shrank  most  sensitively  from  the  injustice  of 
any  plan  which  looked  like  pauperizing  the  regular  clergy. 


Church  Policy  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  247 

On  this  ground  he  fought  their  battle  from  first  to  last. 
He  told  the  House  that  the  best  among  the  clergy  would 
heartily  welcome  some  more  gracious  scheme  of  support, 
if  such  could  be  found  ;  but  until  that  happy  discovery 
were  made,  tithes  were  unavoidable.  To  fall  back  on 
universal  voluntaryism,  he  thought,  would  be  unfair  treat- 
ment towards  the  ministers. 

But  let  Cromwell's  solicitude  as  the  father  of  his  people 
be  what  it  might,  was  not  the  above  plan  tainted  with  the 
old  inherent  vice  of  withholding  from  the  churches  the 
right  to  choose  their  own  pastors  ?  It  certainly  was 
the  withholding  of  that  right  from  the  parishioners  in  the 
mass,  whether  they  were  Christians  or  not.  And  if  we 
wish  to  know  how  the  exercise  of  such  right  would  be 
likely  to  work,  we  have  only  to  look  at  those  parishes 
where  the  popular  election  of  their  rectors  or  ministers 
still  prevails  in  England.  Though  blood  may  not  be 
actually  spilt,  as  was  the  case  in  some  of  the  earlier 
battles  between  bishops,  the  spectacle  is  equally  unedify- 
ing.  What,  then,  it  will  be  asked,  is  legislation  to  do  in 
such  a  case  ?  After  an  experience  prolonged  for  two 
centuries  since  Oliver  fell  asleep,  we  might  be  tempted  to 
utter  a  summary  sentence  very  much  at  variance  with  his 
plan  of  action.  But  in  judging  of  that  plan  so  far  as  he 
was  implicated,  we  have  to  remember  that,  in  the  Reforma- 
tion era,  through  which  his  own  youth  had  passed,  the 
Protestant  conscience  was  absolutely  saturated  with  the 
Divine  mission  of  a  stationary  preaching  clergy.  Ever 
since  the  hour  of  his  conversion  he  had  been  prominent 
in  their  advocacy,  and  to  give  them  a  fair  chance  now 
that  he  had  the  power  was  clearly  with  him  a  point  of 
conscience.  The  most  advanced  Christian  thinkers  of 
that  day  were  as  yet  very  far  from  taking  the  ground 
which  John  Foster  (the  essayist)  occupied  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  later  when  he  started  the  suggestion  that  all 
ecclesiastical  organizations  were  useless  and  mischievous, 


248  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

and  the  sooner  they  were  dissolved  the  better.  Pure 
Protestantism,  or  the  Biblical  principle  of  light  against 
darkness,  had  never  before  found  herself  in  the  scat  of 
authority — at  least,  in  England.  The  metaphor  which 
represents  the  champion  of  Puritanism  with  a  sword  in 
one  hand  and  a  Bible  in  the  other  is  a  perfectly  just  one; 
for  though  Puritanism  was  something  more  reformed  than 
the  Anglican  Reformation,  it  was  that  something  still 
pronouncing  itself  by  the  aid  of  Governmental  force. 
The  main  difference  lay  here :  that,  in  place  of  subsidizing 
a  Church  of  priests,  the  monopoly  was  transferred  to  a 
Church  of  pastors.  These  had  now  to  be  put  upon  trial, 
and  in  spite  of  the  check  delivered  by  the  re-ascent  of  the 
Anglican  Church  to  the  supreme  power,  the  experimental 
preaching  dynasty  of  the  sixteenth  century  has  gone  on 
ever  since.  Should  it  have  to  resign  its  functions  to 
something  better,  it  will  not,  in  the  meanwhile,  have  lived 
in  vain. 

Here  the  defence  of  Oliver's  Church  policy  must  come 
to  an  end.  If  we  say  that,  in  presence  of  the  moral 
upturnings  through  which  the  nation  had  passed,  he  saw 
no  other  method  whereby  to  ride  the  angry  storm,  let  it 
be  accepted  as  an  admission  that  he  was  able  to  read  his 
position  better  than  we  can  read  it  for  him,  though  it 
leave  untouched  the  counter-axiom  that  no  civil  power 
has  ever  yet  shown  itself  sufficiently  pure  to  become  the 
earthly  representative  of  the  kingdom  of  righteousness. 
How  far  he  was  himself  aware  of  the  false  position  held 
by  subsidized  divines  may  be  partly  gathered  from  his 
own  explicit  disavowal  of  their  exclusive  charter,  and  this 
in  fairness  ought  to  be  now  added  :  "Where  do  you  find 
in  Scripture,"  he  had  said  to  the  Scots  ministers,  "  a 
ground  to  warrant  such  an  assertion  that  preaching  is 
exclusively  your  function  ?  Though  an  approbation  from 
men  hath  order  in  it,  and  may  do  well,  yet  he  that  hath 
no  better  warrant  than  that  hath  none  at  all.     I  hope  He 


Church  Policy  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  249 

that  ascended  up  on  high  may  give  His  gifts  to  whom  He 
pleaseth ;  and  if  these  gifts  be  the  seal  of  mission,  be  not 
you  envious  though  Eldad  and  Medad  prophesy."  To 
the  Irish  prelates  and  priests  he  had  further  said  : 

"  I  wonder  not  at  discontents  and  divisions  where  so 
antichristian  and  dividing  a  term  as  clergy  and  laity  is 
given  and  received — a  term  unknown  to  any  save  the  anti- 
christian Church  and  such  as  derive  themselves  from  her. 
'  Ab  initio  non  fuit  sic.  .  .  .'  It  was  your  pride  that 
begat  this  expression,  and  it  is  for  filthy  lucre's  sake  that 
you  keep  it  up,  that  by  making  the  people  believe  that 
they  are  not  so  holy  as  yourselves  they  might  for  their 
penny  purchase  some  sanctity  from  you,  and  that  you 
might  bridle,  saddle,  and  ride  them  at  your  pleasure,  and 
do  (as  is  most  true  of  you)  as  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
of  old  did  by  their  laity — keep  the  knowledge  of  the  law 
from  them,  and  then  be  able  in  their  pride  to  say :  '  This 
people  that  knoweth  not  the  law  are  cursed.'  " 

These  revelations  of  his  personal  convictions  give  us 
some  insight  into  the  conflicting  elements  through  which 
he  had  to  steer  his  course.  It  was  impossible,  for  ex- 
ample, that  he  could  be  deaf  to  the  woes  and  wailings  of 
the  Quakers,  flogged,  imprisoned,  and  robbed  by  tithe- 
gatherers.  We  know,  in  fact,  that  a  very  fair  list  could 
be  exhibited,  were  there  time,  of  kindnesses  and  deliver- 
ances wrought  not  only  by  himself,  but  by  members  of  his 
household,  in  behalf  of  the  sufferers.  Some  (not  all)  of 
the  Quaker  annalists  have  been  very  unjust  towards  him 
in  this  matter,  attributing  to  him  personally  what  was 
due  to  the  tyranny  which,  in  that  age  of  local  govern- 
ment, magistrates  at  a  distance  from  London  were  able 
to  exercise  with  impunity.  Where  he  could  not  legally 
interfere  was  in  those  violations  of  established  order  in 
which  some  of  the  more  audacious  Quakers  indulged.  It 
matters  little.  The  Quakers,  meanwhile,  were  quite  right 
in    attributing    to    his    governmental    sanction   the   ugly 


250  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

machinery  of  a  dominant  clergy,  under  which  they  suffered 
most  cruelly.  He  became — we  can  hardly  doubt  it — 
more  full}'  sensible  of  the  reigning  evil  when  failing  health 
and  foreign  complications  left  him  no  further  time  for 
organic  reforms. 

The  effect  on  the  ministers  themselves  was  still  more 
morally  disastrous.  They  supported  the  Protector's 
authority  so  long  as  it  lasted,  and  then,  as  one  man,  fell 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  returning  Royalism,  having  done 
their  utmost  to  bring  it  about  in  pure  dread  of  the 
encroachments  of  Quakerism.  And  their  official  repre- 
sentatives and  successors  to  the  present  hour  revile  the 
Protector  and  all  his  works. 

The  crucial  test  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity  proved  the 
personal  worth  of  many  of  them  as  men  and  as  Christians, 
and  so  far  forth  reflected  credit  on  the  system  which 
placed  them  in  office ;  and  if  that  crucial  test  did  not  at 
once  bring  the  expelled  Two  Thousand  round  to  the 
platform  of  John  Milton  and  the  Quakers,  it  at  least  gave 
positivism  to  those  principles  which,  by  a  slower  routine, 
will  eventually  show  that  platform  to  be  the  only  honest 
and  victorious  one.  Strange  was  the  destiny  of  the 
Puritan  poet.  Led,  like  his  illustrious  friend,  the  Puritan 
captain,  away  from  the  path  which  he  had  originally 
chosen  into  other  scenes  and  controversies  which  were 
necessary  for  his  mental  education,  he  proved  in  his  own 
case  the  wisdom  of  that  friend's  axiom — how  feeble  is 
human  forecast  when  compared  with  the  faith  which  asks 
where  the  next  footstep  shall  be  planted  !  If  the  Civil 
War  had  brought  forth  no  other  fruit  than  John  Milton's 
controversial  writings,  the  crop  might  well  challenge  the 
benediction  of  all  succeeding  ages.  His  polemics  were  as 
far  in  advance  of  the  pulpit  of  his  day,  or  of  our  own, 
either,  as  the  intelligent  patriotism  of  the  Protector  went 
ahead  of  the  crotchets  of  his  Parliaments.  Not  a  few  of 
his  compatriots  of  the  present  generation  have  this  con- 


Church  Policy  of  Oliver  Cromwell.         251 

viction  profoundly  seated  in  their  hearts,  and  their  own 
forced  and  temporary  inaction  is  rendered  just  support- 
able by  the  thought  that  the  words  of  the  master  ready 
stand,  waiting  like  Samson's  foxes,  so  soon  as  the 
Philistines'  harvest  shall  be  fully  ripe,  to  run  in  and  set 
the  field  on  fire. 

For  two  hundred  years  the  exaltation  of  John  Milton's 
poetry  has  been  made  by  his  pseudo-admirers  the  means 
of  smothering  his  authority  as  a  divine.  In  an  epic  or 
lyric  form  he  may  be  tolerated  in  the  most  fastidious 
drawing-room — pictorially  edited  or  plain — illuminated  or 
obscured,  as  the  case  may  be,  by  distracting  quotations 
from  heathen  writers  or  the  microscopic  revelations  of 
commentators.  There  is  only  one  proviso  to  be  observed 
— his  orthodox  writings  must  never  be  bound  up  with  his 
apocrypha. 

But  this  apocryphal  divinity  of  John  Milton  will  yet  be 
the  death  of  idolatry.  Absorbing  all  that  was  crystalline 
in  George  Fox,  all  that  was  practicable  in  Puritanism, 
and  all  that  was  gallant  in  good  citizenship,  he  sets  forth 
Christianity  as  hostile  indeed  to  lawless  tyranny,  but  in 
no  sense  uncongenial  with  national  self-assertion — rather, 
indeed,  as  the  sole  guarantee  of  a  people's  advance. 
Priestcraft  by  a  law  of  necessity  withers  beneath  his  touch, 
and  God's  true  heroes  stand  out  in  celestial  relief.  The 
sacerdotalists  to  a  man  instinctively  recoil  from  his  pages, 
but  they  will  never  be  permitted  to  forget  that  the 
anatomist  who  has  gibbeted  their  cause,  and  their  martyrs, 
too,  in  perennial  infamy,  was  the  sublimest  of  poets  and 
the  ripest  of  scholars,  the  most  logical  controversialist 
and  the  most  finished  Latinist — a  man  of  child-like  faith, 
serenest  valour,  and  harmonious  soul.  Vain  is  it  for  one 
traducer  after  another  to  tell  us  how  he  was  ignominiously 
"vomited  forth  of  the  University,"  or  to  picture  him  as 
destitute  of  natural  affection.  His  position  in  the  heavens 
is  fixed  and  eternal.      His  imperial   friend  and   himself 


252 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


stand  out  as  the  Castor  and  Pollux  of  a  storm-ridden  sky, 
nor  has  their  lustre  yet  reached  its  culmination.  Oliver 
once  threatened  that  the  guns  of  England  should  be 
heard  under  the  walls  of  the  Vatican.  The  guns  of 
England  in  those  days,  simple  Puritan  guns  though  they 
were,  were  sufficiently  eloquent  to  awake  in  the  sacerdotal 
breast  the  desire,  as  John  Dryden  expresses  it,  "  Behind 
more  Alps  to  stand,  although  an  Alexander  were  her 
guard." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  CROMWELLS  OF  AMERICA. 


MEMBERS  of  the  Cromwell  stock,  though  they 
are  still  numerous  in  North  America,  have 
to  a  great  extent  died  out  of  the  old  country. 
This  remark  is  made,  not  in  reference  to 
the  Protectoral  branch  only,  but  to  various  offshoots 
parting  company  with  the  central  stem  of  the  Midland 
Counties  before  Oliver  became  conspicuous,  and  now 
only  dimly  traceable  through  early  parish  registers,  testa- 
mentary documents,  and  ecclesiastical  presentations.  And 
some  of  these  evidences,  it  may  be  observed,  crop  up 
in  very  unsuspected  quarters.  For  instance,  there  are 
several  such  existing  in  the  registers  of  rural  parishes 
round  Devizes  in  Wiltshire,  as  well  as  in  the  neighbouring 
county  of  Somerset,  and  in  the  city  of  Bath,  as  already 
mentioned.  Moreover,  the  title  has  disappeared  from  the 
peerage.  But  Cromwell,  as  a  patronymic,  is  not  the  only 
illustrious  name  which  has  been  gradually  suffering  eclipse  ; 
and  we  must  rest  contented  with  the  assurance  that  its 
memory  at  least  will  never  die.  Not  a  few  cases  of  dis- 
appearance arose  from  the  action  of  sundry  cautious  or 
prejudiced  individuals,  in  the  era  of  reaction,  discarding 
the  name  of  Cromwell  and  reassuming  the  family  alias  of 


254  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Williams ;  but  still  more  from  the  practice,  which  early 
set  in,  of  emigration  to  New  England  and  Maryland.     In 
that  country  there  would  be  little  temptation  in  after-times 
to  put  the  name  under  a  bushel.     The  tendency  would  be 
rather  the  other  way  ;  and  the  result  has  been,  as  stated 
above,  that  Cromwells  are  now  found  scattered  over  the 
Eastern   States ;    they  have  even    penetrated    California. 
Mark  Noble  quotes  the  "  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay  " 
as  authority  for   the  existence  of  a  valiant  and  wealthy 
buccaneer,  known  in  the  Western  seas  as  Captain  Cromwell, 
who  died  at  Boston  as  far  back  as  "  about  1646."     We  are 
not  to  suppose  that  the   old   sea-rover  went   thither   in 
pursuit  of  religious  freedom  ;    but  in  less  than  a  dozen 
years  after  his  death  we  have  abundant  evidence  in  the 
Land  Agency  Office  of  Annapolis  of  the  presence  of  more 
permanent    and    law-abiding   settlers    bearing   the    same 
name — of  whom  more  anon.     At  a  still  earlier  period  than 
the  above — namely,  in  James  I.'s  time — Henry  Cromwell 
of  Upwood,  third  son  of  Sir  Henry  Cromwell  of  Hinchin- 
broke,  had  interested  himself  in  the  settlement  of  Virginia, 
and  was  one  of  the  "  adventurers  "  who  advanced  money 
to  cultivate  that  province.     The  fictitious  story  of  Oliver 
Cromwell's  being  frustrated  by  royal  mandate,  when  at- 
tempting  to    embark    for   America,    no    doubt    obtained 
popular  currency  from  the  known  fact  that  so  many  of  his 
name  from  time  to  time  pursued  the  like  course.     The 
principal  point  of  attraction  seems  to  have  been  Maryland 
rather  than  New  England,  for  the  following  reason.     As 
the  Lords  Baltimore  had  in  succession  procured  for  their 
territory   in    Maryland   charters    favourable    to    religious 
freedom,  in  the  interests  of  those  who,  like  themselves, 
held  the  Romish  faith,  sober  Protestants  shared  in  the 
privilege  ;  so  that  it  came  to  pass  that  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  who  were  excluded  by  rigid  Puritanism 
from  Massachusetts,  and  Puritans,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
found  Virginia  too  hot  for  them,  alike  found  refuge  in  this 


The  Cromwells  of  A}nerica.  255 


intermediate  province.  Other  inducements  to  colonize  the 
Baltimore  territory  were  made  from  time  to  time.  It  was 
understood  that  fifty  acres,  more  or  less,  were  free  to  all 
comers,  and  that  everyone  might  claim  it,  whether  rich  or 
poor.  Here  is  an  early  entry  from  the  Annapolis  records  : 
In  1653  "  Geessam  [Gershom  ?]  Cromwell  demands  land 
for  his  own  transportation  and  for  the  transportation  of 
his  wife  and  daughter  "  (liber  iv.,  folio  49).  Annapolis 
is  the  county  town  of  Anne-Arundel,  and  capital  of  the 
State  of  Maryland ;  from  the  city  of  Baltimore  it  is 
distant  about  eighteen  miles. 

The  question  that  Americans,  then,  naturally  ask  is : 
"  Whence  did  these  early  Cromwellians  spring  ?  Do  we  or 
do  we  not  possess  amongst  us  the  direct  descendants  of  the 
Protector  ?  Our  own  personal  tastes — the  tastes,  that  is 
to  say,  of  some  of  us — together  with  various  family  tradi- 
tions, seem  to  point  to  an  affirmative  issue  ;  though,  after 
the  lapse  of  two  centuries,  the  documentary  evidence  has 
confessedly  become  obscure  and  intricate." 

In  answering  this  question,  it  will  be  well  to  commence 
by  removing  certain  misconceptions  ;  and  first,  in  respect 
of  cognate  descent  from  the  Protector  through  the  Clay- 
poole  connection.  Although  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that 
the  children  of  Elizabeth  Claypoole,  Cromwell's  second 
daughter,  died  without  issue,  the  belief,  nevertheless,  long 
prevailed  in  the  States,  owing  to  the  number  and  promi- 
nence of  Claypooles  there  resident,  that  the  link  was  well 
authenticated.  The  owners  of  the  name,  it  is  presumed, 
are  by  this  time  pretty  well  disabused  of  the  conception  ; 
but  it  may  be  interesting  to  make  a  short  digression  in 
their  favour,  before  treating  of  the  Cromwells  proper. 
First,  as  furnishing  a  creditable  set-off  against  the  moral 
shadow  cast  by  Mark  Noble  on  the  memory  of  John  Clay- 
poole, the  Protector's  son-in-law ;  and  secondly,  as  as- 
sociating the  name  with  the  triumphant  march  of  American 
Independence. 


256  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


James  Claypoole,  the  brother  of  John,  quitted  the  old 
country  for  New  England  when  somewhat  advanced  in 
years  ;  but  previous  to  that  event  his  eldest  son  John, 
having  become  intimate  with  William  Penn,  had  accom- 
panied the  philanthropist  to  Philadelphia  in  1682,  in  the 
capacity  of  surgeon.  In  1689  he  was  holding  the  more 
prominent  office  of  Sheriff  of  Philadelphia.  In  Penn's 
Diary  are  preserved  one  or  more  letters  confirmatory  of 
this  friendship.  John's  grandson  William  was  the  husband 
of  Elizabeth  Griscom,  who,  as  "  Betsey  Claypoole,"  long 
carried  on  the  upholstery  business  in  Philadelphia,  and 
was  the  maker  of  the  first  American  standard  flag.  In 
this  first  standard  she  arranged  the  thirteen  stars  in  a 
circle,  and  the  form  of  her  star,  with  its  five  points,  is  still 
retained  throughout  the  States.  Her  house  of  business 
was  No.  239,  Arch  Street,  and  was  still  standing  in  1885. 
In  Harper's  Magazine  for  July,  1873,  may  be  seen  a 
narrative  of  George  Washington's  visit  to  her  establish- 
ment in  1777,  in  company  with  George  Ross  of  Maryland 
(who  was  her  brother-in-law).  Betsey  Claypoole  died  in 
1833,  aged  eighty-six  years,  and  the  flag-making  business 
continued  for  some  time  to  be  carried  on  by  her  daughter 
Clarissa  Claypoole  ;  but  this  lady,  as  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  becoming  increasingly  unwilling  that 
her  handiwork  should  be  utilized  for  belligerent  objects, 
eventually  relinquished  the  occupation. 

Returning  to  James  Claypoole,  with  whom  we  began, 
an  extract  from  a  letter  of  his,  written  in  England  in  1682, 
preserved  in  the  Philadelphia  Historical  Society,  may  here 
be  recited.  "  My  eldest  son  John,"  says  he,  "  is  going 
away  this  week  in  the  Amity,  R.  Dymond,  Pens.,  to  be 
assistant-surgeon  to  William  Penn.  I  have  bought  five 
thousand  acres  of  land,  and  have  fitted  John  out  with  all 
things  necessary.  His  employment  is  very  creditable,  and 
if  he  is  diligent  and  sober,  may  come  in  a  few  years'  time 
to  be  very  profitable.  ...     I  have  a  great  drawing  in  my 


The  Cromwells  of  America.  257 

own  mind  to  remove  thither  with  my  family  ;  so  that  I  am 
given  up,  if  the  Lord  clears  my  way,  to  be  gone  next 
Spring, — it  may  be,  about  a  year  hence." 

Pursuant  to  this  "  drawing  "  towards  a  land  of  freedom, 
James  Claypoole,  in  the  following  year,  reached  Phila- 
delphia by  the  ship  Concord,  carrying  with  him  his  wife 
Helena,  his  four  remaining  sons — James,  Nathaniel, 
George,  and  Joseph — and  his  three  daughters  —  Mary, 
Helena,  and  Priscilla ;  besides  five  servants.  From  this 
stock  numerous  representatives  have  branched  off  in 
various  directions,  and  their  annals,  we  feel  assured,  can 
well  afford  to  stand  on  their  own  merits.  We  now  go  on 
with  the  representatives  of  the  Cromwell  name. 

In  meeting  a  second  misconception,  it  will  hardly  be 
necessary  to  warn  the  reader  off  from  Negroland.  Yet  it 
may  not  pass  unnoticed,  that  among  the  commercial  an- 
nouncements made  by  persons  of  this  name  in  Philadel- 
phian  and  other  newspapers  and  directories,  the  advertisers 
not  unfrequently  turn  out,  upon  inquiry,  to  belong  to  the 
coloured  race.  Nor  must  we  blame  the  innocent  ambition 
of  men  who,  after  emancipation  from  the  condition  in 
which  they  were  known  only  as  Tom  or  Nick,  and  finding 
themselves  at  liberty  to  adopt  their  own  patronymics, 
sought  to  identify  themselves  with  such  houses  as  Raleigh, 
Trevelyan,  Sydney,  Russell,  Talbot,  or  Cromwell ;  besides 
that  in  many  cases  they  did  but  call  themselves  after 
their  own  masters.  If  this  explanation  suffice  not,  more 
domestic  consanguinity  will  not  be  worth  the  tracking. 

There  were  two  principal  Cromwellian  groups  in  Mary- 
land— those  of  Baltimore  City  and  those  of  Cecil  County. 
The  former  were  the  earliest  on  the  scene  by  perhaps  half 
a  century,  though  other  arrivals  would  naturally  occur 
from  time  to  time,  claiming  clanship  with  their  pre- 
decessors, and  intermarrying  with  them,  other  kindred 
families  associated  with  them  being  those  of  Hammond, 
Bond,    Rattenbury,  Woolghist,   Trahearne,  Wilson,   etc. 

17 


258  The  Hoiise  of  Cromwell. 


With  the  Cecil  County  group,  who  went  over  near  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  descent  from  Oliver 
Protector  is  out  of  the  question,  since  the  pedigree  of  the 
Protectoral  house  at  that  period  is  thoroughly  well  known 
and  definitely  recorded.  If  existing  anywhere,  it  must  be 
sought  among  those  of  the  previous  century. 

The  first  oral  tradition  to  be  noticed  is  that  of  Miss 
Katharine  Cromwell,  of  Washington,  living  in  1885,  and 
who,  if  still  alive,  must  be  ninety-four  years  of  age.  Her 
statement  is  to  the  effect  "that  among  the  individuals 
constituting  an  early  colony  of  Cromwells,  Hammonds, 
and  Bonds,  the  eldest  of  the  Bonds  was  named  Peter,  and 
that  one  of  the  Cromwells  was  a  William,  born  in  the  old 
country  in  1678,  and  dying  in  1735,  and  that  his  wife's 
name  was  Mary."  All  very  true,  probably,  and  seemingly 
built  on  transmitted  dates.  We  have  to  see  how  far  it 
dovetails  with  other  facts.  Miss  Cromwell  is  aunt  to 
Mr.  Thomas  Cromwell,  of  906,  First  Street,  N.  W.  Wash- 
ington. 

A  more  positive  narrative  rests  on  the  testimony  of 
Mrs.  Sidney  Norris,  residing  at  Olney,  near  Ilchester,  in 
Howard  County,  Maryland  (born  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Richard  Cromwell,  of  Baltimore,  M.D.),  a  lady  con- 
spicuous for  her  intelligent  interest  in  the  ancestral  story. 
Here  we  are  first  introduced  to  a  barrister,  named  Richard 
Cromwell,  practising  in  Huntingdonshire  in  England, 
whose  three  sons  (keeping  an  eye  on  the  Annapolis 
records),  John,  William,  and  Richard,  were  grown  men 
in  1670.  But  what  was  the  exact  era  of  this  Huntingdon 
barrister  ?  His  age  would  very  well  fit  in  with  that  of 
Richard,  the  son  of  Sir  Philip  Cromwell,  born  in  1617 
(Noble's  "  Protectoral  House,"  i.  357),  but  that  Richard 
seems  to  have  left  a  daughter  only.  This  solution  failing 
us,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  no  other  printed 
record  capable  of  supplying  the  want ;  and  we  must  there- 
fore suppose  him  to  be  one  of  the  (then)  numerous  Crom- 


The  Cromwells  of  America.  259 

wells  whose  memorial  is  still  shrouded  in  a  parish  register. 
Neither  may  we  identify  him  with  Richard,  son  of  Henry 
Cromwell,  the  Lord  -  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  for  that 
Richard,  being  born  in  1665,  could  not  have  been  the 
father  of  sons  grown  up  in  1670,  even  if  it  could  be  shown 
that  any  of  Henry's  children  ever  went  to  America.  It 
has,  indeed,  been  suggested  that  Richard  and  William, 
sons  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  becoming,  like  the  rest  of 
their  brothers  and  sisters,  unfortunate,  were  dropped  out 
of  notice  by  the  family  biographers,  and  that  the  story  of 
their  obscure  and  early  deaths  might  more  truly  have 
taken  the  form  of  emigration  to  America ;  but  as  there 
were  already  on  the  Transatlantic  scene  still  older  persons 
bearing  their  name,  they  really  are  not  wanted  to  help  us 
out  of  the  difficulty,  and  we  may  therefore  go  on  with 
Mrs.  Norris's  narrative. 

Richard  Cromwell,  though  he  appears  never  to  have 
set  foot  in  America,  acquired  the  grant  of  a  large  estate  in 
Frederick  County,  subsequently  known  as  Cromwell's 
Manor.  He  was  also  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  very 
largest  landowner  in  Baltimore,  and  the  estates  thus 
acquired,  together  with  town-houses  in  Baltimore  City, 
are  still  enjoyed  by  his  descendants,  who  are  persons  of 
good  fortune  and  standing.  The  family  carried  over  with 
them  from  the  old  country  a  large  stock  of  household 
plate,  engraved  with  a  Cromwell  coat-of-arms.  There  is 
no  trace  of  Richard's  will  in  America.  A  search  at  Peter- 
borough, in  England,  would  probably  bring  it  to  light. 
The  next  in  descent  to  be  noticed  is : 

John  Cromwell,  styled  "  of  Fairfield,"  one  of  the 
Baltimore  estates.  He  married  Elizabeth  Todd,  and  had 
three  sons,  namely : 

I.  Richard,  of  whom  presently. 

II.  Colonel  Thomas  Cromwell,  of  Bedford  County, 
Pennsylvania,  where,  about  1785,  in  conjunction  with 
partners,  he  established  the  first  iron-works,  west  of 


260  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


the  Susquehanna.  In  1787,  a  new  county  being 
formed  out  of  a  part  of  Bedford,  Colonel  Cromwell, 
being  on  the  Commission,  caused  it  to  be  named 
Huntingdon,  and  one  of  its  townships  is  called  Crom- 
well. Descendants  of  this  gentlemen  are  believed  to 
be  still  extant. 

III.  John  Cromwell,  M.D.,  died  s.p. 
Richard  Cromwell,  of  Fairfield.  A  will  bearing  his 
name,  preserved  at  Annapolis,  August  17,  1717,  mentions 
Elizabeth  as  the  name  of  his  wife,  and  Richard  and  John 
as  his  two  sons,  while  Thomas  Cromwell  is  the  name  of  a 
cousin.  By  this  will  slaves  are  bequeathed,  but  no  real 
estates  are  devised.  One  of  the  legacies  is  that  of  a  negro 
girl  to  Margaret  Rattenbury,  and  after  her  death  to 
Hannah  Rattenbury  and  her  heirs  for  ever  (!)  The  next  in 
succession  is : 

John  Cromwell,  of  Fairfield,  who  marries  Hannah 
Rattenbury  (Hannah  was  born  in  1704),  and  is  subse- 
quently represented  by  another  Richard  of  Baltimore, 
M.D.,  father  (by  Miss  Hammond)  of  Mrs.  Norris  afore- 
said. But  it  is  evident  that  two  or  more  generations 
have  been  lost  sight  of  in  this  sketch,  and  as  there  were 
divers  contemporary  kinsmen,  it  may  be  as  well  to  com- 
plete this  section  by  recording  the  titles  of  the  Cromwell 
charters,  etc.,  preserved  in  the  Land  Office  at  Annapolis, 
not  hitherto  referred  to  : 

1670.  A  warrant,  granted  19th  December,  to  George 
Yale  for  600  acres.  Three  hundred  of  them,  bearing  the 
name  of  "  Cromwell's  Adventure,"  are  at  the  same  time 
assigned  to  John  and  William  Cromwell,  of  Calvert 
County  (liber  xvi.,  folio.  151).  Sixty  -  five  years  later 
"  Cromwell's  Adventure  "  is  re-surveyed  for  William's  two 
grandsons,  William  and  John. 

1680.  Will  of  William  Cromwell,  signed  by  himself  and 
his  wife,  Elizabeth  Trahearn.  Mention  is  made  of  two 
brothers,  John  and   Richard ;  of  two  sons,  William  and 


The  Cromwells  of  America.  26 r 


Thomas,  though  there  were  others.  The  lands  willed  are 
"  Cromwell's  Adventure,"  "  Mascall's  Hope,"  and  "  Hunt- 
ing Quarter."     Will  proved  3rd  March,  1684-85. 

1723.  Will  of  Thomas  Cromwell.  Two  sons  are  men- 
tioned, Thomas  and  Oliver.  The  lands  devised  are  "  Ken- 
sey,"  to  his  brother  John  Ashman  ;  "  Oliver's  Chance,"  to 
John  Cromwell ;  "  Maiden's  Chance  "and  "Oliver's  Range," 
with  "  Cromwell's  Chance,"  to  the  two  sons.  Proved  in 
the  same  year ;  but  the  four  exors.,  William  Cromwell  and 
John  Ashman,  two  cousins,  viz.,  John  Cromwell  and 
George  Bailey,  together  with  his  eldest  son,  all  immedi- 
ately after  resigned  the  office.     No  reason  stated. 

1731  or  1733.  "  South  Canton,"  being  a  part  of  the 
Fairfield  estate,  granted  to  Robert  Clarkson  in  1680,  is 
now  assigned  to  Captain  John  Cromwell. 

1733.  Will  of  John  Cromwell.  Four  children  men- 
tioned— Margaret,  John,  Hannah,  and  Anne.  Lands 
willed  are  :  Three  tracts  in  '  Gunpowder  Forest,"  called 
"  Cromwell's  Park,"  "  Cromwell's  Chance,"  and  "  Crom- 
well's Addition."  The  land  formerly  held  by  Thomas 
Cromwell  in  "  Whetstone  Neck  "  to  be  sold  for  his  debts. 
His  wife  Hannah  (Rattenbury)  executrix.  Proved  9th 
May,  1734.  The  widow  re-married  within  the  same  year 
William  Worthington,  at  St.  Paul's. 

1730.  Will  of  William  Cromwell.  Four  sons,  William, 
Alexander,  Joseph,  and  Woolghist.  Lands  willed  :  "  The 
Deer  Park  "  and  "  Cromwell's  Enlargement."  Witnesses  : 
John  Cromwell,  Joshua  Cromwell,  and  George  Ashman. 
Proved  12th  February,  1735. 

1745.  Will  of  John  Rattenbury,  in  favour  of  his 
nephew,  John  Cromwell. 

1813.  "  South  Canton  "  and  "  Hay-Meadow,"  two 
portions  of  Fairfield,  re-surveyed,  and  patented  as  one 
tract  for  Richard,  son  of  John  Cromwell  (by  Elizabeth 
Todd). 

It  now  remains  to  take  note  of  the  Cromwells  of  Cecil 


262  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


County,  and  of  their  offshoot  in  Kentucky.  Here  we  have 
to  begin  with  Thomas  Cromwell,  of  Huntingdonshire,  in  the 
old  country,  who  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
married  a  Welsh  lady,  named  Venetia  Woolgrish,  or  Wool- 
ghist,  and  himself  died  in  England,  leaving  two  surviving 
sons,  John  Hammond  Cromwell  and  Vincent  Cromwell, 
who,  with  their  widowed  mother,  passed  over  to  America  in 
1763  to  join  the  Cromwells  of  Baltimore,  with  whom  they 
claimed  kinship,  and  apparently  had  full  warranty  for  so 
doing.  The  elder  son  at  that  time  was  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  Vincent  was  eleven.  The  family  at  first  located 
themselves  at  Port  Tobacco,  in  the  southern  part  of  Mary- 
land, but  eventually  secured  an  abiding-place  on  the  ridge 
of  an  imposing  plateau  called  Mount  Pleasant,  in  Cecil 
County,  in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  State  ;  their  own 
particular  domain  bearing  the  name  of  Cromwell's  Moun- 
tain, subsequently  corrupted  into  "  Cromley's  Mountain," 
for  such  is  the  name  of  the  neighbouring  railway-station 
on  the  Columbia  and  Port  Deposit  line.  The  quaint  old 
family  residence,  which  still  dominates  this  tableland, 
stands  in  the  midst  of  a  farm  of  300  acres,  at  a  spot 
between  the  main  road  and  the  Susquehanna  River,  and 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Rowlandville  Station  on  the 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Central  Railway.  It  is  con- 
structed partly  of  stone,  but  principally  of  timber,  sheathed 
with  clap-boards  and  surmounted  by  a  gambrel  roof. 
Inside  the  house  the  walls  of  the  rooms  are  scored  all 
over  in  diamond  pattern,  and  the  floors  are,  from 
age  and  settlement,  far  from  level.  The  founders  of  the 
house  sheltered  it  with  Lombardy  poplars ;  but  perhaps 
the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  place  is  a  quadrangular 
enclosure  not  far  from  the  house,  surrounded  by  a  box 
hedge  six  feet  in  height.  This  is  the  family  cemetery,  and 
here  may  be  spelt  out  the  brief  memorials  of  many  a 
Henry,  a  Venetia,  an  Oliver,  or  a  Henrietta  of  the  illus- 
trious clan. 


The  Cromwells  of  America.  263 

Here  lived  and  died  the  elder  of  the  two  brothers  afore- 
said, John  Hammond  Cromwell.  His  wife's  name  was 
Mary  Hammond  Dorsay.  His  children  were  :  I.  Henrietta 
Maria,  who  married  Reuben  Reynolds,  and  became  the 
mother  of  Dr.  John  Cromwell  Reynolds,  surgeon  of  the 
U.S.  army,  and  others.  By  her  second  husband,  John 
Briscoe,  of  Kent  County,  Maryland,  there  was  also  issue. 
II.  Matilda,  married  to  Mr.  Harlan.  III.  Frances. 
IV.  Delia,  married  to  Richard  H.  Keene,  of  Kentucky,  all 
of  whom  left  descendants.  His  will,  which  was  proved 
October  12,  1819,  is  registered  at  Elkton  (lib.  G.  G., 
No.  7,  folio  309).  The  old  family  house,  which  it  seems  he 
had  named  "  Success,"  he  leaves  in  succession  to  the 
Harlan  family,  and  then  to  Dr.  John  Cromwell  Reynolds 
aforesaid.  It  is  still  occupied  by  relatives ;  but,  as  he  had 
no  sons,  the  name  of  Cromwell  has  there  died  out.  One  of 
his  surviving  representatives  is  Mrs.  Stacey,  of  Oswego, 
in  New  York  State,  wife  of  Colonel  M.  H.  Stacey,  of  the 
U.S.  army.  Among  other  provisions  of  his  will,  Mr. 
Cromwell  frees  his  slaves. 

Now,  in  respect  of  Vincent,  the  younger  brother  of  John 
Hammond  Cromwell,  he  appears  to  have  moved  into  the 
neighbouring  State  of  Kentucky  (where,  in  fact,  both  the 
brothers  had  acquired  estates),  settling  near  Lexington 
about  1793,  where  he  died  in  the  same  year  as  his  brother, 
1819.  By  his  wife,  Rachel  Wilson,  he  had  eleven  children, 
as  follows  : 

I.  John,  born  1781,  whose  descendants  live  in 
Ohio. 

II.  Benjamin,  born  1782.  His  children  were : 
(1)  John  ;  (2)  Oliver ;  (3)  Alvin ;  (4)  William ; 
(5)  Howard  ;  (6)  Vincent ;  (7)  Marcus  ;  (8)  Caroline  ; 
(9)  Nancy.  Of  this  group,  John  was  recently  reported 
as  living  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Oliver,  the  second  son, 
must  be  the  gentleman  who,  a  few  years  back,  while 
passing  through  Cape  Town  on  a  cosmopolitan  tour, 


264  The  House  of  Cromwell. 

attracted  so  much  notice  by  his  characteristic  bearing 
and  physiognomy,  that  a  resident  artist — Mr.  Barnard 
— was  happy  to  secure  several  photographs  from  him. 
III.  Joseph,  of  Lexington,  in  Missouri,  where  his 
descendants  still  flourish. 

IV.,  V.,  VI.  Joshua,  Vincent,  and  Oliver  ;  this  last 
possibly  identical  with  the  Oliver  Cromwell  of  Caro- 
lina who,  in  1828,  published  a  poem  entitled  "  The 
Soldier's  Wreath,"  in  celebration  of  General  Jackson's 
defence  of  New  Orleans. 

VII.,  VIII.,  IX.,  X.,  XI.  Sarah,  Rebecca,  Hannah, 
Rachel,  and  Mary.     One  of  these  daughters  was  the 
mother  of    the    present    Hon.    Cromwell    Adair,    of 
Kentucky.     Hannah,   the   third   mentioned,  married 
Nathaniel   Ford,  whose  daughter  is  the  wife  of  H. 
Hammond  Randolph.     Mrs.  Ford  died  in   1881,   at 
the  age  of  ninety-two. 
During   the  War   of   Independence,    two    names   con- 
spicuous  on    the  American    side  were    Captain    William 
Cromwell  and  Major  Stephen   Cromwell,  both  from  the 
vicinity  of  Baltimore  City.     A  third  member  of  the  family 
was  John  Cromwell — who  entertained  at  his  house  near 
"  Rye    Pond,"    New   York,    Generals    Washington    and 
Lafayette — described  as  a  descendant  of  John,  cousin  of 
the  Protector,  and  son  to  Sir  Oliver,  of  Hinchinbroke. 

Sidney  Cromwell,  in  1776,  at  New  York,  published  an 
essay  entitled  "  Political  Opinions." 

Mrs.  C.  T.  Cromwell,  in  1849,  was  the  author  of  "  Over 
the  Ocean  ;  or,  Glimpses  of  Travel  in  Many  Lands " ; 
New  York. 

A  final  notice  may  be  taken  of  the  name  of  Hammond, 
which,  it  will  have  been  observed,  is  frequently  found  in 
connection  with  the  American  Cromwells,  as  it  had  also 
been  in  England.  This  ancient  and  knightly  family,  Mark 
Noble  observes,  were  greatly  divided  in  their  religious  and 
political    opinions.      The    most    notable    historical    figure 


The  Cromwells  of  America.  265 


among  them  is,  perhaps,  Robert  Hammond,  the  guardian 
of  Charles  I.  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  but  there  is  no  reason 
to  conclude  that  the  Major-General  John  Hammond,  who 
held  office  in  Maryland  under  Queen  Anne,  was  other  than 
the  descendant  of  a  Royalist.  An  entry  in  the  register  of 
St.  Anne's,  Annapolis,  states  that  he  was  buried  by  James 
Walton,  the  Rector  of  that  parish,  November  29,  1707, 
who  describes  him  as  "  the  Honourable  John  Hammond, 
Esq.,  Major-General  of  the  Province  of  Maryland,  Western 
Shore,  and  one  of  her  Majesty's  Most  Honourable  Council, 
and  Judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Admiralty  in  the  said 
province."  The  funeral  took  place,  not  at  Annapolis,  but 
on  the  Hammond  estate,  three  miles  from  that  city,  where 
the  inscription  on  his  tombstone  is  still  legible,  and  states 
that  he  died  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Greenberry,  and  left 
descendants  at  Baltimore,  who  were  subsequently  joined 
by  other  English  emigrants  of  the  same  name.  One  of 
the  race  still  living — viz.,  William  A.  Hammond,  M.D., 
Surgeon-General  in  the  army — has  a  name  of  great  and 
deserved  eminence  in  the  States. 

For  the  gathering  of  the  above  facts  I  am  entirely 
indebted  to  the  industrious  courtesy  of  P.  S.  P.  Conner, 
Esq.,  of  126,  South  18th  Street,  Philadelphia,  who  has 
long  been  on  intimate  terms  with  various  members  of  the 
Cromwell  house,  and  whose  intelligent  interest  in  historical 
matters  eminently  qualifies  him  for  the  task  of  sifting 
evidence.  His  principal  informant  was  Mr.  William  H. 
Corner,  connected  by  marriage  with  the  Baltimore  Crom- 
wells. One  of  Mr.  Corner's  friends,  Mr.  William  Henry 
Cromwell,  of  Philadelphia,  deriving  from  the  Cromwells 
of  Road,  near  Frome,  in  Somerset  county,  England,  bears 
an  unmistakable  resemblance  to  Oliver  the  Protector ; 
and  yet  the  Somerset  Cromwells  do  not  derive  from  Oliver 
direct,  but  rather  from  Sir  Philip,  his  uncle.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  early  progenitors  of  this  race  must 


266  The  House  of  Cromwell. 


have  been  distinguished  by  personal  traits  of  a  very  pro- 
nounced character  ;  and  as  it  is  a  known  fact  that  ancestral 
resemblances,  both  mental  and  physical,  do  occasionally 
crop  up  after  protracted  intervals,  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  vera  effigies  of  his  Highness  should  not  reappear 
amongst  us  from  time  to  time.  Sir  Walter  Scott  has 
made  use  of  this  physiological  tendency  in  his  romance  of 
"  Red  Gauntlet."  Some  have  thought  that  the  Protector's 
countenance  is  traceable  in  the  Addison  family,  of  Soham, 
who  descend  from  him  through  Henry,  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland. 


INDEX. 


COURTESY   TITLES  ARE   OMITTED. 


Acklom,   Jonathan,    m.    Mary   Con- 
stable, 170 ;  issue : 

Richard,     Ann     Elizabeth     {see 

Neville),  Mary,  Lucy  {see  Constable, 

Charles),  Rosamund,  170 
Adair,  Hon.  Cromwell,  264 
Adams,  Lucy   Ducarel,    daughter   of 

Francis    Adams,    m.    Sir    William 

Adolphus  Frankland,  159 
Addison,    Elizabeth    [v.  D'Aye),    m. 

Thomas  Addison,   of  Soham,   50 ; 

issue  : 

Mary,  Elizabeth  {see  Hill),  Mary 

Russell  {see  Sunman),  Russell  {see 

below)  Thomas,  Frances, William,  50 
Addison,  Russell,  51 
Addison,  Wiiliam,  son  of  above,  51  ; 

issue  : 

Thomas  Russell,  William  Oliver 

Cromwell,      51      (issue  :      Charles 

William,  Charlotte  Barnby,  Frank, 

Edith  Maud);  Henrietta  Fox,   51 

{see  D'Eye) 
Agar- Ellis,  Lady  Caroline  Elizabeth, 

daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Normanton, 

m.  Edward,  fifth  Earl  of  Clarendon, 

181 
Ampthill,     Odo     William     Leopold 

Russell,    Baron    Ampthill    of,    m. 

Emily  Theresa  Villiers,  181  ;  issue  : 
Arthur    Oliver    Villiers,    Victor 

Alexander     Frederick,    Alexander 

Victor  Frederick,  Constance  Evelyn 

Villiers,  181 
Anti-Corn-Law    League,    the    Right 

Hon.  Charles  Pelham  Villiers  and 

the,  176,  177  ;  Lord  Clarendon  and 

the,  180 


Armstrong,  Avarilla  Aphra,  m.  Arte- 

midorus  Cromwell  Russell,  68 
Armstrong,  Mary  Esther  {v.   Russell 

of  Cheshunt),  m.   General  George 

Andrew  Armstrong,  68 
Ashburnham,  Lady  Theodosia  Maria, 

m.  Robert  Vyner  of  Gautby,  175 
Ashton,  Captain  John,  father  of  Sir 

Thomas  Frankland  Lewis's  second 

wife,  142 
Ashton,     Julia,     daughter     of     Job 

Ashton,  m.  Hugh  Berners,  108 
Astley,        Lieut.  -  Colonel        Francis 

L'Estrange,    m.     Rosalind    Alicia 

Frankland  (second  wife),  now  Mrs. 

Frankland    Russell    Astley,     157 ; 

issue  : 

Bertram       Reginald,        Hubert 

Delaval,  Reginald  Basil,  157 

Barham,  Lady  Katharine,  daughter  of 
Walter  James,  first  Earl  of  Verulam, 
relict  of  John  Barham,  m.  George, 
first  Earl  of  Clarendon,  180 
Barnard,  Alfred,  100 
Barnard,  Alfred  Francis,  100 
Barnard,  Francis  Pierrepont,  100 
Barnard,  Henry  Boldero,    m.    Sarah 
Elizabeth  Gee,  164  ;  issue  : 

Henry  Gee,  Charles  Lewyns, 
164  ;  Edward  William  (issue  : 
Edward  Charles  Gee,  Rosamund, 
Caroline),  165  ;  Sarah  Eleanor  {see 
Delpratt),  165 
Barnard,  Thomas,  100 
Barnard,    William,    second    husband 

of  Jane  Ireton,  100;  issue,  ibid. 
Barnard,  Wm.,  grandson  of  above,  100 


268 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Barrington,  Hon.  and  Rev.  Lowther 
John,  m.  Katharine  Georgiana 
Pelham,  162 

Barron,  Anne,  daughter  of  Edward 
Barron  of  Northiam,  m.  Francis 
John  Field,  73 

Barron,  Esther,  daughter  of  E. 
Barron,  m.  Henry  Field,  71 

Barton,  Catherine,  second  wife  of 
Rich  Russell,  127 

Barton,  Elizabeth,  cousin  to  Oliver, 
second  son  of  the  Protector  Richard, 
42 

Baudouin,  Anne,  daughter  of  Rene 
Baudouin,  second  wife  of  Sir 
Thomas  Frankland,  third  Bart., 
afterwards  relict  of  Adam  Car- 
donnel,  and  first  wife  of  Frederick 
Meinhardt  Frankland,  132 

Baxendale,  Mr.,  the  Hur&ley  estate 
passed  to  in  1894,  40 

Beadnell,  Alfred  George  Streatfield, 
m.  Beatrice  Mary  Polhill,  99  ; 
issue : 

Montgomery  Polhill  Beadnell,  99 

Beke,  Major  Richard,  m.  the  Pro- 
tector's niece  Levina,  186 

Bell,  Constance,  daughter  of  Matthew 
Bell,  m.  Frederick  Thomas  Whin- 
yates,  147 

Bell,  Jane,  daughter  of  Mr.  Bell,  m. 
Wynyard  Huddleston  Warner,  70 

Bellasyse,  Arabella,  m.  Sir  William 
Frankland,  130 

Bendysh,  Henry,  107  ;  issue  : 

Henry,  Mary  {see  Berners),  Eliza- 
beth {see  Hagar),  107 

Bendysh,  Thomas,  m.  Bridget  Ireton, 
102 

Bentinck,  William,  eldest  son  of  Lord 
Edward  Charles  Cavendish  Ben- 
tinck, m.  Frances  Elizabeth  Con- 
stable, 170 

Berners,  Charles,  108  ;  issue  : 

Charles,  Henry  Denny  {seebelow), 
William  (issue  :  William,  Henry, 
Arthur),  Martha  {see  Jarrett),  108 

Berners,  Rev.  Henry  Denny,  108 ; 
issue  : 

John,  Hugh  (issue),  Ralph  (issue), 
Alice,  10S 

Berners,  William,  m.  Mary  Bendysh, 
107  ;  issue  : 

Charles  {see  above),  Henry  (issue  : 
Emma),  108 

Birklieck,  Robert,  m.  Mary  Harriet 
Lubbock,  167 


Blackden,  Catharine,  daughter  of  B. 
Blackden,      m.       Henry      Francis 
Worsley,  168 
Blackden,  J.  C,  m.   Isabella  Worsley 

(issue),  168 
Bligh,   Eliza   Mary,   daughter  of  the 
Hon.   Sir  John  Duncan  Bligh,  m. 
Walter     John,     fourth      Earl     of 
Chichester,  162 
Bonner,  Blanche  Frances,  daughter  of 
Major-General  Bonner,  m.  Herbert 
Cromwell  Collier,  153 
Boringdon,  John  Parker,  first  Baron, 
m.  Theresa,   daughter  of  Thomas, 
first  Lord  Grantham,  172  ;  issue  : 

John,  second  Baron  and  Earl 
of  Morley,  Theresa  {see  Villiers), 
176 
Borrett,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John 
Borrett  of  Shoreham,  third  wife  of 
David  Polhill,  98 
Borthwick,  Algernon,  Baron,  m.  Alice 

Beatrice  Lister  (issue),  179 
Bourchier,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
James  Bourchier,  of  Felsted,  Essex, 
m.  Oliver  Cromwell  {see  Elizabeth, 
the  Protectress),  19 
Bourchier,  Sir  James,  19,  22,  86 
Bowles,    Dinah,     fifth     daughter    of 
Admiral    Sir   Thomas    Frankland, 
m.  William  Bowles,  143  ;  issue  : 

William,  Admiral,  K.C.B.,  140, 
141,  144;  George,  G.C.B. ; Thomas, 
Henry,  Anne  {see  Fowler),   Lucy, 
Charlotte,       Harriet,      Katharine, 
Amelia,  Augusta,  145 
Briscoe,    John,    second    husband    of 
Henrietta    Maria    Cromwell,    263 
(issue) 
Bromley,    Sir   Thomas,   Lord    Chan- 
cellor  of    England,   father   of    Sir 
Oliver  Cromwell's  first  wife,  15 
Brown,  Henry  Alexander,  m.  Diana 

Caroline  Hotham,  166 
Bruce,   Louisa,  daughter  of  William 
Bruce,  m.   Thomas  H.  W.  Pelham, 
162 
Brudenell,  Mary,  daughter  of  Robert, 
sixth  Earl  of  Cardigan,  m.  Henry 
Thomas,  third  Earl  of  Chichester, 
162 
Buller,    Caroline,   daughter   of  Rev. 
William  Buller,  m.  John  Barrington 
Pelham,  162 
Bulwer-Lytton,      Sir     Edward,     m. 
Edith    Villiers,    177 ;     Viceroy    of 
India,  1S2  ;  issue  : 


Index. 


269 


Rowland  Edward,  Henry  Mere- 
dith Edward,  another  son,  Eliza- 
beth Edith,  Constance  Georgina, 
Emily,  182 

Bunhill  Fields,  Cromwells  buried  at, 
191 

Burghersh,  Lady  Augusta  Selina 
Elizabeth,  relict  of  Ernest  Fitzroy 
Neville,  Lord  Burghersh,  m. 
Thomas,  sixth  Baron  Walsingham, 
156 

Burn,  Augusta  Sophia  (v.  Russell  of 
Cheshunt),  m.  Robert  Burn,  67 

Burroughs,  Mrs.  Jane,  daughter  of 
Jane  Lloyd,  100 

Bush,  Avarilla  Oliveria  Cromwell  (v. 
Russell  of  Cheshunt),  m.  Rev.  Paul 
Bush,  68  ;  issue  : 

Thomas  Cromwell,  Elizabeth 
Oliveria,  James  Graham,  Paul 
Warner,  Charles  Cromwell,  Char- 
lotte Mary  Avarilla,  Beatrice  Maud, 
Herbert  Cromwell,  Ethel  Julia, 
Gertrude  Harriet  Cromwell,  Mabel 
Ottley,  68 

Buxton,  Laura  Priscilla,  daughter 
of  Sir  Edward  Buxton,  m.  Henry 
Francis  Pelham,  162 

Callaghan,  Grace  Elizabeth,  daughter 

of  Grace  Gosset,  m.  John  Callaghan, 

154  (issue,  see  Palmer) 
Campbell,   Elizabeth,   of  Ormisdale, 

wife  of  General  Francis  Frankland 

Whinyates,  147 
Campbell,  Sir  Alexander,  m.  Harriette 

Augusta  Rover  Collier,  154 
Cardonnel,    Anne,    relict    of   Adam 

Cardonnel,  see  Baudouin 
Carey,  Katharine,  daughter  of  General 

the  Hon.  Henry  Carey,  wife  of  Sir 

John  Russell,  eighth  Bart.,  130 
Carey,  Katharine  Henrietta,  daughter 

of  Roger  Frankland,  141 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  vii-x,  1,  22,  23,  38, 

122,  185,  217 
Carncroft,    Jane,    m.    Chief   Justice 

Barron  Field,  72 
Carter,    Nathaniel,    m.  Mary   Fleet- 
wood, 109 
Cayley,  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 

Cayley,  m.  George  Worsley,  168 
Cayley,  Sarah  Philadelphia,  daughter 

of  Sir  George  Cayley,  m.  William 

Worsley,  168 
Chadwick,  James,  m.  Mary  Tillotson, 

190 ;  issue : 


George  (issue,  Evelyn),  John, 
Mary  {see  Fowler),  190 

Chalmer,  Sarah  Mary  Emily,  daughter 
of  Sarah  Anne  Catherina  Whin- 
yates, m.  Major  Chalmer,  148 ; 
issue  : 

Anna,  Emily  Eliza  (see  Cox), 
Catherine  Frances,  Charlotte  Amy 
Rachel  (see  Lysaght),  Georgina 
Isabella,  Gilbert  Stirling  (issue : 
Henry  Francis),  Reginald,  George, 
Francis,  148 

Chaplin,  Emma,  daughter  of  Roger 
Frankland,  m.  W.  Chaplin,  141 

Cheese,  Rev.  Edward,  m.  Amy  Maria 
Villiers,  178 

Chichester,  Henry  Thomas,  third 
Earl  of,  162  ;  issue  : 

Walter  John,  fourth  Earl,  162 ; 
Francis  Godolphin  (issue  :  Jocelyn 
Brudenell,  Ruth  Mary,  Henry 
George  Godolphin,  Anthony  Ashley 
Ivo,  Herbert),  162  ;  Thomas  Henry 
William  (issue :  Mary  Louisa), 
ibid.  ;  Arthur  Lowther,  Harriet 
Mary  (see  Darnley),  162  ;  Susan 
Emma  (see  Smith),  Isabella  Char- 
lotte (see  Whitbread),  163 

Chichester,  Thomas,  second  Earl  of, 
161  ;  issue  : 

Mary,  Henry  Thomas,  third  Earl, 
Amelia  Rose  (see  Jebb),  161  ; 
Frederick  Thomas,  Rear-Admiral 
(issue :  Frederick  John,  Frederick 
Sidney,  Constance  Mary  Kate, 
Emily  Blanche,  Beatrice  Emily 
Julia,  Kathleen  Mary  Maude),  161 ; 
John  Thomas,  Bishop  (issue :  Henry 
Francis,  John  Barrington,  Sidney, 
Herbert,  Fanny),  161,  162;  Hen- 
rietta Juliana,  Katharine  Georgiana 
(see  Barrington),  Lucy  Ann  (see 
Dundas),  162 

Chippenham,  residence  of  Sir  Francis 
Russell  at,  43  ;  Henry  Cromwell 
retires  to  at  the  Restoration,  44  ; 
manor  sold  to  the  Earl  of  Orford, 
129  ;  48,  49 

Chiswick,  Mary  Cromwell  died  at, 
20,  121  ;  house  at  bequeathed  to 
Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  130 

Christmas,  William,  m.  Octavia  Whin- 
yates, 148 

Clarendon,  George  William  Frederick 
Villiers,  fourth  Earl  of  and  Baron 
Hyde,  179;  diplomatic  career,  ibid.; 
Viceroy  of  Ireland,  180  ;  issue  : 


2  70 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Edward  Hyde  ;  Edward  Hyde, 
t'lfth  Earl  (issue,  George  Herbert 
Hyde),  1S0,  181  ;  George  Patrick 
Hyde,  Francis  Hyde,  Constance 
(see  Stanley),  Alice  (see  Skelmers- 
dale),  Emily  Theresa  (see  Ampthill), 
Florence  Margaret,  181 

Clark,  Anne,  daughter  of  John  Shep- 
herd Clark,  second  wife  of  Robert 
Nicholas,  149 

Clarke,  John,  name  assumed  by  the 
Frotector  Richard  after  his  return 
from  exile,  28,  35 

Claypoole,  Clarissa,  of  Philadelphia, 
256 

Claypoole,  Cromwell,  eldest  son  of 
Elizabeth  Cromwell,  114 

Claypoole,  Henry,  second  son  of 
Elizabeth  Cromwell,  114 

Claypoole,  James,  of  New  England, 
256,  257  ;  his  sons  John,  256  (John's 
grandson  William,  ibid.),  James, 
Nathaniel,  George,  Joseph,  257, 
and  daughters  Mary,  Helena, 
Priscilla,  ibid. 

Claypoole,  John,  21  ;  m.  Elizabeth 
Cromwell,  no 

Claypoole,  Martha,  daughter  of  Eliza- 
beth Cromwell,  1 14 

Claypoole,  Oliver,  third  son  of  Eliza- 
beth Cromwell,  114 

Clifton,  Baron  (see  Darnley,  Earl  of) 

Cobb,  Katharine,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Cobb,  m.  Henry  Pelham,  160 

Codrington,  Samuel,  m.  Elizabeth 
Pyle,  100 

Cole,  Henrietta  Frances,  daughter  of 
William,  first  Earl  of  Enniskillen, 
m.  Thomas,  Earl  de  Grey,  174 

Collier,  Harriet,  daughter  of  Charlotte 
Nicholas,  m.  Admiral  Henry  Theo- 
dosius  Browne  Collier,  153  ;  issue  : 
George  Baring  Browne,  Clarence 
Augustus,  Herbert  Cromwell,  153  ; 
Gertrude  Barbara  Rich  (see  Ten- 
nant),  Harriet  Augusta  Royer  (see 
Campbell),  Adeline  Letitia  (see 
Gordon),  Clementina  Frances  (see 
Johnston) 

Coltman,  William  J.,  m.  Philadelphia 
Worsley,  168 

Colville,  Katharine,  daughter  of  John, 
seventh  Lord  Colville  of  Culross, 
m.  Roger  Frankland,  140 

Compton,  Katrine  Cecilia,  daughter 
of  Lord  William  Compton,  m. 
Francis,  seventh  Earl  Cowper,  174 


Compton,  Lord  Alwyne,  m.  Mary 
Evelyn  Vyne,  175 

Constable,  Charles,  170;  issue:  Mary 
(see  Strickland),  170 

Constable,  Henry  Strickland,  171  ; 
issue  : 

Frederick  Charles,  Marmaduke, 
Ethel,  Mary  Sophia,  Rosamund, 
Lucy  Winifred,  171 

Constable,  Marmaduke,  m.  Mary 
Worsley,  167  ;  issue  : 

Marmaduke  Thomas  (issue  : 
Charles,  see  above,  Marmaduke, 
Rachel  Marian,  see  Salmond, 
Frances  Elizabeth,  see  Bentinck, 
Sarah),  Mary  (see  Acklom),  Rosa- 
mund, 169,  170 

Cookson,  Miss,  daughter  of  W.  Strick- 
land   Cookson,    m.   Walter    Field, 

78 

Corner,  William  H.,  265 

Cornewall,  Harriet,  fourth  daughter 
of  Sir  George  Cornewall,  first  wife 
of  Sir  Thomas  Frankland  Lewis, 
142 

Corsbie,  Mary,  daughter  of  Jas. 
Corsbie,  m.  William  Barnard,  100 

Coryton,  Fanny  Harriet,  daughter  of 
William  Coryton,  first  wife  of  Hon. 
Thomas  Villiers  Lister,  178 

Courtenay,    Rev.    Henry    Hugh,    m. 
Anna  Maria  Leslie,  163  ;  issue  : 
Hen.  Reginald,  Hugh  Leslie,  163 

Cowper,  George  Augustus  Frederick, 
sixth  Earl,  m.  Anne  Florence  Robin- 
son, Baroness  Lucas,  daughter  of 
Earl  de  Grey,  174  ;  issue  : 

Francis  Thomas  de  Grey,  seventh 
Earl,  Henry  Frederick,  Henrietta 
Emily  Mary,  Florence,  Amabel 
(see  Herbert),  174  ;  Adine  Eliza 
Anne  (see  Fane),  Amabel  (see  Kerr), 

Cox,    Captain    P.,    m.    Emily    Eliza 

Chalmer,  148  (issue) 
Cox,    Sophia    Victoria,   daughter   of 

William  Cox,   m.   Edward  Barker 

Russell,  67 
Creyke,  Stephen,  m.  Sarah  Hotham, 

166  ;  issue  : 
Walter    Pennington,    Alexander 

Stephen,  Alfred  Richard,  Caroline 

Julia,      Diana      Jane,      Gertrude 

Hotham,  166 
Crompton,     Elizabeth,    daughter    of 

Samuel  Crompton,  m.  General  Sir 

Edward  Charles  Whinyates,  146 


Index. 


271 


Cromwell,   Anna,  sister  of  the  Pro- 
tector,    m.    John     Sewster,    189; 

issue,  ibid. 
Cromwell,   Anna,  sixth   daughter   of 

the  Protector  Richard  (see  Gibson, 

Mrs.  Anna) 
Cromwell,  Anne,  second  daughter  of 

the  Protector  Richard,  38 
Cromwell,  Baron  John  de,  Constable 

of  the  Tower,  1 
Cromwell,   Baron    Ralph    de,    Lord 

High  Treasurer,  1 
Cromwell,   Bridget,    eldest   daughter 

of  the  Protector,  20 ;  marriage  with 

Henry  Ireton,  87  ;  second  marriage 

with  Charles  Fleetwood,  go ;  letters 

from   her  father  to   her,    93,   94 ; 

letter  from  her  to  Henry  Cromwell, 

95  ;  issue,  97-109 
Cromwell,  Captain,  buccaneer,  254 
Cromwell,  Captain  John,  261 
Cromwell,  Captain  William,  264 
Cromwell,    Catharine,   sister    of    the 

Protector,    1S6 ;    m.,    first,    Roger 

Whitstone,  ibid. ;  second,  Colonel 

John  Jones,  188  ;  issue  : 

(1)    Henry,    three    other    sons; 

Levina  (see  Beke),  186 
Cromwell,  Dorothy,  the  Protectress, 

33-36;  parentage  and  marriage,  37; 

death,  ibid.  ;  issue,  ibid. 
Cromwell,    Dorothy,  third   daughter 

of  the  Protector  Richard,  29 
Cromwell,  Dorothy,  fifth  daughter  of 

the  Protector  Richard,  38 
Cromwell,  Dorothy,  seventh  daughter 

of    the    Protector    Richard,    birth 

and  marriage,  40  ;  death,  41 
Cromwell,    Elizabeth,     daughter    of 

Walter,  7 
Cromwell,    Elizabeth,    sister   of    the 

Protector,    185  ;     letter     to    from 

Oliver,  186 
Cromwell,  Elizabeth,  the  Protectress, 

petition  of,  20,  24,  35 
Cromwell,  Elizabeth,  second  daughter 

of   the    Protector,    20,   93,    no; 

m.   John    Claypoole,    no;    letter 

from  to  Lady  Elizabeth  Cromwell, 
112  ;  death  and  burial,  113  ;  issue, 
114 
Cromwell,  Elizabeth,  daughters  of  the 
Lord-Lieutenant:  (1)  died  young, 
(2)  married  William  Russell  (see 
Russell,  Elizabeth) 
Cromwell,  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  Protector  Richard,  37-39 


Cromwell,  Elizabeth,  of  Hampstead, 
56,  59,  109 

Cromwell,  Frances,  fourth  daughter  of 
the  Protector,  20,  21,  128  ;  m.  the 
Hon.  Robert  Rich,  123  ;  and  Sir 
John  Russell,  126  ;  issue,  127,  128 

Cromwell,  Francis,  younger  son  of 
Sir  Richard,  brother  of  "  the 
Golden  Knight,"  17  ;  possible 
descendants,  ibid. 

Cromwell,  Francis,  third  son  of  the 
Lord-Lieutenant,  48 

Cromwell,  Geessan  (?  Gershom),  of 
Annapolis,  255 

Cromwell,  Henry,  son  of  "the  Golden 
Knight,"  14,  17,  183  ;  issue  : 
Henry,  183 

Cromwell,  Henry,  fourth  son  of 
the  Protector,  19,  21,  38 ;  early 
career  and  marriage,  43  ;  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  ibid.  ;  death, 
44 ;  conformed  to  the  Established 
Church,  45  ;  petition  to  Charles  II., 
ibid.  ;  issue,  48  et  seq.  ;  letter  from 
Dr.  Owen  to,  89  ;  correspondence 
with  Lord  Fauconberg,  117,  119; 
letter  from  Mary  Cromwell  to,  122  ; 
90,  116,  120 

Cromwell,  Henry,  the  poet,  57 

Cromwell,  Henry,  eldest  son  of  Sir 
Oliver,  Royalist,  16 

Cromwell,  Henry,  son  of  above,  16  ; 
retook  name  of  Williams  and  voted 
for  Restoration,  ibid.  ;  died  a  poor 
man,  ibid. 

Cromwell,  James,  eldest  grandson  of 
Sir  Oliver,  a  Colonel  in  the  Royalist 
army,  16 

Cromwell,  James,  fifth  son  of  the 
Protector,  19,  86 

Cromwell,  Jane,  sister  of  the  Pro- 
tector, m.  John  Disbrowe,  190 

Cromwell,  John,  fuller,  of  Wimble- 
don, 2 

Cromwell,  John,  son  of  John  the 
fuller,  3  ;  will,  4 

Cromwell,  John,  son  of  Sir  Oliver, 
sent  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  to 
intercede  with  his  cousin  Oliver  for 
the  King's  life,  1 5 

Cromwell,  John,  described  as  a  de- 
scendant of  John,  son  of  Sir  Oliver 
of  Hinchinbroke,  264 

Cromwell,  John,  of  Fairfield,  Balti- 
more, 259  ;  issue  : 

Richard,   259  ;    issue  :    Richard, 
John   (issue :    Richard,    M.D.,   of 


272 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Baltimore),    260;    Thomas,  John, 
M.D.,  260 

Cromwell,  John,  will :  children,  Mar- 
garet, John,  Hannah,  Anne,  261 

Cromwell,  John  Hammond,  son  of 
Thomas  Cromwell,  of  Huntingdon- 
shire, 262  ;  issue  : 

Henrietta  Maria  (see  Reynolds, 
R.,  and  Briscoe,  J.),  Matilda  (see 
Harlan),  Frances,  Delia  (see  Keene, 
R.  H.)i  263 

Cromwell,  Katharine,  daughter  of 
Walter,  7  ;  m.  Morgan  Williams,  8 

Cromwell,  Letitia,  of  Hampstead,  56, 
59,  109 

Cromwell,  Major  Henry,  second  son 
of  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  48,  52 ; 
marriage,  53  ;  death,  54  ;  issue  : 

Oliver,  Benjamin  Hewling, 
Henry,  William  "  of  Kirby  Street," 
Richard  (see  below),  Henry,  Thomas 
(see  below),  Oliver,  Mary,  Hannah, 

Cromwell,  Major  Stephen,  264      [55 

Cromwell,  Margaret,  sister  of  the 
Protector,  m.  (first  wife)  Colonel 
Valentine  Wanton,  188 

Cromwell,  Mary,  third  daughter  of 
the  Protector,  20,  44,  115;  letter 
from  to  Mrs.  Henry  Cromwell,  53  ; 
m.  Lord  Fauconberg,  117;  her 
beauty,  118;  death,  121;  letter 
from  to  Henry  Cromwell,  122 

Cromwell,  Mary,  third  daughter  of 
the  Protector  Richard,  38 

Cromwell,  Mr.  Oliver,  101 

Cromwell,  Mrs.  C.  T.,  264 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  eldest  son  of  Sir 
Henry  "the  Golden  Knight,"  14; 
entertains  James  I.  and  is  knighted 
by  him,  ibid.  ;  wives  and  progeny, 
15  ;  prodigal  hospitality  and  sale  of 
estates,  ibid.  ;  17 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  vii-x  ;  descended 
from  Katharine,  daughter  of  Walter 
Cromwell,  8  ;  birth,  baptism,  edu- 
cation, early  life,  marriage,  and 
entry  into  Parliament,  17-19  ;  issue, 
19  ;  unspeakable  grief  at  the  death 
of  his  eldest  son,  23  ;  death  of  his 
second  son,  27  ;  inquiries  after  a 
grandchild,  38  ;  feeling  of  Henry 
Cromwell's  wife  towards  him,  47  ; 
the  last  of  his  blood  and  name,  66  ; 
his  body  hung  at  Tyburn  gallows, 
88  ;  letters  to  his  daughter  Bridget, 
93»  94  5  letter  to  from  Oliver 
St.  John,   97 ;   blood   united    with 


that  of  Ireton  and  Hampden,  9S  ; 
parental  anxiety,  ill;  checkmates 
Jeremiah  White,  124;  the  suitors 
of  his  daughter  Frances,  123-126  ; 
brothers  and  sisters,  185  ;  letter 
from  to  Elizabeth  Cromwell,  his 
sister,  186  ;  anecdotes  and  traits, 
198-218;  singular  medal  of,  219; 
corpse  exhumed,  220 ;  tablet  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  221  ;  tomb  of, 
222-224  ;  head  of,  224,  225  ;  per- 
sonal relics,  226-231  ;  portraits  of, 
232-234 ;  standard  of,  235,  236 ; 
coins,  237-239  ;  Church  policy  of, 
240-252 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  second  son  of  the 
Protector,  19,  22,  24,  25 ;  letter 
from  to  the  Steward  of  the  City  of 
Norwich,  26  ;  death,  27 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  eldest  son  of  the 
Lord-Lieutenant,  48 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  son  of  the  Pro- 
tector Richard,  29 

Cromwell, Oliver,  second  son  of  the  Pro- 
tector Richard,  38,  39,  41  ;  patriotic 
proposal,  41  ;  rejected  from  Parlia- 
ment, ibid.  ;  death  and  will,  42 

Cromwell,  Oliver,   of  Cheshunt,    59, 

63,  64-66  ;  issue  :         [(see  Russell) 

Oliver,     Elizabeth    Oliveria,    64 

Cromwell,  Philip,  son  of  "  the  Golden 
Knight,"  14,  17 ;  knighted  by 
James  I.,  184  ;  issue  : 

Philip,  Oliver,  184;  Thomas 
(issue  :  Henry),  185  ;  Richard, 
resumed  name  of  Williams,  ibid. 

Cromwell,  Ralph  de  (sixth),  of 
Lambley,  Notts,  3 

Cromwell,  Rear- Admiral  Henry,  137 

Cromwell,  Richard,  son  of  "the 
Golden  Knight,"  183,  184 

Cromwell,  Richard,  third  son  of  the 
Protector,  19,  21,  22,  27 ;  career 
and  death,  28,  29 ;  character  and 
disposition,  30-32 ;  story  of  his 
twenty  years'  exile,   33-36 ;   issue, 

37;  90 
Cromwell,  Richard,  fourth  son  of  the 

Lord-Lieutenant,  48 
Cromwell,     Richard,      grandson     of 

Henry,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 

38 
Cromwell,  Richard,  fifth  son  of  Major 
Henry  Cromwell,  57-59  ;  issue  : 

Robert,  Oliver,  Elizabeth,  Anne, 
Eleanor,  Letitia  (see  Elizabeth  and 
Letitia  of  Hampstead),  59 


Index. 


273 


Cromwell,  Richard,  son  of  John, 
261 

Cromwell,  Richard,  M.D.,  of  Balti- 
more, 258,  260;  daughter  Eliza- 
beth, ibid. 

Cromwell,  Richard,  acquires  land  in 
America,  259 

Cromwell,  Robert,  second  son  of"  the 
Golden  Knight,"  14,  17,  19 

Cromwell,  Robert,  eldest  son  of  the 
Protector,  19  ;  youth,  22 ;  death, 
23 ;  the  Protector's  grief,  ibid.  ; 
entry  of  burial,  24,  25 

Cromwell,  Robina,  sister  of  the  Pro- 
tector, m.,  first,  Dr.  Peter  French, 
second,  Dr.  John  Wilkins,  190 ; 
issue,  ibid. 

Cromwell,  Sidney,  264 

Cromwell,  Sir  Henry,  "  the  Golden 
Knight,"  son  of  Sir  Richard,  14  ; 
marriage,  ibid.;  issue,  17,  183 

Cromwell,  Sir  Richard  (see  Williams, 
Richard),  estates  of  Ramsey  Abbey, 
in  Huntingdonshire,  granted  to 
him,  13  ;  honours  bestowed  upon 
him,  ibid. ;  builds  manor-houses  at 
Ramsey  and  Hinchinbrook,  ibid.  ; 
marriage,  14 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  son  of  Walter, 
7  ;  member  of  the  household  of 
Cardinal  Wolsey,  4  ;  instituted 
registration  of  births,  marriages, 
and  deaths,  7  ;  early  life,  9  ;  em- 
ployed at  Antwerp,  10 ;  journey 
to  Rome,  ibid. ;  enters  the  service 
of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  12  ;  suppresses 
the  monasteries,  ibid. ;  will  and 
death,  13 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  grandson  of 
Henry,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 

38 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  seventh  son  of 
Major  Henry  Cromwell,  61  ;  twice 
married,  ibid;  issue  : 

(1)  Oliver,  Henry,  Thomas, 
Elizabeth,  ibid.  ;  Anne  (see  Field), 
ibid.;  (2)  Oliver  (see,  of  Cheshunt), 
Thomas,  Richard,  Elizabeth, 
Hannah  Hewling,  Susanna,  ibid. 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  cousin  of  Richard 
Cromwell,  of  Fairfield,  260 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  will  :  sons, 
Thomas,  Oliver ;  brother,  John 
Ashman;  exors.,  William  Crom- 
well, John  Ashman,  John  Crom- 
well, George  Bailey,  261 

Cromwell,   Vincent,  son   of   Thomas 


Cromwell,     of     Huntingdonshire, 
262  ;  issue : 

John,  Benjamin  (issue :  John, 
Oliver,  Alvin,  William,  Howard, 
Vincent,  Marcus,  Caroline,  Nancy), 
263 ;  Joseph,  Joshua,  Vincent, 
Oliver,  Sarah,  Rebecca,  Hannah 
(see  Ford),  Rachel,  Mary,  264 

Cromwell,  Walter,  son  of  John  the 
fuller,  3  ;  succeeded  his  father,  4  ; 
various  descriptions  of,  5  ;  death,  7 

Cromwell,  William,  of  Palm  Hall, 
Norwell,  3 

Cromwell,  William,  fourth  son  of 
Ralph  de  Cromwell,  3 

Cromwell,  William,  fifth  son  of  the 
Lord-Lieutenant,  48 

Cromwell,  William,  grandson  of 
Henry  Cromwell,  47 

Cromwell,  William,  son  of  Sir  Oliver, 
in  the  service  of  the  Elector- Pala- 
tine, 15 

Cromwell,  William,  will :  sons,  Wil- 
liam, Alexander,  Joseph,  Wool- 
ghist ;  witnesses,  John  Cromwell, 
Joshua  Cromwell,  George  Ashman, 
261 

Cromwell,  William,  will :  wife,  Eliza- 
beth Trahearn  ;  brothers,  John, 
Richard  ;  sons,  William,  Thomas, 
260,  261 

Cromwell,  William  Henry,  of  Phila- 
delphia, 265 

Cromwell  of  Calvert  Co.,  John  and 
William,  260 ;  latter's  grandsons, 
William  and  John,  ibid. 

Cromwell,  village  of,  2 

Cromwells  in  the  Fen  counties,  I 

Cromwells  of  Lincolnshire,  3 

Cromwells  of  Nottinghamshire,  3 

Cromwells  of  Washington  :  William, 
Katharine,  Thomas,  258 

Cross,  Mary,  daughter  of  Alexander 
Cross,  m.  Henry  Frankland,  131 

Crumwell,  Lord,  of  Westminster,  1 

Cust,  Evelyn,  daughter  of  Reginald 
Cust,  m.  Arthur  Lowther  Pelham, 
162 

Cuyler,  Eliza,  daughter  of  Sir  Corne- 
lius Cuyler,  m.  Ralph  Berners,  108 

Darnley,  John  Stuart  Bligh,  Earl  of, 
m.  Harriet  Mary  Pelham,  162 ; 
issue  : 

Edward  Henry  Stuart,  Kathleen 
Susan  Emma,  and  others,  163 

Dawson,     Mary    Jay,     daughter     of 

18 


274 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


William  Dawson, m.Colville  Frank- 
land,  159 

U'Aye  Mary  (v.  Russell),  m.  Robert 
D'Aye  of  Soham,  50  ;  issue  : 

Russell,  Saunders  (Mrs.),  Eliza- 
beth (sec  Addison),  ibid. 

De  Grey,  Thomas  Philip  Robinson, 
Earl,  Baron  Lucas  and  Baron 
Grantham,  173  ;  issue  : 

Anne  Florence,  Baroness  Lucas 
(see  Cowper),  Mary  Gertrude  (see 
Vyner),  ibid. 

Delpratt,  Joseph,   m.  Sarah  Eleanor 
Barnard,  165  ;  issue  : 
Eleanor  Josephine,  ibid. 

Delpratt,  Samuel,  of  Jamaica,  165 

Denison,  Robert,  m.  Charlotte 
Hotham,  166 

D'Eye,  Henrietta  Fox  (v.  Addison), 
m.  George  H.  Rust  D'Eye,  51  ; 
issue  : 

Henrietta  Fanny,  ibid.  ;  George 
Edgar,  Agnes  Elizabeth,  Isabel, 
Jane  Louisa,  Henry,  Katharine 
Alice,  Evelyn,  Anne  Georgina, 
Mabel,  Emily,  52 

Disbrowe,  Colonel  John,  "warned 
home,"  36  ;  m.  Jane,  sister  of  the 
Protector,  190 

Dobble,  Robert  Brownell,  m.  Elizabeth 
Mary  Polhill,  99  ;  issue  : 
Sybil  Mary,  99 

Dorsay,  Mary  Hammond,  263 

Drew,  John,  second  husband  of  Agnes 
Surriage,  137 

Dundas,  Sir  David,  m.  Lucy  Anne 
Pelham  (second  wife),  162 

Dunn,  Margaret  Williams,  daughter 
of  General  William  Dunn,  R.A., 
m.  Albert  William  Orme  Whin- 
yates,  147 

Dyer,  Rebecca  (v.  Russell),  m.  Wil- 
liam Dyer  of  Ilford,  49  ;  issue  : 

William  Andrew,  Charles  Adams, 
Thomas  John,  Mary  Eliza,  Louisa, 
49 

Earl,  Captain,  m.  Maria  Theresa 
Villiers,  177 

Elderton,  Flora  Helen,  daughter  of 
Charles  A.  Elderton,  m.  Charles 
Frederick  Field,  76 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  Sir  Henry  Crom- 
well knighted  by,  14  ;  69 

Ellis,  Elizabeth  (v.  Peachey),  m.  Rev. 
Mr.  Ellis  of  Milborne,  Cambs.,  52  ; 
issue  : 


Thomas,  William,  Elizabeth,  and 

daughter  m.  Mr.  Burbage 
Errington,  Charlotte,  descended  from 

an  old  Puritan  family  named  Not- 

cutt,  m.  Alfred  Field,  79 
Evershed,  Arthur,  M.D.,  of  Ampthill, 

m.  Mary  Hester  Katherine  Field,  76 
Eyre,  Rebecca,  sister  of  Sir  Charles 

Eyre,  first  wife  of  John  Russell,  128 

Fane,  Augusta,  daughter  of  John, 
Earl  of  Westmoreland,  m.  John, 
second  Baron  Boringdon,  and  Earl 
of  Morley,  176 

Fane  Julian,  son  of  John,  eleventh 
Earl  of  Westmoreland,  m.  Adine 
Eliza  Anne,  daughter  of  George, 
sixth  Earl  Cowper,  175 

Fauconberg,  Thomas  Bellasyse,  Vis- 
count Henry  Cromwell's  attach- 
ment to,  44 ;  m.  Mary  Cromwell, 
117  ;  letters  from  to  Henry  Crom- 
well, ibid.,  119;  aids  in  the 
Restoration,  120 ;  royal  favours, 
ibid.  ;  death,  ibid.  ;  130 

Field,  Alfred,  of  New  York,  79 ; 
issue  : 

Henry  Cromwell,  Rosa,  79 

Field,  Anne,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Cromwell,  m.  John  Field,  of 
Newington,  61,  70  ;  issue  : 

Henry,  71  (issue:  Henry  Crom- 
well, 71  ;  Barron,  Chief  Justice, 
72 ;  Francis  John,  Accountant - 
General  to  India  House,  73  ; 
Esther,  "/^ ;  Edmund,  Frederick, 
Rector  of  Reepham,  73  ;  Mar- 
riott, 74 ;  Maria  Letitia,  74) ; 
Oliver,  of  New  York,  74  (issue  : 
Oliver,  John,  Joseph,  Thomas,  and 
daughters)  ;  John,  Umpire  at  the 
Mint,  74  (issue  :  Henry,  Charles, 
Frederick,  75 ;  Henry  William, 
Queen's  Assay  -  Master,  75,  see 
below ;  Emma  Katharine,  76 ; 
Charles  Frederick,  76,  see  below ; 
Oliver  Cromwell,  76 ;  Samuel 
Pryer,  77,  see  below) ;  William, 
Unitarian  minister,  77  (issue : 
Edwin  Wilkins,  78,  see  below ; 
Arthur,  78;  John  Hampden,  Emma, 
Ferdinand  Emmans,  Laura,  Alger- 
non Sidney  (issue),  79 ;  Alfred, 
79,  see  above  ;  Caroline  (issue; 
Parker),  79 ;  Alice,  Lucy,  79, 
Horace  (issue),  79  ;  Leonard) 
Anne,  79  (see  Gwinnel) ;  Letitia, 


Index. 


275 


80  {see  Wilkins),  Elizabeth,  Sophia, 
Mary,  80 

Field,  Charles  Frederick,  76  ;  issue  : 
Charles    John    Elderton,    Flora 
Georgiana,       Oliver        Cromwell, 
Katharine  Mary  Ida,  76 

Field,  Edwin  Wilkins,  78  ;  life  of, 
80-86  ;  twice  married,  78  ;  issue  : 

(1)  Rogers;  (2)  Basil,  Allan 
(issue),  Walter  (issue),  Mary, 
Grace,  Susan,  Emily,  78 

Field,  Henry  William,  75  ;  issue  : 
Mary  Hester  Katherine  (issue, 
Evershed) ;  Katharine  Anne  Rus- 
sell (issue,  Snelling) ;  Harriet 
Elizabeth  Pryer,  Frances  Anna 
Ollyffe,  Henry  Cromwell  Beck- 
with  Letitia  Eliza  (issue,  Thomas), 
Minnie 

Field,  John,  of  Newington,  59,  70 

Field,  Samuel  Pryer,  77  ;  issue  : 
Cyril,  Bertha,  Oliver,  Maud,  77 

Fleetwood,  Anne  Nancy,  daughter  of 
Bridget  Cromwell,  109 

Fleetwood,  Cromwell,  son  of  Bridget 
Cromwell,  108 

Fleetwood,  Lieut. -General  Charles, 
30,  44,  49,  60,  71  ;  marriage  with 
Bridget  Ireton,  90  ;  in  social  ob- 
scurity at  Stoke  Newington,  91  ; 
abstract  of  his  will,  96  ;  children 
by  Bridget  Ireton,  108  ;  102,  116 

Fleetwood,  Mary,  daughter  of  Bridget 
Cromwell,  m.  Nathaniel  Carter,  109 

Ford,  Nathaniel,  264 

Fowler,  Anne,  daughter  of  Dinah 
Bowles,  and  last  survivor  of  the 
family,  145 

Fowler,  Edward,  son  of  Bishop 
Fowler,  m.  Mary  Chadwick,  190  ; 
issue  :  Anna  Maria,  Elizabeth,  191 

Fox,  Anne,  daughter  of  Thomas  Fox, 
of  Newlands,  Curdworth,  co.  War- 
wick, m.  William  Addison,  51 

Francis,  Georgina  Ann,  daughter  of 
George  Frankland,m.  J.  T.  Francis, 

141 

Frankland,  Admiral  Sir  Thomas, 
fifth  Bart.,  137;  marriage,  138; 
naval  career,  138,  139  ;  issue  : 

Thomas,  sixth  Bart,  {see  below), 
William,  139  ;  Roger  (issue : 
Frederick  William,  eighth  Bart.  ; 
Rear-Admiral  Edward  Augustus, 
140  ;  Emma,  see  Chaplin  ;  Admiral 
Charles  Colville,  Matilda,  see 
Robison,  George  (issue  :  Georgina, 


Augustus  Charles),  Katharine 
Henrietta,  Octavia,  see  Mont- 
gomery, Louisa,  Arthur,  Sophia, 
Albert  Henry,  141),  140  ;  Mary 
{see  Roche),  Sarah,  141  ;  Harriet, 
Anne  {see  Lewis  and  Hare),  142  ; 
Dinah  {see  Bowles),  143  ;  Katha- 
rine {see  Whinyates),  145  ;  Char- 
lotte {see  Nicholas),  149 ;  Grace 
{see  Gosset),  154 

Frankland,  Henry,  fourth  son  of 
Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  second 
Bart.,  131  ;  issue  : 

Charles  Henry,  fourth  Bart. 
{see  above)  ;  Thomas,  fifth  Bart. 
{see  below)  ;  William,  Richard, 
Robert,  Harriet,  Frederick  (issue, 
see  Powney),  131 

Frankland,  Sir  Charles  Henry,  fourth 
Bart.,  133 ;  his  connection  with 
Agnes  Surriage,  ibid.  ;  in  the  earth- 
quake at  Lisbon,  135;  marriage 
and  death,  136 

Frankland,  Sir  Frederick  William, 
eighth  Bart.,  157,  158  ;  issue  : 

Frederick  Roger,  158  ;  Thomas, 
Harry  Albert,  William  Adolphus 
{see  below),  Colville  (issue), 
Frederica,  Eliza  Henrietta  Augusta 
{see  Vacher),  Maria  Margaret  Isa- 
bella, 159 

Frankland,  Sir  Robert,  seventh  Bart., 
assumed  surname  of  Russell,  156; 
issue : 

Augusta  Louisa  {see  Walsing- 
ham),  Caroline  Agnes,  Emily  Anne 
{see  Galfrey),  156 ;  Julia  Roberta 
(see  Neville),  Rosalind  Alicia  {see 
Astley),  157 

Frankland,  Sir  Thomas,  second  Bart., 
m.  Elizabeth  Russell,  second 
daughter  of  Frances  Cromwell, 
128,  129,  130,  131 

Frankland,  Sir  Thomas,  third  Bart., 
twice  married,  132  ;  issue  : 

(1)  Diana  {see  Lichfield),  and 
others,  132 

Frankland,  Sir  Thomas,  sixth  Bart., 
156  ;  issue  : 

Robert,  seventh  Bart.,  and 
others 

Frankland,  Sir  William,  first  Bart., 
130 

Frankland,  Sir  William  Adolphus, 
ninth  Bart.,  159  ;  issue  : 

Frederick,  present  Bart.,  and 
others 


276 


The  House  of  Cro??iwell. 


French,  Dr.  Peter,  first  husband  of 
the  Protector's  sister  Robina,  190; 
issue  : 

Elizabeth  (see  Tillotson),  190 

Gallwey,  Sir  William  Payne,  m. 
Emily  Anne  Frankland,  1 56 ; 
issue  : 

Ralph  William,  Edwin,  Lionel, 
Wyndham,  Harry,  Leonora,  Anne, 
Bertha  Louisa,  Isabel  Julia,  157 

Gardner,  Emma  Elizabeth  (v.  Rus- 
sell of  Cheshunt),  m.  Herbert 
Calthorpe  Gardner,  6"j  ;  issue  : 

Herbert  Prescott,  Emma  Louisa, 
67 

Gatton,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Ebenezer 
Gatton,  m.  Richard,  fifth  son  of 
Major  Henry  Cromwell,  57 

Gee,  Ann,  m.  Sir  Francis  Russell, 
sixth  Bart.,  130 

Gee,  Cojonel  William,  m.  Arabella 
Talbot  (second  wife),  164;  issue: 
Roger,  164  ;  issue  :  Sarah  Eliza 
beth    (see   Barnard),    Caroline   (see 
Hotham),  164 

Gibson,  Mrs.  Anna,  letter  from  the 
Protector  Richard  to,  31  ;  her 
birth,  marriage,  and  death,  39 

Girtin,  Mary  Hog,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Calvert  Girtin,  m.  A.  F. 
Barnard,  100 

Gittings,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Gittings,  m.  Oliver  Field, 

74 

Glyn,  Alice  Carr,  daughter  of  Lord 
Wolverton,  m.  Rev.  Francis  Godol- 
phin  Pelham,  162 

Goderich,  Viscount  (see  Ripon,  Earl) 

Godolphin,  Henrietta  Juliana, 
daughter  of  Francis,  fifth  Duke  of 
Leeds,  m.  Thomas,  second  Earl  of 
Chichester,  161 

Gordon,  Adjutant -General  Robert, 
m.  Adeline  Letitia  Collier,  154 

Gosset,  Grace,  daughter  of  Admiral 
Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  m.  Matthew 
Gosset,  Vicomte  of  Jersey,  154; 
issue  : 

William  Matthew,  Henry  (Ad- 
miral), Charles,  Grace  (see  Cal- 
laghan),  154.  Arthur  ;  issue  : 
Augusta  Louisa,  Emma,  Arthur 
Welleslev,  Matthew  William 
Henry  (Brigadier  -  General),  Mary 
Harriet,  155  ;  Philip  Henry, 
Laura  Henrietta,  Octavia  Georgina 


Emily,  Gertrude  Maria  (see  Shad- 

well),    Grace     Amelia,     Adelaide 

Louisa  Julia,   Edward    Frankland 

(issue),  156 
Goulton,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Charles 

Goulton,    m.    Thomas    Constable, 

169 
Grantham,    Sir    Thomas    Robinson, 

first  Baron,  m.   Frances  Worsley, 

167  ;  issue : 

Thomas,     second      Baron     (see 

below),     Frederick,    Theresa    (see 

Boringdon),  172 
Grantham,    Thomas,    second    Baron, 

172  ;  issue : 
Thomas    Philip   (see   De   Grey), 

Frederick  John  (see  Ripon),  172 
Gray's  Inn,  43,  55,  60 
Greenhill,     Samuel,     m.      Elizabeth 

Russell,  129  ;  issue  : 
John    Russell    (issue :     Robert), 

129,  130 
Griscom,  Elizabeth,  m.  William  Clay- 

poole  of  Philadelphia,  256 
Gulston,     Justina     Maria     Stepney, 

daughter    of   Joseph   Gulston,    m. 

George    Baring    Browne    Collier, 

Gunton,    Simon,     reference     in     his 

"  History  of  Peterborough"  to  the 

Protector's  son  Oliver,  25 
Gwinnel,  Anne,  daughter  of  Thomas 

Gwinnel,     m.      Henry     Cromwell 

Field,  72 
Gwinnel,  Thomas,  of  Worcester,  m. 

Anne  Field,  79  ;  issue  : 

Thomas    Cromwell,    79;    Anne 

Sophia,  Amelia,  Diana,  80  ;  Eliza, 

80  (issue,  Johnston) 
Gwyther,  George,  assumed   surname 

of  Leslie  and  m.  Henrietta  Anne, 

Countess  of  Rothes,  163 

Hagar,  John,  m.  Elizabeth  Bendysh, 

107 
Hale,  Octavia,   daughter  of  General 

Hale,    m.    Marmaduke   Constable, 

169 
Hame,  Harriet,  m.  Marcus  Worsley, 

168 
Hamilton,  Florence  Selina,  daughter 

of  William  John  Hamilton,  second 

wife  of  Hon.  Thomas  Villiers  Lister, 

178 
Hammond,  Family  of,  264,  265 
Hampden,  John,  98 
Hampton  Court,  20,  54,  117,  1 18 


Index. 


277 


Harcourt,    Sir   William   Vernon,   m. 

Maria  Theresa  Lister,  178  ;  issue  : 
Lewis  Reginald,  178 
Hare,  Rev.  Robert,  second  husband  of 

Anne,  fourth  daughter  of  Admiral 

Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  142 
Harlan,  Mr.,  m.   Matilda  Cromwell, 

263 
Harris,  Katharine  Gertrude,  sister  of 

the  first  Earl  of  Malmesbury,  m. 

Frederick  Robinson,  172 
Harrison,  Emma  Catharine,  daughter 

of  William   Harrison,   m.   Charles 

Andrew  Russell,  67 
Haswell,    Patience,    second   wife   of 

Charles  Polhill,  99 
Haward,   Rachel,   m.   T.   C.    Girtin, 

100 
Hawksworth,    Amelia,    daughter    of 

Francis     Ramsden     Hawksworth, 

second  wife  of  George  Hotham,  126 
Haworth,  Martin  E.,  m.  Mary  Eliza- 
beth Leslie,  163 
Henry      VIII. ,      knights      Richard 

Williams,  9 
Herbert,  Hon.  Auberon,  m.  Florence 

Amabel,  daughter  of  George,  sixth 

Earl  Cowper,  174 
Hewling,      Hannah,      daughter      of 

Benjamin     Hewling,     m.     Henry 

Cromwell,  53,  103 
Hill,  Elizabeth  (v.  Addison),  m.  John 

Hill,  50  ;  issue  : 
John,  William,  Eden,  50 
Hinchinbrook,  estates  of  the  Convent 

of  granted  to  Sir  Richard  Crom- 
well,   13 ;    manor-house    erected, 

ibid. ;  Queen  Elizabeth  and  James  I, 

entertained   at,    14 ;    sold    by   Sir 

Oliver,  15 
Hobart,      Sarah      Louisa      Albinia, 

daughter    of    Robert,    fourth   Earl 

of  Bucks,  m.  Frederick  John,  Earl 

Ripon,  172 
Hollis,    Gertrude,    sister   of   Thomas 

Hollis,  Duke  of  Newcastle,  second 

wife  of  David  Polhill,  98 
Holmes,  Mr.,  m.  Mary  Russell,  129 
Hordern,  Ellen  Frances,  daughter  of 

Rev.  Peter  Hordern,  m.  Sir  John 

Lubbock,  166 
Horsley,     Sarah,    daughter     of    Job 

Horsley,     m.     George     Frederick 

Russell,  67 
Hotham,  Gertrude,  daughter  of  Lieut. - 

Colonel    Hotham,  m.  Christopher 

Neville,  17b 


Hotham,  Lieut. -Colonel  George,  m. 
Caroline  Gee  (first  wife),  164; 
issue  : 

William  (Rear  Admiral),  165  ; 
George,  twice  married  (issue  :  (1) 
Richard,  165,  Harriet,  (2)  Arthur, 
Francis,  Alice,  Laura),  166;  Charles, 
166 ;  John,  twice  married  (issue  : 
(2)  Charles,  John,  Caroline,  Fanny, 
Gertrude),  166;  Sarah  (see  Creyke), 
Charlotte  (see  Denison),  Gertrude 
(see  Neville),  Diana  Caroline  (see 
Brown),  Harriet  (see  Lubbock), 
166 

Huddlestone,  Mary  Esther  (v.  Russell 
of  Cheshunt),  m.  Thomas  Huddle- 
stone,  68 

Hulton,  Amelia  Maria,  daughter  of 
William  Hulton,  m.  Bishop  Henry 
Montague  Villiers,  177 

Huntingdon,  Oliver  Cromwell  re- 
turned to  Parliament  for,  18 ;  he 
sells  his  property  there,  ibid.  ;  19 

Huntingdon,  estates  of  the  Priory  of 
granted  to  Sir  Richard  Cromwell, 

*3 

Huntingdonshire,  estates  in  granted 

to  Sir  Richard  Cromwell,  13 
Hursley  Lodge,  near  Rornsey,  Hants, 
the   Protector    Richard   leaves  his 
wife  and   children  at,  at  the  Re- 
storation, 28,  29,  34,  37.  38,  40-42 

Ireland,  Henry  Cromwell  Lord-Lieu- 
tenant of,  43 ;  lands  of  Cromwell 

in,  4S-47 
Ireton,    Bridget,    third    daughter    ot 

Bridget  Cromwell,  40,  92,  102,  121  ; 

m.  Thomas  Bendysh,  ibid.  ;  issue  : 
Thomas,     Bridget,     Henry     (see 

below),  107 
Ireton,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Bridget 

Cromwell,  97  ;  m.  Thomas  Polhill 

of  Otford,  ibid.  ;  issue  : 

David     (see     Polhill),      Henry, 

Charles,  97 
Ireton,  Henry,  eldest  son  of  Bridget 

Cromwell,  97 
Ireton,    Henry,     marriage    of    with 

Bridget  Cromwell,  87  ;  career,  88  ; 

death  at  Limerick,  43 
Ireton,    Jane,    second     daughter     of 

Bridget  Cromwell,  99  ;  m.  Richard 

Lloyd,  ibid.  ;  and  later  to  William 

Barnard,  100  ;  issue  : 

(1)   Jane   (see  Morse),    100  ;   (2) 

William  (issue  :  William),  100 


278 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


James  I..  Oliver  Cromwell,  eldest  son 
of  "the  Golden  Knight,"  knighted 
by,  14  ;  69 

Jarret,  Dinah,  daughter  of  John 
J  arret,  m.  Rev.  Henry  Denny 
Berners,  108 

Jarrett,  Herbert  Newton,  m.  Martha 
Berners,  108  [108 

Jarrett,  Rachel,  m.  William  Berners, 

Jebb,  Major-General  Sir  Joshua,  m. 
Amelia  Rose  Pelham,  161 

Jeffreys,  Anne  Geraldine,  daughter  of 
M.  B.  Jeffreys,  first  wife  of  Major 
Ashton  Cromwell  Warner,  69 

Johnston,  Frederick  Erskine,  m.  Cle- 
mentina Frances  Collier,  154 

Johnston,  Patrick,  banker,  m.  Eliza 
Gwinnel,  80  ;  issue  : 

Patrick,     Janet     Eliza,     Henry 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  80 

Jones,  Colonel  John,  second  husband  of 
the  Protector's  sister  Catharine,  188 

Keene,  Richard  H.,  m.  Delia  Crom- 
well, 263 

Kendall,  William,  of  Bourton,  m. 
Letitia  Wilkins,  80  ;  issue  : 

Herbert  William,  Amelia  Letitia, 
Edmund,  Agnes,  Harriet,  Henry 

Kerr,  Lord  Walter,  son  of  the  Marquis 
of  Lothian,  m.  Amabel,  daughter 
of  George,  sixth  Earl  Cowper,  175 

Kinder,  Letitia,  daughter  of  Robert 
Kinder,  second  wife  of  Edwin 
Wilkins  Field,  78 

Lambeth,  copyhold  land  held  by  John 
Cromwell  in,  3  ;  his  burial  there,  3  ; 
extracts  from  churchwardens'  ac- 
counts, 4 

Langmead  W.,  of  Plymouth,  m. 
Laura  Field,  79 

Lanishen,  near  Cardiff,  John  Williams 
migrated  from,  8 

Laroche,  Katharine,  daughter  of  Job 
Laroche,  M.P.,  m.  Charles  Berners, 
108 

Laying,  Melissa,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Laying,  m.  Frederick  Frank- 
land,  131 

Leslie,  Hon.  George  Waldegrave, 
m.  Henrietta  A.  M.,  Countess  of 
Rothes,  164 

Lewis,    Anne,    fourth    daughter     of 
Admiral  Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  m. 
John  Lewis,  142  ;  issue  : 
Thomas  Frankland  (issue:  Thomas 


Frankland,  .w  below),  Anne,  Louisa, 
142 

Lewis,  Right  Hon.  Sir  Thomas  Frank  - 
land,  138,  139  ;  Poor  Law  Commis- 
sioner, 142  ;  twice  married,  ibid.  ; 
issue : 

(1)  George  Cornewall,  second 
Bart.,  142  (see  below)  ;  Gilbert 
Frankland,  third  Bart,  (issue :  Ed- 
ward Frankland,  Herbert  Edmund 
Frankland,  Lindsay  Frankland, 
Mary  Anna,  Eleanor),  143 

Lewis,  Sir  George  Cornewall.  m. 
Maria  Theresa  Villiers,  relict  of 
Thomas  Henry  Lister,  178 

Lichfield,  Diana,  Countess  of,  daughter 
of  Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  third 
Bart.,  m.  George  Henry  Lee,  Earl 
of  Lichfield,  132 

Liddel!,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  daughter 
of  Lord  Ravens  worth,  wife  of 
Edward  Ernest  Villiers,  177 

Lievesley,  Eliza,  daughter  of  Maurice 
Lievesley,  m.  John  Henry  Crom- 
well Russell,  68 

Lincoln's  Inn, Oliver  Cromwell  studies 
law  at,  18  ;  Richard  Cromwell  ad- 
mitted to,  28 

Lister,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Rev.  J. 
Lister,  m.  Thomas  Worsley,  168 

Lister,  Thomas  Henry,  m.  (first  hus- 
band) Maria  Theresa  Villiers,  178  ; 
issue  : 

Hon.  Thomas  Villiers,  twice  m. 
(issue:  (1)  George  Cory  ton,  three 
other  sons,  three  daughters,  178  ; 
(2)  a  daughter),  178  ;  Maria  The- 
resa (see  Harcourt),  178  ;  Alice 
Beatrice  (see  Borthwick),  179 

Lloyd,  Richard,  first  husband  of  Jane 
Ireton,  99 

Lockhart,  Mr.  Ambassador,  ix  ;  m. 
Robina  Sewster,  189 

Loughborough,  Lord,  m.  Violet  Aline 
Vyner,  175 

Lubbock,  Sir  Tohn  William,  m. 
Harriet  Hotham,  161  ;  issue  : 

John,  present  Bart,  (issue  :  John 
Birkbeck,  Norman,  Rolfe  Arthur, 
Amy  Harriet,  Constance  Mary, 
Gertrude,  Florence),  166 ;  Henry 
James,  Neville,  Beaumont  William, 
Montague,  Frederick,  166  ;  Alfred, 
Edgar,  Mary  Harriet  (see  Birk- 
beck), Diana  Hotham  (see  Rodney), 
Henrietta  Harriet,  167 

Ludlow,   Edmund,  friend  of  Ireton, 


Index. 


279 


88  ;  his  "  Memoirs  "  quoted,  ibid., 

"5;  92,9s 

Lumley,  Lady  Anne,  daughter  of 
Richard,  first  Earl  of  Scarborough, 
second  wife  of  Frederick  Meinhardt 
Frankland,  132 

Luson,  Mr.  Hewling,  39,  56,  102- 
105,  121 

Lysaght,  Percy  P.,  m.  Charlotte  Amy 
Rachel  Chalmer,  148 

Major,  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Richaid 
Major,  of  Hursley  and  Merdon, 
wife  of  the  Protector  Richard  {see 
the  Protectress  Dorothy) 

Marriott,  J.  P.,  m.  Lucy  Henrietta 
Strickland,   171 

Marshall,  Sarah,  m.  Charles  Polhill, 99 

Martin,  Sarah,  of  Birmingham,  m. 
Algernon  Sidney  Field,  79 

Mashams  of  Otes,  the,  22 

Mason,  Anne,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Mason,  m.  George  Frankland,  141 

Maynard,  Henry,  purchases  Newport 
and  Easton  from  Sir  Oliver  Crom- 
well, 15 

Meath,  lands  of  Cromwell  in,  45 

Midleton  of  Ireland,  George,  fourth 
Viscount,  m.  Frances  Pelham, 
161 ;  issue  : 

Frances  Anne  {see  Thomas),  161 

Mills,  Anna,  daughter  of  Rev.  T. 
Mills,  of  Coval  Hall,  Chelmsford, 
m.  Henry  William  Field,  76 

Mills,  Rev.  Richard,  m.  Mary, 
daughter  of  Richard  Russell,  127  ; 
issue : 

Thomas  (issue  :  Frederick  Rus- 
sell, Richard),  128 

Milner,  Georgina  Selina  Septimia, 
daughter  of  Sir  William  Milner, 
first  wife  of  Sir  C.  W.  Strickland, 
171 

Mitchell,  Ellen  Kate,  daughter  of 
Rowland  Mitchell,  m.  Rear-Admiral 
Frederick  T.  Pelham,  161 

Montgomery,  Octavia,  daughter  of 
Roger  Frankland,  141 

Morgan,  Augusta,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Morgan,  m.  Arthur  Gosset,  155 

Morse,  Amelia,  m.  Henry  Vansittart, 
101 

Morse,  Mary,  m.  Mr.  Oliver  Crom- 
well, 101 

Morse,  Mary,  daughter  of  Morgan 
Morse,  m.  Oliver  Cromwell  of 
Cheshunt,  64 


Morse,  Nicholas  (or  Henry),  m.  Jane 
Lloyd,  daughter  of  Jane  Ireton,  99  ; 
issue  : 

David,  Henry,  Nicholas,  Daniel, 
Elizabeth,  Jane,  Anne,  gg{seeOyle, 
Burroughs,  Roberts) 

Morse,  Nicholas,  Governor  of  Madras, 
100 

Morshead,  Louisa,  daughter  of  Henry 
Anderson  Morshead,  m.  George 
W.  E.,  eleventh  Earl  of  Rothes, 
164 

Mortimer,  John,  a  Somersetshire 
squire,  29  ;  m.  Dorothy,  seventh 
daughter  of  the  Protector  Richard, 
40 

Morton,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
makes  a  free  grant  of  land  to  Walter 
Cromwell,  6 

Murfyn,  Frances,  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Murfyn,  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  m.  Sir  Richard  Crom- 
well, 14 

Murray,  Captain  James  Hamilton, 
m.  Fanny  Pelham,  161 

Murray,  Charles  Knight,  m.  Hen- 
rietta Anne  Leslie,  163 

Murray,  Hon.  Louisa  Anne,  daughter 
of  Lord  George  Murray,  Bishop  of 
St.  David's,  m.  Sir  Robert  Frank- 
land,  seventh  Bart.,  156 

Nelson,  Mrs.,  of  Mildenhall  {v. 
Russell),  50 

Nevill,  Elizabeth,  m.  Cromwell  Fleet- 
wood, 108 

Neville,  Christopher,  m.  Anne  Eliza- 
beth Acklom,  170  ;  issue  : 

Christopher  (issue :  Charlotte, 
George),  170  ;  George,  170  ;  Ann 
Elizabeth  (second  wife  of  Sir  C.  W. 
Strickland),  171 

Neville,  Ralph  Neville  Grenville, 
eldest  son  of  George  Neville,  m. 
Julia  Roberta  Frankland,  157  ; 
issue  : 

Robert,  George,  Hugh,  Louisa, 
Agnes  Magdalen,  Beatrice,  Ethel- 
dreda,  157 

Neville,  Rev.   Christopher,  m.    Ger- 
trude Hotham,  166  ;  issue: 
Charlotte,  George,  166 

Newport  Pagnell,  death  of  Captain 
Oliver  Cromwell  at,  27 

Nicholas,      Charlotte,     daughter     of 
Admiral   Sir    Thomas   Frankland, 
m.  Robert  Nicholas,  149  ;  issue  : 
Edward,  Robert,  149  ;   William. 


28o 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


150-152  ;  Thomas,  Charles,  Char- 
lotte, Sophia,  Frances,  Harriet  (see 
Collier),  153  ;  Ellenor  (see  Sutton), 
Maria,  1 54 

Nicholas,  Major  Griffin,  149 

Noble,  Elizabeth,  m.  John  Russell, 
Greenhill,  129 

Noble,  Rev.  Mark,  vii,  17,  18,  30, 
38,  40,  44,  101,  114,  133,  185,  188, 
191,  254,  255,  265 

Norris,  Mrs.  Sidney,  258,  260 

Owen,  Dr.  John,  preacher  of  Ireton's 
funeral  sermon,  88 ;  letter  from  to 
Henry  Cromwell,  89,  105 

Oxford,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Anna  Gibson 
and  Elizabeth  Cromwell  at,  39 ; 
Henry  Ireton  educated  at,  87  ;  in- 
vestment of,  ibid. 

Oyle,  Mr.,  m.  Elizabeth  Morse,  100  ; 
issue  : 

Elizabeth  (see  Codrington),  100 

Pallavicini,  Sir  Horace,  former  hus- 
band of  Sir  Oliver  Cromwell's 
second  wife,  15 

Palmer,  C.  R.,  m.  daughter  of  Grace 
Callaghan,  155 

Parker,  Captain  John,  m.  Katherine 
Caroline  Leslie,  163 

Parker,  Reginald  A.,  m.  Caroline 
Field,  79 

Peachey,  Margaret  (v.  Russell),  m. 
Edward  Peachey,  52  ;  issue  : 

Elizabeth,  m.  Richard  Peachey 
(issue :  Richard,  William,  and 
Elizabeth,  see  Ellis),  52 

Pelham,  Lady  Anne,  daughter  of 
Frederick  Meinhardt  Frankland,  m. 
Thomas,  Lord  Pelham,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Chichester,  114,  132,  160  ; 
issue : 

Thomas,  second  Earl ;  Henrietta 
Anne  (see  Rothes),  Henry  (issue : 
Katharine  Elizabeth  Anne,  Fanny, 
see  Murray),  160,  161  ;  Frances 
(see  Midleton),  Lucy  (see  Sheffield), 
Emily,  George  (Bishop),  161 

Pelham,  Lord,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Chichester,  113,  114,  132,  160 

Pennyman,  Dorothy,  m.  James 
Worsley,  167 

Pennyman,  James  Whyte,  grandson 
of  James  Worsley,  167 

Pengelly,  Mrs.  Rachel,  mentioned 
in  the  Protector  Richard's  will, 
29 


Pengelly,  Sir  Thomas,  friend  of  the 
Protector  Richard,  28,  31 

Phillips,  Miss,  m.  Allan  Field,  78 

Pierce,  Richard,  father  of  Agnes 
Surriage,  133 

Piers,  Florence  Louisa,  daughter  of 
W.  Stapleton  Piers,  second  wife  of 
Major  Ashton  Cromwell  Warner, 
69 

Pierson,  Jane,  daughter  of  Admiral 
Sir  W.  H.  Pierson,  m.  Samuel 
Pryer  Field,  77 

Polhill,  Thomas,  of  Otford,  m.  Eliza- 
beth Ireton,  97 

Polhill,  Charles,  99 ;  twice  married, 
ibid. ;  issue  : 

(1)  Tryphena  Penelope  (issue, 
Stafford),  (2)  George  (see  below), 
Charles,  David,  Patience,  David, 
Thomas  Alfred,  99 

Polhill,  David,  M.P.,  of  Cheapstead, 
98  ;  leader  of  the  Kentish  Peti- 
tioners, ibid.;  thrice  married,  ibid.  : 
issue : 

(3)  Charles  (see  above),  Thomas, 
Henry,  John,  Elizabeth,  98 

Polhill,  George,  99  ;  issue  : 

Charles  (issue :  Beatrice  Mary, 
see  Beadnell,  Elizabeth  Mary,  see 
Dobble),  Mary  Elizabeth  Camp- 
bell, Frederick  Campbell,  George, 
Henry  Western  Onslow,  99 

Pollard,  Eliza  Smith,  daughter  of 
William  Pollard,  m.  F.  P.  Barnard, 
100 

Porteous,  Mary,  daughter  of  Robert 
Porteous,  m.  George  Polhill,  99 

Powle,  Katharine,  daughter  of  Right 
Hon.  Henry  Powle,  m.  Henry 
Ireton,  97 

Powney,  Peniston,  m.  daughter  of 
Frederick  Frankland  (issue  :  Me- 
lissa), 131 

Prescott,  Elizabeth  Oliveria,  grand- 
daughter of  Oliver  Cromwell  of 
Cheshunt,  m.  Frederick  Joseph 
Prescott,  of  Theobalds,  Herts,  67  ; 
issue  : 

Frederick  George,  Emma  Eliza- 
beth (see  Gardner),  George  Frederick 
(issue  :  Mary,  Edward,  Ernest, 
Mildred),  Charles  Andrew  (issue : 
Charlotte  Cromwell,  Charles  Cave 
Cromwell,  Oliveria  Cromwell, 
Kenneth  Loder  Cromwell),  Edward 
Barker  (issue  :  Edward  Frederick 
William),    Lucy    Esther,    Augusta 


Index. 


281 


Sophia  (see  Burn),  Henry  Warner, 
Edgar  Grote  (issue  :  Henry 
Frederick,  Edward  Barker,  Edgar 
Evelyn,  Margaret  Oliveria,  Herbert, 
Nelly  Margaret,  Isabel  Katharine), 
Oliveria  Louisa,  68 

Pryer,  Mary,  daughter  of  Charles  Pryer 
of  Titchfield,  m.  John  Field,  74 

Putney,  land  called  "Cromwell's" 
at,  3  ;  lands  held  by  Walter  Crom- 
well, 4-6 

Ramsey  Abbey  estate  granted  to  Sir 
Richard     Cromwell,     13 ;    manor- 
house  erected,  ibid.  ;  becomes  the 
property  of  Colonel  Titus,  16 
Randolph,  H.  Hammond,  264 
Rattenbury,     Hannah,      260,      261  ; 

Elizabeth,  260 
Rattenbury,  John,  will :  nephew  John 

Cromwell,  261 
Reynolds,     Reuben,     m.     Henrietta 
Maria  Cromwell   263  ;  issue  : 

Dr.    John    Cromwell    Reynolds 
and  others,  ibid. 
Reynolds,  Sir  John,  m.  Sarah  Russell, 

127 
Rhett,  Sarah,  daughter  of  the  Chief 
Justice    of     South     Carolina,     m. 
Admiral    Sir   Thomas   Frankland, 
fifth  Bart.,  138 
Rich,     Hon.     Robert,     m.     Frances 
Cromwell,  123,  125;  his  death,  126 
Ripon,    Frederick    John     Robinson, 
Viscount  Goderich  and  Earl,  172  ; 
issue  : 

George  Frederick  Samuel,  second 
Earl  (see  below)  ;  Eleanor  Hen- 
rietta Victoria,  172 
Ripon,  George  Frederick  Samuel 
Robinson,  second  Earl  and  first 
Marquis,  174;  issue: 

Frederick  Oliver,  Lord  de  Grey  ; 
Mary  Sarah,  174 
Ripon,    Henrietta   Anne   Theodosia, 

Marchioness  of,  175 
Rivett,  John,  son  of  Colonel  Rivett, 

m.  Frances  Russell,  129 
Rivett,  Mary  Joanna  Cutts,  daughter 
of    Colonel    Rivett,     m.     Charles 
Russell,  129 
Roberts,  Mrs.  Anne,  daughter  of  Jane 

Morse,  100 
Robertson,    Sarah    Anne    Catherina, 
daughter  of  Katharine  Whinyates, 
first   m.   Lieut.   James    Robertson, 
148 ;  issue  : 


James    Alexander,    Sarah    Mary 

Emily  (see  Chalmer),  148 
Robison,  Matilda,  daughter  of  Roger 

Frankland,  m.    Lieut. -Colonel  W. 

Robison,  141 
Roche,    Mary,    eldest    daughter    of 

Admiral    Sir   Thomas    Frankland, 

m.  Sir  Boyle  Roche,  Bart.,  141 
Roehampton,    lands    at    granted    to 

Walter  Cromwell,  6 
Rodney,     William     P.,     m.     Diana 

Hotham  Lubbock,  167 
Rolt,  Anne,  daughter  of  Peter  Rolt, 

m.     Clarence     Augustus     Collier, 

Rothes,  George  William  Evelyn, 
eleventh  Earl  of,  163  ;  issue  : 

George  William  Evelyn,  twelfth 
Earl ;  Henrietta  Anderson  Mors- 
head,  Countess  (see  Leslie),  164 

Rothes,  George  William  Leslie,  tenth 
Earl  of,  m.  Henrietta  Anne  Pelham, 
160 ;  issue : 

Amelia,  Mary,  163 ;  Henrietta 
Anne  (Countess),  163 ;  issue : 
George  William  Evelyn,  eleventh 
Earl,  Thomas  Jenkins,  Henrietta 
Anne  (see  Murray),  Mary  Elizabeth 
(see  Haworth),  Anna  Maria  (see 
Courtenay),  Katherine  Caroline 
(see  Parker),  163 

Roundell,  Mary,  daughter  of  Rev. 
D.  R.  Roundell,  second  wife  of 
John  Hotham,  166 

Russell,  Christian,  eldest  daughter  of 
Frances  Cromwell,  128 

Russell,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
Francis  Russell  of  Chippenham, 
m.  Henry  Cromwell,  fourth  son  of 
the  Protector,  43  ;  death,  47  ;  issue 
48  ;  letter  to  her  from  Lady  Clay- 
poole,  112 

Russell,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the 
Lord  -  Lieutenant,  m.  William 
Russell  of  Fordham,  49  ;  issue  : 

O'Brian  William,  Henry,  John, 
William,  Edward,  Thomas,  Francis 
(issue :  Thomas,  William,  Rebecca, 
see  Dyer),  Mary  (see  D'Aye),  Sarah 
(see  Wilkins),  49  ;  Mrs.  Nelson, 
Margaret  (see  Peachey),  50 

Russell,  Elizabeth,  second  daughter 
of  Frances  Cromwell,  m.  Sir 
Thomas  Frankland,  second  Bart., 
128.  130  ;  issue  : 

Thomas,  third  Bart,  (see  Frank- 
land),   William,  John,  Henry  (see 


2$2 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


Frankland),  Richard ,131;  Frederick 
Meinhardt  (see  Pelham),  Robert, 
Elizabeth  (see  Talbot),  Frances  or 
Mary  (see  Worsley),  Arabella,  132 
Russell,  Elizabeth  Oliveria,  daughter 
of  Oliver  Cromwell  of  Cheshunt, 
m.  Thomas  Artemidorus  Russell, 
64,  66  ;  the  last  of  the  Protector's 
blood,  ibid.  :  issue  : 

Elizabeth  Oliveria  (see  Prescott), 
Artemidorus  Cromwell  (issue : 
Avarilla  Oliveria  Cromwell,  see 
Bush),  Mary  Esther  (see  Armstrong 
and  Huddlestone),  John  Henry 
Cromwell  (issue  :  Eliza  Clementina 
Frances  Cromwell),  68  ;  Thomas 
Artemidorus  Cromwell  and  Thomas 
Artemidorus,  Letitia  Cromwell  (see 
Whitfield),  Charles  William  Crom- 
well, Emma  Bridget  (see  Warner), 
69 
Russell,  Gerard,  49 
Russell,  John,  third  son  of  Frances 
Cromwell,  128  ;  twice  married, 
ibid.  ;  issue  : 

(1)  Frances,  Charles  (issue:  Mary, 
John,  Mary,  Elizabeth,  see  Green- 
hill),  129 
Russell,  Rich,  second  son  of  Frances 
Cromwell,  127 ;  twice  married, 
ibid.  ;  issue : 

(1)  Mary  (see  Mills),  127 
Russell,     Sarah,     daughter    of    Sir 
Francis  Russell,  m.  Sir  John  Rey- 
nolds, 127 
Russell,  Sir  Francis,  43,  49,  125,  127 
Russell,  Sir  Francis,  sixth  Bart.,  130 
Russell,  Sir  Frederick  William  Frank- 
land  (see  Frankland) 
Russell,  Sir  George,  tenth  Bart.,  130 
Russell,  Sir  John,  eighth  Bart.,  130 
Russell,  Sir  John,  ninth  Bart.,  130 
Russell,  Sir  John,  of  Chippenham,  35, 
125;  second    husband   of  Frances 
Cromwell,  126 
Russell,      Sir      Robert      Frankland 

assumes  name  of,  156 
Russell,  Sir  Robert  Greenhill,  156 
Russell,  Sir  William,  49 
Russell,  Sir  William,  fourth  Bart.,  129 
Russell,  Sir  William,  fifth  Bart.,  129 
Russell,  Sir  William,  seventh  Bart., 

130 
Russell,  Victoria,   daughter   of    Earl 
Russell,  m.  Rev.  Henry  Montague 
Villiers,  178 


Russell,  William,  of  Fordham,  49 
Rycroft,     Mary,      daughter     of    Sir 

Richard  Rycroft,  m.  Bishop  George 

Pelham,  161 

St.  John,  Mrs.,  cousin  to  the  Pro- 
tector, 22,  23 

St.  Neot's,  estates  of  the  Priory  of 
granted  to  Sir  Richard  Cromwell, 

13 

Salmond,  James,  m.   Rachel  Marian 

Constable,  170;  issue: 
Edward,  170 
Saltrey,     estates    of    the    Priory    of 

granted  to  Sir  Richard  Cromwell,  13 
Sanford,  John  Langton,  vii,  viii 
Saunders,  Miss,    m.   Henry  Berners, 

108 
Say,  Rev.  Mr.,  41,  102,  121 
Scarth,  Katharine  Margaret,  daughter 

of  Isaac  Scarth,  m.   Sir  Frederick 

W.  Frankland  Russell,  158 
Sewster,    John,   m.    the    Protector's 

sister  Anna,  189;  issue: 

John      (issue),     Robert,      Lucy, 

Robina  (see  Lockhart),  Catharine, 

Anna,  189 
Shad  well,  F.  B.,  m.  Gertrude  Maria 

Gosset  (issue),  156 
Shaftesbury,    Earl    of,    reference    in 

Diary  of  to  the  death  of  Frederick 

Vyner,  175 
Shafto,    Eleanor,    daughter   of    Rev. 

Slingsby    Duncombe     Shafto,    m. 

Robert  Charles  Vyner,  175 
Sharpe,  Mary,  niece  of  Samuel  Rogers, 

the  poet,  first  wife  of  Edwin  Wilkins 

Field,  78 
Sheffield,    first     Earl    of,    m.     Lucy 

Polham,  161 
Shelley,  Tryphena  Penelope,  daughter 

of    Sir  John   Shelley,    of  Mitchel 

Grove,  first  wife  of  Charles  Polhill, 

99 
Sherwill,    William,   father    of    Mary 

Westby,    m.     William    Cromwell, 

"  of  Kirby  Street,"  55 
Shute,    Martha,   sister    of    the    first 

Viscount    Barrington,    m.     Henry 

Bendysh,  107 
Skelmersdale,    Edward    Bootle   Wil- 

braham,  Baron,  m.  Alice  Villiers, 

181  ;  issue  : 

Edward  George,  Villiers  Richard, 

Randle  Arthur,  Reginald   Francis, 

Alice    Maud,     Constance     Adela, 


Index. 


283 


Florence    Mary,     Bertha     Mabel, 
Edith  Cecil,  181 

Skinner,  Mary,  daughter  of  Nicholas 
Skinner,  second  wife  of  Thomas, 
seventh  son  of  Major  Henry  Crom- 
well, 61 

Slaenforth,  William,  m.  Elizabeth 
Worsley,  167 

Smelt,  Dorothy,  daughter  of  William 
Smelt,  m.  Sir  Thomas  Frankland, 
sixth  Bart.,  156 

Smith,  Abel,  m.  Susan  Emma  Pel- 
ham,  163 

Smith,  Frances,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Smith,  of  Whinston,  first  wife  of 
Fleetwood,  92 

Smith,  Frances  Katherine,  daughter 
of  Francis  Smith,  m.  Alfred  Bar- 
nard, 100 

Smith,  Katharine,  of  Colskirk,  m. 
Thomas  Bendysh,  107 

Smith,  Virginia  Katharine,  daughter 
of  Eric  Carrington  Smith,  m. 
Francis  Hyde  Villiers,  181 

Smith,  William,  uncle  of  Walter 
Cromwell,  5 

Snelling,  William  Henry,  of  the 
Admiralty,  m.  Katharine  Anne 
Russell  Field,  76 

Spence,  Miss,  m.  Henry  Field 
Wilkins,  80 

Spinney  Abbey,  death  of  Henry 
Cromwell,  Lord-Lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  at,  19,  44  ;  his  children 
born  there,  48 ;  sold  by  Major 
Henry  Cromwell,  54  ;  55 

Squire's  Mount,  Hampstead,  family 
residence  of  the  Fields,  85 

Stacey,  Mrs.,  of  Oswego,  263 

Stafford,      George,      m.      Tryphena 
Penelope  Polhill,  99  ;  issue  : 
Charles,  Thomas  George,  99 

Stanley,  Frederick  Arthur,  son  of 
Edward,  fourteenth  Earl  of  Derby, 
m.  Constance  Villiers,  181  ; 
issue  : 

Edward  George  Villiers,  Victor 
Albert,  Geoffrey,  Arthur,  Ferdi- 
nand Charles,  Katharine  Mary, 
and  others,  181 

Steward,  Elizabeth,  of  Ely,  mother  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  19 

Steward,  Sir  Thomas,  maternal  uncle 
to  Oliver  Cromwell,  18 

Stott,  Ann,  daughter  of  Samuel  Stott, 
m.  Thomas  Barnard,  100 


Streatfeild,  Martha,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Streatfeild,  of  Sevenoaks, 
m.  Charles  Polhill,  98 

Strickland,  Sir  George,  seventh  Bart., 
m.  Mary  Constable,  170  ;  issue  : 

Charles  William,  eighth  Bart., 
twice  married  (issue:  (1)  Walter 
William ;  (2)  Frederick,  Eustace 
Edward,  Henry,  Esther  Anne), 
171  ;  Frederick,  170  ;  Henry 
Strickland  {see  Constable),  Lucy 
Henrietta  {see  Marriott),  171 

Sunman,  Mary  Russell  [v.  Addison), 

m.  Robert  Sunman,  50  ;  issue  : 

Mary  Addison,  Robert,  50 

Surriage,  Agnes,  the  celebrated  beauty, 
133  ;  her  connection  with  Sir 
Charles  Henry  Frankland,  fourth 
Bart.,  ibid.;  in  earthquake  at 
Lisbon,  135  ;  marriages,  136,  137  ; 
death,  137 

Sutton,  Mrs.  Ellenor,  daughter  of 
Charlotte  Nicholas,  154 

Sykes,  Lucy  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Christopher  Sykes,  m.  Charles 
Hotham,  166 

Talbot,  Elizabeth  (v.  Russell),  daughter 
of  Sir  Thomas  Frankland,  m.  Roger 
Talbot,  132  ;  issue  : 

Arabella  or  Elizabeth  {see  Gee), 
164 

Tattershall  Castle,  near  Boston,  Lin- 
colnshire, 1 

Tatton,  Henrietta,  daughter  of  Thomas 
William  Tatton,  m.  Bishop  John 
Thomas  Pelham,  162 

Temple,  Hon.  Frances,  sister  of  Lord 
Palmerston,  m.  Admiral  Sir  William 
Bowles,  144 

Tennant,  Charles,  m.  Gertrude  Bar- 
bara Rich  Collier,  154 

Thomas,  Inigo  Freeman,  m.  Frances 
Anne,  daughter  of  fourth  Viscount 
Midleton,  161 

Thomas,  Ralph,  solicitor,  m.  Letitia 
Eliza  Field,  76 

Thompson,  Maria,  daughter  of  Henry 
Thompson,  first  wife  of  John  Ho- 
tham, 166 

Thurlbone,  Joanna,  of  The  Chequers, 
Bucks,  second  wife  of  John  Russell, 
128 

Thurloe,  30,  91,  117,  123,  218 

Tidman,  Frances,  daughter  of  John 
Tidman,    first    wife    of   Thomas, 


284 


The  House  of  Cromwell. 


seventh  son  of  Major  Henry  Crom- 
well, 61 

Tillotson,  Archbishop,  107  ;  second 
husband  of  the  Protector's  sister 
Robina,  190  ;  issue  : 

A  son,  Elizabeth,  Mary  (see  Chad- 
wick),  190 

Tilsley,  George,  of  Chipping  Norton, 
m.  Harriet  Wilkins,  80 

Todd,  Elizabeth,  259,  261 

Topham,  Diana,  daughter  of  Francis 
Topham,  first  wife  of  Sir  Thomas 
Frankland,  third  Bart.,  132 

Trahearn,  Elizabeth,  260 

Trevor,  Elizabeth,  first  wife  of  David 
Polhill,  98 

Usborne,  Edith  Alice,  daughter  of 
Thomas  M.  Usborne,  m.  Ralph 
William  Gallwey,  157 

Vacher,  Major  F.  S.,  m.  Eliza  Hen- 
rietta Augusta  Frankland,  159 

Vansittart,  Henry,  Governor  of  Bengal, 
101 

Vidal,  Mary  Mabel,  m.  Edward  Frank- 
land  Gosset,  156 

Villiers,  George,  son  of  Thomas,  Earl 
of  Clarendon,  m.  Theresa,  daughter 
of  first  Baron  Boringdon,  176 ; 
issue  : 

George  William  Frederick,  fourth 
Earl  of  Clarendon  (see  Clarendon), 
Thomas  Hyde,  Right  Hon.  Charles 
Pelham  Villiers,  Chairman  of  the 
Anti-Corn  Law  League,  176  ;  Ed- 
ward Ernest  (issue  :  Ernest,  Maria 
Theresa,  see  Earl,  Edith,  see  Bulwer- 
Lytton,  Elizabeth),  Henry  Mon- 
tague, see  below,  177 ;  Augustus 
Algernon,  Maria  Theresa  (see  Lister 
and  Lewis),  178 

Villiers,  Flenry  Montague,  Bishop, 
177  ;  issue : 

Henry  Montague  (issue :  Henry 
Montague,  John  Russell,  Thomas 
Lister,  another  son,  Frances  Ade- 
laide, Gwendolen  Mary,  Rhoda 
Victoria,  Margaret  Evelyn,  Dorothy, 
Mabel  Agatha,  Katharine  Helen), 
177,  178  ;  Frederick  Ernest,  Amy 
Maria  (see  Cheese),  Gertrude  Fanny, 
Mary  Agneta,  Evelyn  Theresa,  178 

Vyner,  Captain  Henry,  m.  Mary 
Gertrude,  daughter  of  Earl  de 
Grey,  174  ;    ssue  : 


Henry  Frederick,  Reginald  Ar- 
thur, Robert  Charles  (issue  :  Mary 
Evelyn,  see  Compton,  Violet  Aline, 
see  Loughborough)  ;  Frederick 
Grantham,  Henrietta  Anne  Theo- 
dosia,  Marchioness  of  Ripon,  175  ; 
Theodosia,  Marchioness  of  North- 
ampton, 176 

Walsingham,  Thomas  de  Grey,  fifth 
Baron,  m.  Augusta  Louisa  Frank- 
land,  156  ;  issue  : 

Thomas,  sixth  Baron,  156 

Walter,  Louisa,  m.  William  Matthew 
Gosset,  154 

Wandsworth,  fulling  mill  in,  leased 
to  John  Cromwell,  of  Norwell,  2,  3 

Warner,  Emma  Bridget  (v.  Russell  of 
Cheshunt),  m.  Captain  Richard 
Warner,  69  ;  issue  : 

Ashton  Cromwell,  twice  married 
(issue :  (1)  Ashton  Darell  Crom- 
well ;  (2)  Bridget  Nora  Cromwell, 
Lionel  Ashton  Piers,  Maijorie  Ellin, 
Esther  Hastings),  69  ;  Richard  Ed- 
ward (issue  :  Constance  Emma 
Cromwell,  Leonard  Ottley,  Mary 
Challoner,  Basil  Hall,  Richard 
Cromwell,  Lawrence  Dundas, 
Wynyard  Alexander,  Marmaduke), 
Wynyard  Huddleston,  70 

Warren,  Joan,  daughter  of  Sir  Ralph 
Warren,  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
m.  Sir  Henry  Cromwell,  14 

Warton,  Caroline,  daughter  of  Sir 
Warton  Penyman  Warton,  m. 
Roger  Gee,  164 

Watt,  Caroline,  daughter  of  Richard 
Watt,  first  wife  of  George  Hotham, 
165 

Wauton,  Colonel  Valentine,  m.  (first 
wife)  Margaret,  sister  of  the  Pro- 
tector, 23,  188,  189  ;  issue: 

George,  Valentine,  George, 
Robert,  Anna,  Ralph  (?),  189 

Waylen,  James,  v 

Webb,  Harriet  Lavinia,  daughter  of 
Rev.  R.  Holden  Webb,  m.  Arthur 
Wellesley  Gosset,  155 

Webber,  Rev.  G.  H.,  m.  Frances 
Worsley,  168 

Westby,  Mary,  widow  of  Thomas 
Westby,  of  Linton,  m.  William 
Cromwell  "  of  Kirby  Street,"  55 

Westenra,  Hon.  Norah,  m.  Gilbert 
Stirling  Chalmer,  148 


Index. 


285 


Westminster,  *'  Lorde  Crurmvell  "  of, 
1 

Westminster  Abbey,  38,  88,  109,  220, 
221 

Weston,  Elizabeth,  m.  Henry  Berners, 
108 

Whalley,  Sarah  Marianne,  m.  General 
Frederick  William  Whinyates, 
R.E.,  147 

Whinyates,  Katharine,  sixth  daughter 
of  Admiral  Sir  Thomas  Frankland, 
m.  Major  Thomas  Whinyates,  145; 
issue : 

Thomas,  Admiral,  145  ;  Russell 
Manners  Mertolu,  Edward  Charles, 
General,  K.C.B.,  K.H.,  146; 
George  Burrington,  Frederick  Wil- 
liam, General,  R.E.  (issue:  Har- 
riet, Emily  Marianne,  Frederick 
Thomas,  Edward  Henry,  Francis 
Arthur,  Albert  William  Orme,  Amy 
Octavia,  Charles  Elidon),  Francis 
Frankland,  General,  147 ;  Sarah 
Anne  Catherina  (see  Robertson  and 
Younghusband),  Amy,  Rachel, 
Ellen  Margaret,  Isabella  Jane, 
Mercy,  Caroline  Charlotte,  Octavia, 
Letitia,  145 

Whitbread,  Samuel,  m.  Isabel  Char- 
lotte Pelham,  163  ;  issue  : 

Maud  (m.  Charles  Whitbread), 
163 

White,  Jeremiah,  chaplain  to  the 
Protector  Oliver,  35,  57,  123-125 

White,  Christina,  daughter  of  Edward 
White  of  Glasgow,  m.  Horace 
Field,  79 

Whitehall,  37,  49,  57,  ill 

Whitfield,  Letitia  Cromwell  (v.  Rus- 
sell  of    Cheshunt),    m.    Frederick 
Whitfield,  M.D.,  69  ;  issue  : 
Amy,  Elizabeth  (?),  69 

Whitstone,  Roger,  first  husband  of 
the  Protector's  sister  Catharine, 
186 

Wilkins,  Dr.  John,  34,  35,  m.  the 
Protector's  sister  Robina,  190 

Wilkins,  Mary,  daughter  of  William 
Wilkins,  Baptist  minister,  m.  Wil- 
liam Field,  78 

Wilkins,  Mrs.  Robina,  113  {see  Crom- 
well, Robina) 

Wilkins,  Sarah  (v.  Russell),  m.  Mar- 
tin Wilkins  of  Soham,  49,  52 

Wilkins,  Rev.  William,  m.  as  second 
wife  Letitia  Field,  80  ;  issue  : 


William,     Letitia    (issue,    Ken- 
dall), Henry  Field,  Harriet,  80 
Williams  resumed  as  family  name  by 
the  elder  branch  of  the  Cromwells, 

IS 

Williams,  Clara,  daughter  of  H.  Wil- 
liams, m.  Augustus  Charles  Frank- 
land,  141 

Williams,  John,  father  of  Morgan,  8 

Williams,  John,  son  of  above,  a  Yeo- 
man of  the  Crown,  8 

Williams,  Morgan,  m.  Katharine 
Cromwell,  8 

Williams,  Richard,  son  of  Katharine 
Cromwell,  8 ;  knighted  and  assumes 
name  of  Cromwell,  9  {see  Crom- 
well, Sir  Richard) 

Wills  and  Registers  containing  names 
of  Cromwells,  191 -196 

Wilson,  Rachel,  m.  Vincent  Crom- 
well, 263 

Wimbledon,  Court  Rolls  of  the  Manor 
of,  2 

Wimbledon,  John  Cromwell  buried 
at>  3  j  Walter  Cromwell  dies  at,  7 

Wolverton,  Charlotte,  daughter  of 
Charles  Wolverton  of  Great  Yar- 
mouth, m.  William  Oliver  Crom- 
well Addison,  5 1 

Woolgrish  or  Woolghist,  Venetia,  m. 
Thomas  Cromwell  of  Huntingdon- 
shire, 262 

Worsley,  Frances  or  Mary  (v.  Russell), 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Frankland, 
m.  Thomas  Worsley,  132  ;  issue  : 

Thomas  (issue  :  Edward,  George, 
see  below,  and  others),  168  ;  James 
(issue :  James,  Ralph,  Richard, 
Dorothy),  167 ;  Mary  {see  Constable), 
Elizabeth  {see  Slaenforth),  Katha- 
rine, Frances  {see  Grantham),  167 

Worsley,  George,  168  ;  issue  : 

George,  Edward,  William  {see 
below),  Marcus  (issue),  Thomas, 
Frederick  Cayley,  Septimus  Launce- 
lot,  Henry  Francis  (issue),  Charles 
Valentine,  Arthur,  Digby  Edmund, 
Isabella  {see  Blackden),  Philadelphia 
(see  Coltman),  Anne,  Frances  (see 
Webber),  ibid. 

Worsley,  William,  168  ;  issue  : 

Thomas  Robinson,  William  Cay- 
ley, Sophia  Harriet,  Arthington, 
Katherine  Louisa,  Anna  Barbara, 
ibid. 

Worthington,  William,  261 


286 


The  Hotise  of  Cromwell. 


Wrangham,  Philadelphia  Frances 
Esther,  daughter  of  Archdeacon 
Wrangham,  m.  Edward  William 
Barnard,  165 

Yeoman,  Mary  Jametta  Hale,  daugh- 
ter of  Major  Constantine  Yeoman, 
m.  Richard  Edward  Warner,  70 


Yorke,    Mary    Jemima,   daughter    of 

Philip,  second  Earl  Hardwicke,  m. 

Thomas,  second  Baron  Grantham, 

172 
Younghusband,       Captain       Robert, 

second    husband    of    Sarah    Anne 

Catherine  Whinyates,  148 


Elliot  Stock,  62,  Paternoster  Row,  London,  E.C. 


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Field-Marshal  the  Right  Hon.  Viscount  WOLSELEY,  K.P.,  G.C.B. 

"  This  is  indeed  a  truly  interesting  character.  The  leather  cover,  the  singular  bookbinder's 
stitch,  the  rough  paper,  the  old  world  spelling,  and  witbal  we  are  seemingly  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  man  and  his  sturdy  soldiers  who  did  so  much  for  England.  '  The  Soldier's  Pocket  Bible  ' 
is  to  us  one  of  the  unfading  leaves  in  the  wreath  of  the  uncrowned  king.  Viscount  Wolseley's 
Preface  and  the  Introduction  add  much  to  the  value  of  this  reproduction  of  one  of  the  most 
speaking  relics  of  the  Cromwellian  age." — Baptist  Messenger. 

ELLIOT  STOCK,  62,  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON,  E.C. 


In  demy  Svo.,  cloth,  price  \$s.  net  [subscribers  only). 

The  Note- Book  of  Tristram  Risdon 

(Author  of  the  Survey  of  the  County  of  Devon).      1603-1623. 

Transcribed  and  edited  from  the  original  Manuscript  in  the  Library  of  the  Dean 

and  Chapter  of  Exeter. 

By  JAMES  DALLAS,  F.L.S., 

Local  Secretary  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London  ;  Corresponding  Member  of  the  British  Archaeological 
Association  ;  Fellow  of  the  Anthropological  Institute, 

AND 

HENRY  G.  PORTER  (late  R.N.). 
hi  crown  ^to. ,  printed  in  old  face  type,  and  handsomely  bound,  price  10s.  6d. 

Hereward,  the  Saxon  Patriot : 

Jt  distort!  of  his  gptfc  artb  Character,  toith  a  gjlccorb  of  his  Qtucstots  anb 

gksccrtbartis. 

By  Lieut. -General  HARWARD. 
In  fcap.  folio,  paper  cover,  price  zs.  6d. 

First  Steps  in  a  Pedigree 

And  Family  Record. 

By  SPENCER  A.  WOOLWARD,  Vicar  of  Totternhoe,  Dunstable. 

In  two  handsome  volumes,  demy  8vo.,  tastefully  printed,  and  bound  in  Roxburgh.     250 
copies  only  ;  price  to  Subscribers,  ^3  135.  6d.     Each  copy  is  numbered  and  signed. 

Boyne's  Trade  Tokens, 

Issued  in  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  by  Corpora- 
tions, Tradesmen,  and  Merchants.  A  New  and  greatly  Augmented  Edition,  with 
Notes  of  Family,  Heraldic,  and  Topographical  Interest  respecting  the  various 
Issuers  of  the  Tokens,  and  connecting  them  with  Important  Families  of  the  Present 
Day.  Illustrated  with  Engravings  and  Plates. 
Edited  by  G.  C.  WILLIAMSON. 

Tastefully  printed  on  antique  paper,  in  8vo.  size,  and  appropriately  bound,  price  ys.  6d. 


Medieval    Lore  ; 


AN  EPITOME  of  the  SCIENCE,  GEOGRAPHY,  ANIMAL,  and  PLANT 
FOLK-LORE,  and  MYTH  of  the  MIDDLE  AGE.  Being  CLASSIFIED 
GLEANINGS  from  theENCYCLOP^EDIA  of  BARTHOLOMEW  ANGLICUS 
on  the  "  PROPERTIES  OF  THINGS."  Edited  by  ROBERT  STEEL.  With 
a  Preface  by  William  Morris,  Author  of  "  The  Earthly  Paradise,"  etc. 

"  Illustrates  one  of  the  best  methods  of  making  us  realise  the  life  and  thought  of  a  long-past 
epoch.  The  extracts  given  are  delightful.  Even  ordinary  readers  will  find  a  quaint  charm  in  the 
way  legend,  folk-lore,  and  actual  knowledge  are  mixed  up  in  Bartholomew's  descriptions."  — 
Book  man. 

ELLIOT  STOCK,  62,  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON,  E.C.