Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Born into the middle gentry, albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell, Cromwell was relatively obscure for the first 40 years of his life. After undergoing a religious conversion in the 1630s, he became an independent puritan, taking a generally tolerant view towards the many Protestant sects of his period. An intensely religious man—a self-styled Puritan Moses—he fervently believed that God was guiding his victories. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short (1640) and Long (1640–49) Parliaments. He entered the English Civil War on the side of the "Roundheads" or Parliamentarians. Nicknamed "Old Ironsides", he was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to become one of the principal commanders of the New Model Army, playing an important role in the defeat of the royalist forces.

Oliver Cromwell (American soldier)

Oliver Cromwell (May 24, 1752 – January 1853) was an African-American soldier, who served in the American Revolutionary War. He was born a free black in Black Horse (now the Columbus section of Mansfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey), and was raised as a farmer.

War service

Private Cromwell served in several companies of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment between 1777 and 1783, seeing action at the battles of Trenton (1776), Princeton (1777), Brandywine (1777), Monmouth (1778), and at the final siege of Yorktown (1781).

After Yorktown, Cromwell left the army. Commander-in-Chief George Washington personally signed Cromwell's discharge papers and also designed the Badge of Military Merit, which he awarded to Cromwell.

Some years after retirement, Cromwell applied for a veteran's pension. Although he was unable to read or write, local lawyers, judges and politicians came to his aid, and he was granted a pension of $96 a year. He purchased a 100-acre farm outside Burlington, fathered 14 children, then spent his later years at his home at 114 East Union Street in Burlington.

Oliver Cromwell (disambiguation)

Oliver Cromwell was the Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland after the execution of King Charles I.

Oliver Cromwell may also refer to:

See also

Oliver Cromwell (song)

"Oliver Cromwell"" is a song released by Monty Python in 1989, and featured in their 1991 album Monty Python Sings. John Cleese, who wrote the lyric, originally debuted the song on February 2, 1969 in the radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, where it was introduced as "The Ballad of Oliver Cromwell". It is sung to Frédéric Chopin's Heroic Polonaise, and documents the career of British statesman Oliver Cromwell, from his service as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon to his installation as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England. The main lyrics are performed by John Cleese, accompanied by a small chorus comprising Eric Idle and other singers.

"Oliver Cromwell" is sung to the first ("A") section of the Polonaise, including the well-known main theme; it does not use the "B" section. The piano introduction is accompanied by a spoken-word introduction, setting a tone of macabre humour ("The most interesting thing about King Charles the First is that he was five foot six inches tall at the start of his reign, but only four foot eight inches tall at the end of it"), as are the subsequent connecting passages. All three instances of the main theme are given a tutti chorus followed by a recounting of the battles and other events of the period; sound effects are added, mostly sounds of battle and of horses. To the interlude is set King Charles I's trial and execution, with rubato adding atmosphere; the only sound effect is implied to be that of Charles's head falling (followed by a solitary giggle from Cromwell).

Oliver Cromwell (died 1655)

Sir Oliver Cromwell (c. 1566–1655) was an English landowner, lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1625. He was the uncle of Oliver Cromwell, the Member of Parliament, general, and Lord Protector of England.

Biography

Cromwell was the heir of Sir Henry Williams alias Cromwell of Hinchingbrooke and his wife Joan, daughter of Sir Ralph Warren, Lord Mayor of London. He matriculated from Queens' College, Cambridge at Lent 1579 and was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on 12 May 1582. He lived at Godmanchester until the death of his father.

Cromwell held a number of local offices: In 1585 he was captain of musters for Huntingdonshire and at the time of the Spanish Armada he was in charge of the men raised in Huntingdonshire. He was recorder of Huntingdon in 1596. He was Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire from 1598 to 1599 and while Sheriff, in 1598, Queen Elizabeth my have dubbed him a knight bachelor.

He was JP from about 1585 but was removed in 1587, when there was one of the periodic purges of justices. In 1594 he was restored to his position as J.P.; as the online History of Parliament observes: "It was felt that in a county as small as Huntingdonshire, the custom by which only one member of a family could be a justice was inapplicable — particularly in the case of the owners of Hinchingbrooke."