Henry Cromwell

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Cromwell, Henry (1628–74). Younger son of Oliver Cromwell, he governed Ireland between 1655 and 1659 as, successively, president of the council, lord deputy, and lord lieutenant. His objective was stable, civilian government. He culled the Baptist military clique, despite the continuance of their supporters on the Irish council and, until 1657, of Fleetwood as lord deputy. Civilian authority was re‐established: the Four Courts, commissions of peace, and municipal government were restored, as revenue commissioners and army officers lost their judicial powers. Having tamed the Baptists and kept the Quakers under control, Cromwell turned for support to more conservative Protestants, such as the Ulster Presbyterians and Edward Worth's Cork Association. He continued the policies of transportation and transplantation but in a less dogmatic fashion than Fleetwood. The Old Protestants certainly benefited, mainly due to his increasing reliance on them to counter the animosity of well‐connected Baptists in Ireland and England. His basic policies were perforce reactionary, because he needed to boost the Irish economy in the absence of adequate funding from the cash‐strapped protectorate. The Restoration settlement allowed him to retain his Irish lands in lieu of army arrears.

Hiram Morgan

Cromwell, Henry (1628–74). Oliver's fourth son. Captain of horse at 19, he rose to command his own cavalry regiment in his father's expeditionary force to Ireland in 1650. He stayed on there, returning to sit for Ireland in Barebone's Parliament. On becoming protector, Oliver sent him back there to investigate the loyalty of the army, whose commander he became. Charles Fleetwood, the lord deputy, returned home, and Henry inherited his authority, though not until 1657 his title. His rule was bedevilled by constant friction with a well-entrenched ‘anabaptist’ faction, which his thin-skinned, slightly paranoid nature made him too prickly in handling. But he showed real ability in a very difficult task, and gave every support in 1658–9 to his brother Richard Cromwell, who promoted him to lord-lieutenant and governor-general. Thanks to his fairness to Irish royalists, which Ormond and Clarendon attested, he survived the Restoration to live quietly in Cambridgeshire until his early death.

Austin Woolrych