General Notes

[Sharen Neal]

b. 1562, Hinchinbrooke, Englandd. 8/28/1658, Ramsey, England wife may have been Elizabeth Bouchier.  Uncle Of  "lord protector" Oliver Cromwell

Oliver CROMWELL (Sir Knight)

Born: ABT 1550 / 1562, Hunchenbrook, England

Died: 28 Aug 1655, England

Buried: Romsey, England

Notes: He was sheriff for county Hants. and Cambridge. Oliver was knighted by Queen Elizabet h 1598. He was uncle and god-father to famed Oliver, Lord Protector .Oliver was most popula r and beloved. He received vast wealth from his uncle Richard Warren , but dissipated the mon ey and sold his estates to pay his debts. Oliver was a knight of the Bath. The King stayed ma ny times at his home in 1603, 05, 16, 17 and possibly many others on his way north to hunt. O liver was created Knight of the Bath. He was a member of the House of Commons, Queen Anne ' s attorney in 1604. Oliver sold Hunchenbrook. He was a subscriber toward Virginia.

He captured between three and four hundred Scottish prisoners, at the battles of Dunbar and W orcester. These Cromwell transported to New England to be sold as slaves. He had defeated th e Royalists in England and beheaded the King in 1649. Then he proceeded to the conquest of Ir eland.

Did he have a son Thomas , who was related to Giles , perhaps a brother? Debug. Giles objecte d to the will of Thomas .Rev. John Wheelwright graduated with Oliver and intimate friend retu rned to England when Oliver (another) was Protector on behalf of colonists then run to Gasbur y where he died

Father: Henry (Williams) CROMWELL (Sir Knight)

Mother: Joan WARREN

Married 1: Elizabeth Bromley (dau. of Thomas Bromley and Elizabeth Fortescue )

Children:

1. Henry CROMWELL
2. Thomas CROMWELL
3. John CROMWELL of Upwood
4. William CROMWELL
5. Elizabeth CROMWELL
6. Catherine CROMWELL
7. Joan CROMWELL
8. Jane CROMWELL
9. Oliver CROMWELL

Married 2: Anne HOOFTMAN (1565 - d. 28 Apr 1624 in Hunchenbrook, England) (dau. of Egidius H ooftman - widow of Sir Horatio Palavicini, Knight , a noble genoese of Baberham ) 07 Jul 1601

Children:
10. Giles CROMWELL
11. Anna CROMWELL (b. 1603 - d. 13 Apr 1663, Great Stoughton)
12. Mary CROMWELL

Sir Henry Cromwell's eldest two sons - Oliver and Robert (father of the great Oliver Cromwell ) both matriculated at Queens' early in 1579 (a year before their cousin Henry). A third son , yet another Henry, went to St John's College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow. He served a s MP for Huntingdonshire and was one of the gentlemen adventurers who financed the colonisati on and planting of Virginia. The next brother, Richard, was also an MP during the reign of El izabeth I. The fifth brother, Philip Cromwell, followed Henry to St John's, Oxford, and was k nighted by James I. The fate of his sons, all first cousins of the Protector, illustrates th e terrible divisions in families caused by the Civil War. The eldest surviving son, Philip Cr omwell, was a Major in the Parliamentary Army. He died of wounds sustained in the storming o f Bristol. The next son, Thomas, was a Colonel in the opposing Royalist Army. The third son , Oliver, was an MP and also a Colonel in the Parliamentary Army. Sir Philip's youngest son R ichard wisely kept out of the military and at the Restoration rapidly changed his name back t o Williams.

Sir Oliver Cromwell, the famous Oliver's uncle, was also his godfather. He was a long-servin g MP for Huntingdonshire in the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I over at least 3 6 years and inevitably Sheriff of Hunts and Cambs. He is best remembered for his extraordinar ily lavish entertainment of James I at Hinchinbrook House on the King's progress south from S cotland on his accession to the English throne in 1603. He was rewarded with a gold cup, som e choice horses, hounds and hawks and a Knighthood of the Bath. It was to Hinchinbrook that t he representatives of Cambridge University came to pay their respects to the new King. Jame s I returned to stay with Sir Oliver on at least three more occasions, as probably did Charle s I. Sir Oliver was briefly Attorney to Queen Anne of Denmark, a Commissioner for draining th e Fens and also subscribed to the Virginia venture. However, his extravagance was his undoing . In 1627 he was forced to sell Hinchinbrook House to Sir Sidney Montagu. He withdrew from pu blic service, sold most of the rest of his estates and retired to Ramsey. At the outbreak o f the Civil War he supported the Royalist cause with all the resources at his disposal. He ra ised men, gave money, obliged his sons to take up arms and incurred the ire of Parliament. Th ey sent his nephew, Oliver, with a troop of horse to remonstrate. Oliver disarmed the old kni ght, seized his plate, but also asked for his godfatherly blessing. Nevertheless, old Sir Oli ver persisted in his support of the Royalists, even as their cause waned. This time, the youn ger Oliver threatened to burn down Ramsey. He parleyed with his uncle on the town bridge an d extracted a fine of ?1,000 and 40 saddle horses. Sir Oliver was unrepentant, supporting th e Royalist cause to the end. Parliament voted to sequester all his estates, but, through th e intervention of his nephew, by now Lieutenant-General of Ireland, the order was reversed. T he old man made no attempt to court favour with the Protector and insisted that the flags tak en by his sons from Parliamentary forces remain hanging in Ramsey church. He died oppressed w ith his debts in August 1655 aged 92. He was remembered for his prodigious hospitality, his l oyalty to the Crown, his upright dealings and his vivacity, but also for dissipating his prop erty and impoverishing his family.

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