| Son of the great Protector, Oliver Cromwell, succeeded his father as lord protector, but, lacking the governing faculty, he remained in office for a few months only. He quietly acquiesced in the Restoration, and took up his residence at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, where he lived, “peaceful andforgotten, to the advanced age of 86.” Oliver Cromwell’s Welsh descent does not admit of any doubt. He was descended from Morgan Williams, a Glamorganshire Welshman, who married the sister of Thomas Cromwell, the minister of Henry VIII. His son, Richard Williams, adopted his mother’s maiden surname, though he subscribed himself “Cromwell alias Williams.” Oliver Cromwell himself occasionally used the name Williams concurrently with that of Cromwell, and it appeared in his marriage settlement, and even in the inscription on his bed when his effigy lay in state. After the Restoration of Charles II. Some members of the Cromwell family resumed the name of Williams. (John Morley’s Oliver Cromwell ; Harmsworth ; Imp. Diet.Biog. See Life of Oliver Cromwell and his sons, Richard and Henry, 1820 ; Waylon’s House of Cromwell, 1880 ; Y Geninen, 1899, p. 233 ; Memoirs of the Protectorate House of Cromwell, M. Noble, 1784, which traces the Welsh origin of the family. |
