| Education* | He was educated at Cambridge;
Adm. Fell.-Com. at SIDNEY, Apr. 23, 1616. 2nd s. of Robert (1578-9),
of Huntingdon. B. there, Apr. 25, 1599. School, Huntingdon. (‘Hic fuit
grandis ille impostor, carnifex perditissimus, qui pientissimo rege Carlo
1º nefaria coede sublato, ipsum usurpavit thronum et tria regna per 5
ferme annorum spatium, sub protectoris nomine indomita tyrannide
vexavit’: Royalist interpolation in the register.) Left College, on his
father's death, in 1617. Married, at St Giles', Cripplegate, Aug. 22, 1620,
Elizabeth, dau. of Sir James Bourchier. Settled on the paternal estate at
Huntingdon. M.P. for Huntingdon, 1628-9; for Cambridge, 1640, and
1640-53. D.C.L. (Oxford) 1649. Chancellor of Oxford, 1650-7. Lord Protector,
1653-8. Died at Whitehall, Sept. 3, 1658. Father of the next,
Henry (1644) and Richard. (D.N.B.).
|
| Marriage* | He married Elizabeth BOURCHIER, daughter of Sir James BOURCHIER and Frances CRANE, on 22 August 1620 at St Giles Cripplegate;
In August 1620, just a few months after his twenty-first birthday,
Oliver Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier at St Giles’s church in
Cripplegate, London. Elizabeth had been born in 1598, the eldest
of twelve children (nine sons and three daughters) of Sir James
Bourchier and his wife Frances, who was a daughter of Thomas
Crane of Newton Tony, Wiltshire. Sir James, an only son, had
inherited land and property from his father, and seems himself to have
been a successful and prosperous businessman in London, reportedly
involved in the fur and leather trades. He owned property both in the
City of London, especially around Tower Hill, and in Essex, especially
Little Stambridge Hall. He had been knighted by James I in July 1603.
The Bourchier family from which Elizabeth sprang does not seem to
have been connected with the noble families of that name, including
the late medieval Bourchier Earls of Essex; nor, as far as we can tell,
was Elizabeth related to the Sir William Bourchier who married Cromwell’s
relative Katherine/Catherine Barrington and who fathered the regicide
Sir John Bourchier. We know virtually nothing about Elizabeth’s childhood
and upbringing, though she must have received some sort of education
as she evidently was literate.
|
| Misc* | Oliver CROMWELL wrote on 3 May 1651:
Letter to his wife, Elizabeth
Edinburgh, 3d May 1651.
My Dearest,
I could not satisfy myself to omit this post, although I
have not much to write; yet indeed I love to write to
my dear, who is very much in my heart. It joys me to
hear thy soul prospereth: the Lord increase His favours
to thee more and more. The great good they soul can
wish is, That the Lord lift upon thee the light of His
countenance, which is better than life. The Lord bless
all thy good counsel and example to all those about thee,
and hear all thy prayers, and accept thee always.
I am glad to hear thy son and daughter are with thee.
I hope thou wilt have some good opportunity of good
advice to him. Present my duty to my Mother, my love
to all the family.
Still pray for,
thine,
Oliver Cromwell.
|