Cromwell, Henry

b. 1628; d. 1674

English Parliamentarian, son of Oliver Cromwell, the Protector, under whom he served towards the end of the Civil War. He went to Ireland as a colonel in 1650, and in 1653 he was one of the Irish representatives in the Little (Barebones) Parliament. He was made lord-deputy of Ireland in 1657, and his relatively moderate policy seems to have made him popular. After his brother, Richard, fell from power he returned to England (1659), retiring into private life. Henry was easily the more competent of Cromwell's sons, but appears to have had little public ambition, although he discharged the duties he was given with ability.

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