Cromwell, Bridget (1624–c. 1660)
Cromwell, Bridget (1624–c. 1660)
Daughter of English soldier and Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. Name variations: Bridget Fleetwood. Baptized on August 5, 1624, in Huntingdon, England; died soon after the Restoration (1660), date of death unknown; daughter of Oliver Cromwell and Eliza-beth (Bourchier) Cromwell ; sister of Mary, Countess of Falconberg (1636–1712); married General Henry Ireton (1611–1651); married Charles Fleetwood, (c. 1618–1692), on June 8, 1652; children: (first marriage)Bridget Bendish (c. 1650–1726); Jane Ireton; Elizabeth Ireton; (second marriage) Anne (died young), possibly others who also died young.
Bendish, Bridget (c. 1650–1726)
English celebrity. Born Bridget Ireton about 1650; died in 1726; daughter of General Henry Ireton (1611–1651) and Bridget Cromwell (daughter of Oliver Cromwell); granddaughter of Oliver Cromwell.
Bridget Bendish was mostly famed for her physical resemblance to her grandfather Oliver Cromwell.
Bridget Cromwell was the eldest daughter of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1653 to 1658, during the Commonwealth. At age 22, Bridget married Henry Ireton, a soldier and her father's loyal supporter. Ireton was killed in 1652, a victim of Irish warfare, and shortly thereafter Bridget married Charles Fleetwood, who helped Cromwell govern England from 1655 to 1657. Upon Oliver Cromwell's death, Fleetwood initially supported Richard Cromwell (the son of Oliver, who was named Protector after his father's death), but later joined a group of officers, including Richard's brother Henry, who deposed him. Bridget was often torn in her loyalties between her husband and her brothers. Although she stood staunchly by her husband, she agonized over the rift between Richard and Henry. In one of many letters to Henry, she wrote: "I am very unfit and unapt to write, and yet I would not altogether neglect to stir up the affection which ought to be betwixt so near relations, and is very apt to decay. I blame none but myself."
sources:
Wolfe, Don M. Milton and His England. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971.