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Henry Cromwell-Williams (22 June 1625 – 3 August 1673) of Bodsey House, Huntingdonshire was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1654 and 1673.
Cromwell-Williams was born as Cromwell, the son of Henry Cromwell (1586–1657) of Ramsey, Huntingdonshire. He matriculated from Magdalene College, Cambridge.[1] He succeeded to his father's Ramsey estate in 1657 but sold it in 1664.
In 1654, Cromwell was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire in the First Protectorate Parliament. He was re-elected in 1656 for the Second Protectorate Parliament and in 1659 for the Third Protectorate Parliament.[2]
In 1660, he took the name Williams to become Cromwell-Williams. He was elected MP for Huntingdonshire in the Convention Parliament and was re-elected in 1661 for the Cavalier Parliament. He sat until his death in 1673 at the age of 48.[2]
He was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber from 1671 until his death.
Cromwell-Williams married his cousin Anne Cromwell, the daughter of Richard Cromwell of Upwood, but had no children.
References
- ^ "Cromwell-Williams, Henry (CRML626H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b History of Parliament Online - Cromwell (afterwards Williams, Henry
2 Annotations
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
The House of Commons provides us with background on the Cromwell-Williams family:
By the 17th century, changing fortunes had left the Cromwells more Irish than English magnates. Henry, 3rd Baron Cromwell, had entangled himself in the Essex Rebellion in 1601, but was luckier than his ancestor. Although charged with treason, he got away with a hefty fine rather than the loss of his head. He was, though, forced to sell most of his English lands and relocate to County Down.
His heir, Thomas, 4th Baron Cromwell, followed in the family tradition as a capable soldier and in 1645 was created earl of Ardglass in the Irish peerage (having previously been made an Irish viscount) in return for his support for the king in the Civil War.
If capable soldiers, none of the earls of Ardglass came near to the eminence of the original Thomas Cromwell. They did, however, exhibit considerable capacity to survive, sometimes at the expense of others.
Thomas, 3rd earl of Ardglass, was probably the last person one wanted to spot on the passenger list for the packet service to Ireland. He was one of 23 survivors of a boat going down in 1672, and three years later was widely blamed for causing the loss of another packet ship, which foundered with the earl of Meath on board.
The ‘drunken’ Ardglass, who was transporting several bottles of wine at the time, was believed to have plied the captain and crew with too much of his excess supply, leaving them incapable of carrying out their duties. He survived.
Along with surviving shipwrecks, Ardglass’ other party trick was granting protections to people unconnected to him. At that time, peers were allowed to offer limited protection from arrest to their immediate family and servants, but many abused the system. Queried by the Lords, Ardglass claimed he was not aware of there being any problem with the protections he had handed out, but promised to abide by the rules thereafter.
He died without heirs, probably not much regretted, and was succeeded by his uncle, Vere Essex Cromwell, as the last of the earls of Ardglass.
Like many of the family, the new earl had been a soldier and was principally based in Ireland, but he attended the House of Lords at Westminster on James II’s accession and proved fairly diligent in his attendance of Parliament for the remainder of his brief career.
On his death in November 1687 the earldom became extinct, as almost certainly did the barony of Cromwell, although that did not prevent it having an intriguing afterlife.
On the extinction of Thomas Cromwell’s honours in 1540, one of the titles to go was the original barony of Cromwell, which had been created by writ. The later title conferred on Gregory in the winter of 1540 was by patent, and so not communicable to heirs general.
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION:
That did not stop the last earl of Ardglass’ daughter, Elizabeth, assuming the title Baroness Cromwell. As such she walked in the funeral procession of Queen Mary (1695) and at the coronation of Queen Anne (1702), when she should not have been at either – or at least not in the guise of a peeress.
Confusion over the nature of the original creation may have led contemporaries to believe that Elizabeth had inherited the peerage, but some clearly understood the distinction. A portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller at Kings Weston, depicting her striking a pose in a maritime setting and with (pace her kinsman, the 3rd earl) a small sailing boat in the distance, is subscribed ‘Lady Eliz. Cromwell’, as is an engraving likely based on the same image, which was produced after her father’s death (in the latter case her name is given in full). This suggested, correctly, that she was styled Lady Elizabeth as the daughter of an earl; not the holder of a title in her own right.
In 1704 Lady Elizabeth married Edward Southwell, secretary of state for Ireland: ‘a particularly polished example of the class of middling administrators who… served with exemplary skill and industry’ [HP Commons 1690-1715], having rejected the advances of a planter from Virginia.
At some point she also seems to have attracted the attention of Lord Raby (later earl of Strafford), as around the time of her death in 1709 Lady Wentworth informed him of the death of his ‘old mistress’, leaving behind ‘three lovly boys… and a dismall mallancolly husband…’
That confusion over the Cromwell barony still persisted was suggested by Lady Wentworth’s comment that Elizabeth’s ‘eldist son will be Lord Crumwell, but som say he will not.’ [Wentworth Papers, 70]
The ‘mallancolly husband’ survived his wife for over two decades [Wentworth Papers, 462] and Elizabeth’s son, another Edward Southwell, chose not to claim the title, satisfying himself with a seat in both the Irish and British House of Commons instead.
It was left to his heir, also Edward Southwell, to reclaim the family’s seat in the Lords. Having sat as MP for Bridgwater and Gloucestershire, following a thoroughly independent line, he finally took advantage of an opportunity of promotion to the peerage towards the end of his career. Like his father, he made no effort to revive the Cromwell barony, rather establishing his claim as the 20th Baron de Clifford following the death of his maternal great-aunt.
The 26th Baron was the last peer to be tried before the Lords for manslaughter (he was acquitted).
A descendant of the 20th Baron, and hence of Thomas Cromwell, Miles Southwell Russell, 28th Baron de Clifford, still sits in the Lords as a cross-bencher.
https://historyofparliament.com/2…