Charles Fleetwood
Encyclopedia
Charles Fleetwood was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Parliamentary soldier and politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and later the Kingdom of Ireland...

 from 1652–55, where he enforced the Cromwellian Settlement. At the Restoration he was included in the Act of Indemnity as among the twenty liable to penalties other than capital, and was finally incapacitated from holding any office of trust. His public career then closed.

Early life

Charles Fleetwood was the third son of Sir Miles Fleetwood
Miles Fleetwood
Sir Miles Fleetwood of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire was receiver of the court of wards and politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1614 and 1641.Fleetwood was the son of Sir William Fleetwood Sir Miles Fleetwood of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire ( died 8 March 1641) was receiver...

 of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, and of Anne, daughter of Nicholas Luke of Woodend, Bedfordshire. He may have been educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

, before being admitted into Gray's Inn
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 on 30 November 1638.

English Civil War

At the beginning of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, like many other young lawyers who afterwards distinguished themselves in the field, he joined Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...

’s life-guard, was wounded at the first battle of Newbury
First Battle of Newbury
The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex...

, 1643 obtained a regiment in 1644 and fought at Naseby
Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On 14 June 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.-The Campaign:...

. He had already been appointed receiver of the court of wards, and in 1646 became member of parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Marlborough. In the dispute between the army and parliament he played a chief part, and was said to have been the principal author of the plot to seize King Charles
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

  at Holmby, but he did not participate in the king’s trial. In 1649 he was appointed a governor of the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

, and in 1650, as lieutenant-general of the horse, took part in Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

’s campaign in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and assisted in the victory of Dunbar
Battle of Dunbar (1650)
The Battle of Dunbar was a battle of the Third English Civil War. The English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell defeated a Scottish army commanded by David Leslie which was loyal to King Charles II, who had been proclaimed King of Scots on 5 February 1649.-Background:The English...

. The next year he was elected a member of the Council of State, and being recalled from Scotland was entrusted with the command of the forces in England, and played a principal part in gaining the final triumph at Worcester
Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalist, predominantly Scottish, forces of King Charles II...

 (3 September 1651).

Ireland

In 1652 he married Cromwell’s daughter, Bridget, widow of Henry Ireton
Henry Ireton
Henry Ireton was an English general in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War. He was the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.-Early life:...

, and became commander-in-chief of the Parliamentarian forces in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, to which title that of Lord Deputy of Ireland
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and later the Kingdom of Ireland...

 was added. The first year of his tenure saw the mopping up of the last Catholic Irish guerrilla resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...

. Fleetwood negotiated with the remaining guerrilla bands (known as "tories") to either surrender or to leave the country for service in the army of a country not at war with the Commonwealth of England. The last organised Irish force surrendered in 1653.

The chief feature of his civilian administration, which lasted from September 1652 till September 1655, was the implementation of the Act of Settlement 1652, which decreed the settlement of the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...

's soldiers on the confiscated estates of Catholic landowners and the transplantation of the original owners. Fleetwood carried out these policies ruthlessly. (For details of this period see The Cromwellian Plantation). He showed also great severity in the prosecution of the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 priests, and favoured the Anabaptist
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....

s and the extreme Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

 sects to the disadvantage of the moderate Presbyterians, exciting great and general discontent, a petition being finally sent in for his recall.

Career under the Protectorate

Fleetwood was a strong and unswerving follower of Cromwell's policy. He supported Cromwell's assumption of the position of Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...

 and his dismissal of the parliaments. In December 1654 he became a member of the council, and after his return to England in 1655 was appointed one of the administrative major-generals. He approved of the Humble Petition and Advice
Humble Petition and Advice
The Humble Petition and Advice was the second, and last, codified constitution of England after the Instrument of Government.On 23 February 1657, during the sitting of the Second Protectorate Parliament, Sir Christopher Packe, a Member of Parliament and former Lord Mayor of London The Humble...

, only objecting to the conferring of the title of "king" on Cromwell; became a member of the new House of Lords; and supported ardently Cromwell's foreign policy in Europe, based on religious divisions, and his defence of the Protestants persecuted abroad. He was therefore, on Cromwell’s death, naturally regarded as a likely successor, and it is said that Cromwell had in fact so nominated him. He, however, gave his support to Richard Cromwell
Richard Cromwell
At the same time, the officers of the New Model Army became increasingly wary about the government's commitment to the military cause. The fact that Richard Cromwell lacked military credentials grated with men who had fought on the battlefields of the English Civil War to secure their nation's...

's assumption of office, but allowed subsequently, if he did not instigate, petitions from the army demanding its independence, and finally (with the aid of the other officers in the Wallingford House party
Wallingford House party
The Wallingford House party were a group of senior officers of the New Model Army who met at Wallingford House, the London home of Charles Fleetwood. They overthrew the Protectorate of the Lord Protector Richard Cromwell....

) compelled Richard by force to dissolve the Third Protectorate Parliament
Third Protectorate Parliament
The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons...

.

His project of re-establishing Richard in close dependence upon the army met with failure, and he was obliged to recall the Rump Parliament
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....

 on 6 May 1659. He was appointed immediately a member of the Committee of Safety
English Committee of Safety
The Committee of Safety, established by the Parliamentarians in July 1642, was the first of a number of successive committees set up to oversee the English Civil War against King Charles I, and the Interregnum.-1642–1644:...

 and of the Council of State
English Council of State
The English Council of State, later also known as the Protector's Privy Council, was first appointed by the Rump Parliament on 14 February 1649 after the execution of King Charles I....

, and one of the seven commissioners for the army, while on 9 June 1659 he was nominated commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

. In reality, however, his power was undermined and was attacked by parliament, which in October declared his commission void. The next day he assisted John Lambert
John Lambert (general)
John Lambert was an English Parliamentary general and politician. He fought during the English Civil War and then in Oliver Cromwell's Scottish campaign , becoming thereafter active in civilian politics until his dismissal by Cromwell in 1657...

 in his expulsion of the Rump Parliament and was reappointed commander-in-chief.

Collapse of the Protectorate and Restoration of the Monarchy

Several Parliamentarian Generals led by George Monck had decided that the only way to stabilise the country was to restore the monarchy. Monck accordingly led his troops, which had been garrisoned in Scotland, to march on London. On George Monck's approach from the North, Fleetwood stayed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and maintained order. While hesitating with which party to ally his forces, and while on the point of making terms with King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, Monck's army restored the Rump Parliament
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....

 on 24 December, whereupon Fleetwood was deprived of his command and ordered to appear before parliament to answer for his conduct.

The reversal of Pride's Purge with the re-admittance of the members of Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

 to the Rump, the Convention Parliament and the start of the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 therefore all took place without his influence. He was included in the Act of Indemnity as among the twenty liable to penalties other than capital, and was finally incapacitated from holding any office of trust. His public career then closed, though he survived till 4 October 1692. He was buried in Bunhill Fields
Bunhill Fields
Bunhill Fields is a cemetery in the London Borough of Islington, north of the City of London, and managed by the City of London Corporation. It is about 4 hectares in extent, although historically was much larger....

.

Legacy

Fleetwood acquired by his marriage in 1664 to Mary, daughter of Sir John Coke
John Coke
Sir John Coke was an English politician.Coke, the son of Richard and Mary Coke of Trusley, Derbyshire, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge...

 and widow of Sir Edward Hartopp, an estate in Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...

, then a village north of London; Fleetwood House, next to Abney House on Church Street
Stoke Newington Church Street
Stoke Newington Church Street is a road in north London of the borough of Hackney. The road links Green Lanes in the west to Stoke Newington High Street , in the east...

 was named after him. It served as a meeting place for Dissenters, and from 1824 housed the Newington Academy for Girls
Newington Academy for Girls
The Newington Academy for Girls, also known as Newington College for Girls, was a Quaker school established in 1824 in Stoke Newington, then north of London. In a time when girls' educational opportunities were limited, it offered a wide range of subjects "on a plan in degree differing from any...

 an innovative Quaker schoolb.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK