Raluca Mihalache

Comparison between Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard Cromwell

Ever since his own time it has been agreed that Richard Cromwell was not the
man his father was, which may have been no bad thing. Born in 1626, he remained in the
background as the Civil War ended, Charles I was executed and the Commonwealth
established.
After his marriage in 1649 he lived quietly among the Hampshire gentry, enjoying
hunting and country pursuits, acting as a magistrate and playing an occasional minor role
in local government. His father criticised him for his 'idleness' and his fondness of living,
which ran him into debt. He was 27 when his father became Lord Protector of the
Commonwealth at the end of 1653.
Richard was now elected to the House of Commons as a member of Hampshire,
but he did not take a prominent part in Parliament. Under the country's new constituion,
however, Oliver Cromwell was required to name his succesor and from 1657 he began
moving and his son more into the public eye.
Richard was appointed to the new second chamber of Parliament and to the
council of state, both of which he conscientiously attended. Whether Oliver did or did not
name Richard to succeed him is uncertain, but he fell seiously ill in 1658 and when he
died in September, the council decided that the Protector had nominated Richard as his
successor and unanimously declared the 'the Lord Richard Cromwell' as head of state.
Oliver's Secretary of State, John Thurloe, was said to have played a key role in
this decision, but why the council reached it is unknown. Perhaps it was precisely the fact
that Richard, still only 32, was not the dominating figure his father had been and not a
military man. He was proclaimed as Lord Protector all over the country to general
satisfaction. As John Thurloe put it: 'There is not a dog that wags his tongue, so in great
calm are we'.
The calm did not last. The Commonwealth was probably on its' last legs by this
time in any case.It was deeply unpopular, the regime was heavily in debt and a gulf had
opened up between the army and Parliament. The fact that Richard had little or no
military experience and his lack of ostentatious godliness did him no good with many
officers in the army, of which he was now officially commander-in-chief. According to
some observers, a power struggle developed in the council between those who supported
military and Thurloe and others who did not. Parliament was summoned for January 1659
and the same conflict developed there, with the military fearing that a majority in the
Commons would shrink the army in size and also chip away religious freedom.