CROMWELL, RICHARD lord protector of England, eldest surviving son of Oliver Cromwell and of Eliza beth Bourchier, was born on Oct. 4, 1626. He served in the parlia mentary army, and in 1647 was admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn. In 1649 he married Dorothy, daughter of Richard Mayor or Major, of Hursley in Hampshire. He represented Hampshire in the parliament of 1654, and Cambridge university in that of 1656, and in Nov. 1655 was appointed one of the council of trade. But he was not brought forward by his father or prepared in any way for his future great position, and lived in the country occupied with field sports, till after the institution of the second protecto rate in 1657 and the recognition of Oliver's right to name his suc cessor. On July 18 he succeeded his father as chancellor of the University of Oxford, on Dec. 31 he was made a member of the council of state, and about the same time obtained a regiment and a seat in Cromwell's House of Lords. He was received generally as his father's successor, and was nominated by him as such on his death-bed. He was proclaimed on Sept. 3, 1658. Richard not being "general of the army as his father was," his elevation was distasteful to the officers, who desired the appointment of a com mander-in-chief from among themselves, a request refused by Richard. The officers in the council, moreover, showed jealousy of the civil members, and to settle these difficulties and to provide money a parliament was summoned on Jan. 27, 1659, which de clared Richard protector, and incurred the hostility of the army by criticizing severely the arbitrary military government of Oliver's last two years, and by impeaching one of the major-generals. A council of the army accordingly established itself in opposition to the parliament, and demanded on April 6 a justification and con firmation of former proceedings, to which the parliament replied by forbidding meetings of the army council without the permission of the protector, and insisting that all officers should take an oath not to disturb the proceedings in parliament. The army now broke into open rebellion and assembled at St. James's. Richard was completely in their power; he identified himself with their cause, and the same night dissolved the parliament. The Long Parliament (which reassembled on May 7) and the heads of the army came to an agreement to effect his dismissal ; and in the subsequent events Richard appears to have played a purely passive part, re fusing to make any attempt to keep his power or to forward a restoration of the monarchy. On May 25 his submission was communicated to the House. He retired into private life, heavily burdened with debts incurred during his tenure of office, and nar rowly escaping arrest even before he quitted Whitehall. In the summer of 166o he left England for France, where he lived in seclusion under the name of John Clarke, subsequently removing elsewhere, either (for the accounts differ) to Spain, to Italy or to Geneva. He was long regarded by the Government as a dangerous person, and in 1671 a strict search was made for him but without avail. He returned to England about 168o and lived at Cheshunt, in the house of Sergeant Pengelly, where he died on July 12, I 712, being buried at Hursley, Hampshire. According to Mrs. Hutchin son, Richard Cromwell was "gentle and virtuous but a peasant in his nature and became not greatness." BIBLIOGRAPHY. See the article in the Dict. of Nat. Biography, and Bibliography. See the article in the Dict. of Nat. Biography, and authorities there cited; Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell (1787) ; O. Cromwell, Memoirs of the Protector . . . and of his sons (182o) ; Sir R. Tangye, The Two Protectors (5899) ; W. T. Warren, Kebleland and a Short Life of Richard Cromwell (1900) ; T. Carlyle, Letters and Speeches of O. Cromwell (1904) ; Eng. Hist. Review, xiii. 93 (letters) and xviii. 79; Cal. of State Papers, Domestic, Lansdowne MSS. in British Museum. (P. C. Y.)