1-625-654 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), 19th century. Cromwell was a Member of Parliament at the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. As one of the judges at the trial of King Charles I in 1649, Cromwell signed the king's death warrant and became Lord Protector of England in 1653. He died in 1668 and was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard. Although Richard was not entirely without ability, he had no power base in either Parliament or the Army and was forced to resign in May 1659, bringing the Protectorate to an end. In the period immediately following his abdication the head of the army, George Monck, took power for less than a year, at which point Parliament restored Charles II as king. One of Charles' first acts was to exhume Cromwell's body from Westminster Abbey and hang it from the gallows at Tyburn; his head was set on a pole on top of Westminster Hall.