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Cromwell (RICHARD third son of Oliver)

RICHARD, third son of Oliver; born Oct. 4, 1626. By the deaths of his two elder brothers, Robert and Oliver, he became his father's heir. He was an amiable and popular but weak man, devoted to field sports and fond of pleasure. pleasure.

He lived for some time in comparative privacy, but when the Protector had been empowered to nominate his successor, Richard was brought to the front, the work of government, but in vain. and an effort was made to train him to Scarcely had he entered on his office, when the forces of anarchy, both parliamentary and military, broke loose, and he found himself utterably unable to rereluctance that he quitted Whitehall and strain them. It was probably with little retired into private life. After the Restoration he lived for a time abroad under a feigned name; but he returned to England about 1680, and passed the remainder of his life at Cheshunt, where he died July 12, 1712, and was buried in the church at Hursley, Hampshire.