Cromwell's Protectorate (1653-1659): Britain Without a King

Cromwell’s Protectorate was the period from December 1653 to May 1659 when England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled not by a king but by a Lord Protector. Oliver Cromwell held the office until his death in 1658, followed briefly by his son Richard. It was Britain’s only experiment with a written constitution and a non-royal head of state, and its collapse led directly to the return of the monarchy.

Background: from republic to Protectorate

After the execution of Charles I in January 1649, England became a Commonwealth governed by the remnant of the Long Parliament, known as the Rump. Cromwell’s victories in Ireland and Scotland, ending with the Battle of Worcester in 1651, secured the republic militarily, but the army grew frustrated with the Rump’s slow pace of reform.

On 20 April 1653 Cromwell entered the Commons with soldiers and dissolved the Rump by force. He replaced it with a nominated assembly of about 140 godly men, nicknamed Barebone’s Parliament after one of its members, the leather-seller Praise-God Barbon. Its radical proposals alarmed moderates, and on 12 December 1653 its more conservative members voted to hand power back to Cromwell.

The Instrument of Government

Army officers led by Major-General John Lambert had already drafted a constitution, the Instrument of Government. It created the office of Lord Protector, to be advised by a Council of State and to share power with a single-chamber Parliament elected every three years. Seats were redistributed, and Scotland and Ireland were each allotted 30 members at Westminster.

Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector at Westminster Hall on 16 December 1653. He wore plain black rather than royal robes, but the regime soon adopted much of the ceremony of monarchy, and Cromwell lived in the royal palaces of Whitehall and Hampton Court.

The Protectorate also governed Scotland and Ireland as part of a single state. An ordinance of 1654 united Scotland with England, abolishing the Scottish Parliament, while Ireland was ruled through a council in Dublin as the confiscation and redistribution of Catholic-owned land continued. In both countries English garrisons kept order. At home, Cromwell’s secretary of state John Thurloe ran an effective intelligence network that intercepted letters and penetrated Royalist plots.

The first Protectorate Parliament met in September 1654. Many members questioned the Instrument itself instead of passing laws, and Cromwell dissolved it in January 1655 as soon as the minimum term allowed.

The Rule of the Major-Generals

In March 1655 a Royalist rising led by John Penruddock in Wiltshire was quickly crushed, but it convinced the government that tighter control was needed. From August 1655 England and Wales were divided into regions, each supervised by a major-general drawn from the army.

The major-generals commanded local militias, watched suspected Royalists and collected a “decimation tax”, a levy of ten per cent on the income of known Royalists. They also pressed for godly reform: closing alehouses, suppressing horse racing and cockfighting, and punishing swearing and Sabbath-breaking. Their zeal varied, but the system was widely resented as military rule. When the second Protectorate Parliament rejected the Militia Bill in January 1657, the experiment ended.

Foreign policy and religion

Abroad, the Protectorate was assertive. The First Anglo-Dutch War was ended by the Treaty of Westminster in April 1654. In 1654 Cromwell launched the Western Design against Spain’s Caribbean empire; the attack on Hispaniola failed in April 1655, but English forces captured Jamaica the following month.

An alliance with France brought victory at the Battle of the Dunes on 14 June 1658, after which Dunkirk was handed to England. English naval power, rebuilt during the 1650s, made the Protectorate respected and feared in Europe.

At home Cromwell favoured broad liberty of conscience for Protestant groups, though not for Catholics or for the use of the Anglican prayer book in public. After a conference at Whitehall in December 1655, prompted by the Dutch rabbi Menasseh ben Israel, Jews were informally allowed to settle and worship in England for the first time since 1290. The harsh treatment of the Quaker James Nayler in 1656 showed the limits of toleration.

The offer of the crown and Cromwell’s death

In 1657 Parliament presented the Humble Petition and Advice, a new constitution that offered Cromwell the title of king. Many civilians saw kingship as a way to anchor the regime in familiar law. Senior army officers objected strongly, and on 8 May 1657 Cromwell refused the crown. He was reinstalled as Lord Protector on 26 June 1657 with the right to name his successor and a new upper chamber, the “Other House”.

Cromwell’s health declined after the death of his favourite daughter, Elizabeth Claypole, in August 1658. He died at Whitehall on 3 September 1658, the anniversary of his victories at Dunbar and Worcester. His eldest surviving son, Richard, succeeded him without opposition.

Collapse of the regime

Richard Cromwell had little military experience and no hold over the army. The third Protectorate Parliament, which met in January 1659, quarrelled with the officers, who forced Richard to dissolve it in April. The army then recalled the Rump on 7 May, and Richard formally resigned later that month, earning the mocking nickname “Tumbledown Dick”.

The following months brought rival military factions, a Royalist rising and political chaos. General George Monck’s march from Scotland at the start of 1660 opened the way for the Restoration of Charles II. In January 1661 Oliver Cromwell’s body was dug up from Westminster Abbey and symbolically hanged at Tyburn.

Key people

• Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658): a Huntingdonshire gentleman and cavalry commander who rose to lead the New Model Army and ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death. Deeply religious, he saw his victories as signs of God’s favour.
• Richard Cromwell (1626–1712): Oliver’s eldest surviving son and successor, who held power for only eight months. After his resignation he lived quietly, mostly abroad and later in Hertfordshire, until his death.
• John Lambert (1619–1684): the army officer who drafted the Instrument of Government. He opposed the offer of the crown in 1657 and was dismissed, but returned to prominence in 1659 before being imprisoned for life after the Restoration.
• John Thurloe (1616–1668): secretary of state and head of the regime’s intelligence service, whose surviving papers are a major source for the period.

Timeline

• 1653, 20 April: Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament by force.
• 1653, 16 December: Cromwell is installed as Lord Protector under the Instrument of Government.
• 1655, March: Penruddock’s Royalist rising is suppressed.
• 1655, May: English forces capture Jamaica.
• 1655, August: The Rule of the Major-Generals begins.
• 1657, 8 May: Cromwell refuses the crown.
• 1658, 3 September: Oliver Cromwell dies; Richard Cromwell succeeds.
• 1659, May: The Rump is recalled and Richard Cromwell resigns.

Myths and facts

Myth: Cromwell personally banned Christmas. Parliament had already outlawed the religious celebration of Christmas in the 1640s. The Protectorate continued the policy, but it was not Cromwell’s invention.

Myth: the Protectorate was a pure military dictatorship. The army was the regime’s ultimate support and the major-generals were real, but Cromwell repeatedly called Parliaments and sought a constitutional settlement. Historians debate how far he was a reluctant ruler or an autocrat.

Why it matters

The Protectorate showed both the possibilities and the limits of government without a king. Its written constitutions, union of three kingdoms in one Parliament and assertive navy anticipated later developments, but its dependence on the army and on one man made it fragile. Its failure persuaded most of the political nation in 1660 that monarchy offered the surest stability.