Are there any descendants of Thomas Cromwell alive today?
There are many people alive today who are directly descended from Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell had nine children, six of whom survived well into adulthood and married. Although Mary's marriage proved childless, in due course the other five had children of their own.
His descendants were eventually to produce Oliver Cromwell who is the biggest villain in Irish history. The massacres of Catholics that Cromwell undertook when he was campaigning in Ireland are notorious in Irish history.
Oliver Cromwell was descended from a junior branch of the Cromwell family, distantly related from (as great, great grand-uncle) Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII. Thomas Cromwell's sister Katherine had married a Welsh lawyer, Morgan Williams.
Oliver Cromwell
Tragically, Cromwell lost both his wife and daughters to the sweating sickness within the space of a year (1528/9). He never remarried and instead focused all of his affection upon his surviving child, Gregory.
The Eastenders star traced his ancestry on the BBC programme 'Who Do You Think You Are? ' back in 2017 and discovered that he was a direct descendent of Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell, who lived from 1485-1540, was a lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII.
It was only a matter of months before Henry VIII began to regret Cromwell's execution.
We know of nine children of the marriage of Oliver and Elizabeth.
There is no evidence that Cromwell had an illegitimate daughter in Antwerp, and her purpose in the story seems to largely be to bring in the eye-witness account of Tyndale's burning, and to allow Cromwell to reflect on his past in a new light.
| His Highness Oliver Cromwell | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Thomas Purchase |
| Member of Parliament for Huntingdon | |
| In office 31 January 1628 – 2 March 1629 | |
| Monarch | Charles I |
Why did Oliver Cromwell change his name?
' While not a direct descendant of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister, Oliver did have a family connection – his great-great-grandfather Morgan Williams married Thomas' sister Katherine Cromwell. Their sons took the name Cromwell to honour their childless uncle and continue the family name.
Oliver Cromwell was born at Huntingdon, into the ranks of the English gentry on 25th April 1599, during the latter years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, he was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Cromwell (nee Steward).
Cromwell was a Puritan. Puritans were Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices. They believed that the Church of England was too similar to the Roman Catholic Church, and that the reformation was not complete until it became more protestant.
Cromwell's head became a peculiar collector's item in the centuries that followed, passing through many hands on it's way to its final burial place in Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge.
| His Highness Oliver Cromwell | |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Richard Cromwell |
| Member of Parliament for Cambridge | |
| In office 30 February 1640 – 20 January 1649 | |
| Monarch | Charles I |
