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Two military commissions of Cromwell

Condition Note: issued and signed by Philip Sidney, Viscount De L'Isle, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, appointing Oliver Cromwell as Captain and Major respectively in the regiment of horse of Colonel Leonard Lydcott, 2 pages on vellum, oblong folio-size, papered seals, 15 October 1646, some soiling

CATALOGUE NOTE

These unrecorded commissions throw interesting light on Cromwell's activities in 1646. It is known that Lord De L'Isle was authorised by Parliament to raise two regiments of horse on 30 July 1646, and that one of these was supposed to be under Leonard Lydcott of Northamptonshire. DeL'Isle himself set sail for Ireland in February 1647. It is not known that Cromwell himself went to Ireland at this time, although he did wish to be appointed as commander of that expedition, a command which went to Philip Skippon.

These commissions show that Cromwell was still involved in the Army in the period between the lapse of his commission as Lieutenant General in July 1646 and his effective command from late spring 1647. They help to answer G.E. Aylmer's question "Was Oliver Cromwell a member of the Army in 1646-7 or not?" in History, vol. 56 (1971), pp.183-8.