Oliver Cromwell - Westminster Palace- London - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

This large statue of Oliver Cromwell stands in the centre of the sunken garden of the Palace of Westminster. It is by Hamo Thornycroft, and was presented to the Palace by Lord Rosebery in 1899.

Additional Information on
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)

Oliver Cromwell first entered Parliament in 1628. When the Civil War broke out in 1642 he soon developed a forceful army, and by 1645 had become Parliament's leading general. Cromwell was a military genius and created the famed New Model Army which swept through the country to defeat Charles I and the Royalist forces. After Charles' execution in 1649 it seemed Cromwell would be the obvious choice for chairman of the new Council of State. Once in this position he struggled to devise a suitable system of republican government, named the Commonwealth.
This began term with the Rump Parliament (the fifty three members of Parliament who had supported Charles' trial) but when this group of members obstructed his proposed reforms, Cromwell abolished it (1653) and declared himself Lord Protector. He ruled with a council of fifteen and a Parliament of 400 - named 'The Protectorate'. In effect, from this point on, Cromwell ruled as if he were a king. It could be argued that his 'rule' was just as tyrannical if not more so than many of his predecessors.

In 1655 he dissolved Parliament and ruled the country with the army, dividing the country into eleven districts each ruled by a major general. In 1657 the Protectorate Parliament offered Cromwell the title of King but he refused it, preferring to govern with the consent of the people rather than through hereditary right or passage.
Thus Cromwell was honoured for his democratic principles and in fact, this period is the only experience England has ever had of a republican government - hence his manifestation in the form of a statue outside Parliament today.

Cromwell was not at all a handsome man. He was tall with grey eyes, a large nose and many warts on his face.
He was an extremely strict Puritan which displeased many, but on the whole he was actually amazingly tolerant of religious dissent. Contrary to public opinion he was not completely adverse to pleasure and did enjoy music, riding and hunting.


_

URL of the statue: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   10/18/2023 Seebär visited it 05/20/2022 jezevcik visited it 10/02/2020 Ariberna visited it 07/23/2016 Benchmark Blasterz visited it 03/24/2016 siggibär visited it 09/27/2015 eilers1 visited it 08/18/2015 Kpt. Davy Jones visited it 06/27/2015 alreadyhere visited it 10/24/2014 Petrs11 visited it 06/08/2014 prussel visited it 04/04/2014 Superted visited it 08/24/2013 Nik2000 visited it 07/24/2013 ToRo61 visited it 08/31/2012 AngelPick visited it 05/04/2012 15OST visited it 03/05/2012 dexteri visited it 01/31/2012 EL2MI visited it 01/28/2012 Flixsi visited it 10/01/2011 Master Mariner visited it 09/06/2011 TheSearchEngine visited it 06/26/2011 Stretchy123 visited it 05/30/2011 Das M visited it 05/27/2011 Maglord visited it 05/09/2011 jcurtis55 visited it 05/05/2011 Valicek1 visited it

View all visits/logs