Elizabeth Claypole
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Claypolealso Cleypole and Claypoole (Noble and Firth DNB) second daughter of Oliver Cromwell
and Elizabeth
, she married John Claypole
in 1646 and is said to have interceded for royalist prisoners. After Cromwell created a peerage
for her husband, she was known as Lady Claypole. She was buried in Westminster Abbey
.
Her marriage to John Claypole took place on 13 January 1646. She was the favourite daughter of her father, to whom her spiritual condition seems to have caused some anxiety. On one occasion he writes to his daughter Bridget expressing his satisfaction that her sister Claypole "sees her own vanity and carnal mind, bewailing it, and seeks after what will satisfy" But four years later he bade her mother warn her to "take heed of a departing heart and of being cozened with worldly vanities and worldly company, which I doubt she is too subject to"
According to several accounts she was too much exalted by her father's sovereignty, for which reason Mrs. Hutchinson terms her and all her sisters, excepting Mrs Fleetwood, "insolent fools." Captain Titus writes to Hyde relating a remark of Mrs. Claypole's at a wedding feast concerning the wives of the major-generals:
But according to the account of Harrington "she acted the part of a princess very naturally, obliging all persons with her civility, and frequently interceding for the unhappy." It was to her he applied with success for the restoration of the confiscated manuscript of Oceana.
According to Ludlow and Heath she interceded for the life of Dr John Hewitt
, but her own letter on the discovery of the plot in which he had been engaged throws a doubt on this story. Still she is said to have habitually interceded with her father for political offenders. "How many of the royalist prisoners got she not freed? How many did not she save from death whom the laws had condemned?"
She was taken ill in June 1658, and her sickness was aggravated by the death of her youngest son, Oliver. The nature of her disease is variously stated: "The truth is," writes Fleetwood, "it's believed the physicians do not understand thoroughly her case". Clarendon, Heath, Bates, and other royalist writers represent her as upbraiding her father in her last moments with the blood he had shed, &c. The first hint of this report occurs in a newsletter of 16 Sept., where it is said that the Lady Claypole "did on her deathbed beseech his highness to take away the high court of justice".
She died on 6 August 1658, and the Mercurius Politicus in announcing her death describes her as "a lady of an excellent spirit and judgment, and of a most noble disposition, eminent in all princely qualities conjoined with sincere resentments of true religion and piety." She was buried on 10 August in Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey. After the Restoration, Firth states in the Dictionary of National Biography
that her body was exhumed, along with about twenty others, and placed into a pit in a graveyard near the back door of the prebendary's lodgings. However Peter Gaunt, states in the more recent Oxford Dictionary of National Biography that her body was allowed to remain in the Abbey.
Of her four children, three sons and a daughter, Cromwell died in May 1678 unmarried, Henry is said to have predeceased his brother, Oliver died in June 1658, and Martha in January 1664. None left any descendants.
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
and Elizabeth
Elizabeth Bourchier
Elizabeth Cromwell [née Bourchier] was the wife of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. She is sometimes referred to as the Lady Protectress or Protectress Joan.- Family and marriage :...
, she married John Claypole
John Claypole
John Claypole , was an officer in the Parliamentary army in 1645 during the English Civil War. He was created Lord Cleypole by Oliver Cromwell, but this title naturally came to an end with the Restoration of 1660....
in 1646 and is said to have interceded for royalist prisoners. After Cromwell created a peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
for her husband, she was known as Lady Claypole. She was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
.
Her marriage to John Claypole took place on 13 January 1646. She was the favourite daughter of her father, to whom her spiritual condition seems to have caused some anxiety. On one occasion he writes to his daughter Bridget expressing his satisfaction that her sister Claypole "sees her own vanity and carnal mind, bewailing it, and seeks after what will satisfy" But four years later he bade her mother warn her to "take heed of a departing heart and of being cozened with worldly vanities and worldly company, which I doubt she is too subject to"
According to several accounts she was too much exalted by her father's sovereignty, for which reason Mrs. Hutchinson terms her and all her sisters, excepting Mrs Fleetwood, "insolent fools." Captain Titus writes to Hyde relating a remark of Mrs. Claypole's at a wedding feast concerning the wives of the major-generals:
But according to the account of Harrington "she acted the part of a princess very naturally, obliging all persons with her civility, and frequently interceding for the unhappy." It was to her he applied with success for the restoration of the confiscated manuscript of Oceana.
According to Ludlow and Heath she interceded for the life of Dr John Hewitt
John Hewitt
John Harold Hewitt , who was born in Belfast, Ireland, was the most significant Irish poet to emerge before the 1960s generation of poets that included Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon and Michael Longley. He was appointed the first writer-in-residence at Queen's University Belfast in 1976...
, but her own letter on the discovery of the plot in which he had been engaged throws a doubt on this story. Still she is said to have habitually interceded with her father for political offenders. "How many of the royalist prisoners got she not freed? How many did not she save from death whom the laws had condemned?"
She was taken ill in June 1658, and her sickness was aggravated by the death of her youngest son, Oliver. The nature of her disease is variously stated: "The truth is," writes Fleetwood, "it's believed the physicians do not understand thoroughly her case". Clarendon, Heath, Bates, and other royalist writers represent her as upbraiding her father in her last moments with the blood he had shed, &c. The first hint of this report occurs in a newsletter of 16 Sept., where it is said that the Lady Claypole "did on her deathbed beseech his highness to take away the high court of justice".
She died on 6 August 1658, and the Mercurius Politicus in announcing her death describes her as "a lady of an excellent spirit and judgment, and of a most noble disposition, eminent in all princely qualities conjoined with sincere resentments of true religion and piety." She was buried on 10 August in Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey. After the Restoration, Firth states in the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
that her body was exhumed, along with about twenty others, and placed into a pit in a graveyard near the back door of the prebendary's lodgings. However Peter Gaunt, states in the more recent Oxford Dictionary of National Biography that her body was allowed to remain in the Abbey.
Of her four children, three sons and a daughter, Cromwell died in May 1678 unmarried, Henry is said to have predeceased his brother, Oliver died in June 1658, and Martha in January 1664. None left any descendants.