Life

Born on 14 December 1792, at an early age he entered the literary department of Messrs. Longmans, the publishers.

Brought up a member of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

, of which his elder brother was a clergyman, Cromwell became about 1830 a Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

; and, being ordained, was from 1839 minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church

Newington Green Unitarian Church

Newington Green Unitarian Church in north London is one of England's oldest Unitarian churches. It has had strong ties to political radicalism for over 300 years, and is London's oldest Nonconformist place of worship still in use...

, where he officiated for twenty-five years. He also held during the greater part of his ministry the office of clerk to the local board of Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...

, from which he retired with a pension.

In 1864 he resigned the pulpit at Stoke Newington, and soon afterwards took charge of the old presbyterian congregation at Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

, over which he presided till his death on 22 December 1870. He was buried on the 28th of that month in the little cemetery adjoining the chapel. During the last two years of his life he had acted as honorary secretary of the Birmingham Education League. By his wife, the daughter of Richard Carpenter, J.P. and D.L. for Middlesex, he had no issue.

Works

He published in 1816 wia small volume of verse, ‘The School-Boy, with other Poems,’ which was four years afterwards followed by privately printed copies of ‘Honour; or, Arrivals from College: a Comedy.’ The play had been produced at Drury Lane

Drury Lane

Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

 on 17 April 1819, and was twice repeated,. ‘Oliver Cromwell and his Times,’ London, 1821 (2nd ed. 1822) was criticised by Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...

 (Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, 2nd ed. ii. 161 n.) A second drama, ‘The Druid: a Tragedy,’ 1832, was never acted.

In December 1838 Cromwell became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a few years before his death accepted a Ph.D. from the University of Erlangen. Besides contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine, ‘Chambers's Journal,’ and other periodicals, he supplied the letterpress for James Sargant Storer

James Sargant Storer

James Sargant Storer was an English draughtsman and engraver.Storer was born in 1771, and devoted himself to the production of works on topography and ancient architecture, the plates in which, drawn and engraved by himself on a small scale, were distinguished for extreme accuracy and beauty of...

's ‘Cathedral Churches of Great Britain,’ 1814–19, and also for ‘Excursions through England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland,’ a series published in numbers, London, from 1818. His other works are:

• ‘History and Description of the ancient Town and Borough of Colchester,’ 2 vols. London, 1825.
• ‘History and Description of the parish of Clerkenwell,’ London, 1828.
• ‘Walks through Islington,’ London, 1835.
• ‘The Soul and the Future Life,’ London, 1859, on the materialist theories of Joseph Priestley
  Joseph Priestley
  Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
  
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