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Where did he come from? |
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Educated
at Huntingdon grammar school , now the Cromwell Museum, and at Cambridge
University, he became a minor East Anglian landowner. He made a living
by farming and collecting rents, first in his native Huntingdon, then
from 1631 in St Ives and from 1636 in Ely. Cromwell's inheritances from
his father, who died in 1617, and later from a maternal uncle were not
great, his income was modest and he had to support an expanding family -
widowed mother, wife and eight children. He ranked near the bottom of
the landed elite, the landowning class often labelled 'the gentry' which
dominated the social and political life of the county. Until 1640 he
played only a small role in local administration and no significant role
in national politics. It was the civil wars of the 1640s which lifted
Cromwell from obscurity to power.
Further information: Cromwell's
ancestors
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This site is jointly
maintained by the Cromwell Association and the Cromwell Museum
Huntingdon
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