Mrs. Elizabeth Cromwell
By WALKER.
Half-Length.
(Green Cardinal edged with Gold, fastened in Front with a Jewel. White Satin Hood, White Tippet, Pearl Necklace.)
Born, ——. Died, 1654.—Daughter of William Stewart, Esq., through whom she claimed distant kinship with the King of England. Widow of William Lynne, of Basingbourne; married Robert Cromwell, Esq., by whom she had four sons, of whom only one, Oliver, grew up to manhood, and six daughters. On the death of her husband she continued the Brewery, out of the profits of which and a scanty pittance of £60 a year, she gave her numerous daughters a good education, and dowries on their marriage, “with which they were not ashamed to ally themselves with good families.” Mrs. Cromwell was indeed a most exemplary and loveable woman; of an angelic temper and disposition, yet full of self-help, she retained the simple tastes and gentle humanity which had characterised her in the Brewery, at Huntingdon, when transplanted, by her son’s wish, to the splendour of the Palace at Whitehall, where her life was fretted by her anxiety for the safety of her beloved son. Oliver’s filial duty was undeniable: he appreciated to the utmost his mother’s excellent qualities; and on her death he caused her to be buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey, though her tastes would have pointed to a quiet funeral, in a country churchyard, where her remains would have been left unmolested. At the Restoration her body was dug up, and with many others, cast ignominiously into a hole.
In one of the many “Lives of the Protector,” the portrait at Hinchingbrook is alluded to as most characteristic. “The small pretty mouth, the full large melancholy eyes, the fair hair under the modest little hood, the simple but refined dress with the one small jewel clasping her handkerchief.” The same writer speaking of her says: “Her single pride was honesty, her passion love.”