CROMWELL, Richard, the eldest surviving son of the Protector, was born at Huntingdon, October 4, 1626. In his youth he is said to have been favourable to royalism; but on the elevation of his father he accepted a place in parliament, and was appointed first lord of trade and navigation. He was afterwards made privy-councillor, a colonel in the army, and leader in the House of Lords. On the death of his father he received the sceptre of the Commonwealth; but, surrounded on all sides by the machinations of factions which he had not sufficient intrepidity to quell, he resigned his power (April 22, 1659) and retired into private life. Oppressed with debt, principally contracted to cover the expenses of his father's funeral, of which parliament only partially relieved him, he was obliged to retire to the Continent. In 1680 he ventured to return, and under the assumed name of Clarke he settled in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, where he died in 1712, aged eighty-six.