FLEETWOOD, CHARLES, lord-deputy of Ireland under the Commonwealth, and son-in-law of Cromwell, was one of the most prominent of the minor figures in that troubled period of English history. Entering the ranks of the parliamentary forces, he rose in 1644 to the rank of colonel of horse, and was appointed governor of Bristol in that same year. In the course of the civil wars that afterwards distracted the kingdom he distinguished himself, particularly at the battle of Worcester, and by his conduct on that occasion gained the favour of Cromwell and the whole army. After the death of his first wife he was pitched upon by Cromwell as a fitting husband for his eldest daughter Bridget, the widow of Ireton, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland. Though the Protector did not place very much confidence in Fleetwood's attachment to himself, political motives afterwards induced him to nominate him one of the fourteen major-generals to whom the internal administration of the commonwealth was intrusted. On the death of the Lord Protector, Fleetwood did his best, by means of his influence with the troops, to supplant Richard Cromwell; but in the midst of his intrigues the nation recalled the exiled Stuarts. Fleetwood's prominent position marked him out as an object of vengeance to the restored king, and it was only with very great difficulty that he escaped with his life. Not long after the Restoration he died in wretchedness and obscurity at Stoke Newington, whither he had retired.