Ireton

Ireton, Henry (1610-1651), a celebrated Parliamentary statesman and commander in the Civil Wars of Charles I., was of good family, and was educated for the law; but on the commencement of the wars he joined the Parliamentary Army, and soon, by the influence of Cromwell, whose daughter Bridget he married, rose to be commissary-general. He commanded the left wing at Naseby, and was wounded and taken prisoner. On recovering his liberty he was largely responsible for the measures which placed the Parliament under the power of the army, and had a principal share in making the ordinance for the king's trial, at which he was himself one of the judges. He accompanied Cromwell to Ireland (1649), and being left by him as Lord Deputy, reduced the Irish to submission with much rigour. He died at Limerick. He was distinguished for vigilance, capacity, and a stern zeal for justice which even amounted to cruelty. After the Restoration his body was exhumed and suspended on a gallows.