ABSTRACT
Blackwell and his father became established in the administration of the developing state, but the younger Blackwell came into his own through his central role as a treasurer to the New Model, as the army became a state within the state. He was linked with the officers that removed the Nominated Assembly and established the Protectorate, and this more overt military regime enhanced Blackwell’s role. Blackwell strengthened his links with the London financial world but also leading figures in the New Model, such as his kin Hezekiah Haynes, but he would also have been a well-known figure to officers such as John Okey and John Lambert, both of whom became kin and both of whom he was to develop a working relationship with, both official and personal, that continued after the Restoration. In 1656 Blackwell became an MP before emerging in the leading political grouping of officers based at Wallingford House that sought to maintain the Good Old Cause after Cromwell’s death. Blackwell’s role in the finances of the state was also the root of why he was sought out after 1660 as a financial expert.
