ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how the finances of the Iretons became bound to the financial management of Cromwell, highlighted by a series of Chancery proceedings from 1656 to the late 1660s that link back to a trust established for Cromwell's grandchildren, the regicide Ireton's son and three daughters. This trust was established because of the death of Ireton in Ireland in November 1651. The grandeur of Ireton's funeral stood in contrast to contemporaries’ references to his self-sacrifice but the need to provide for his children, Cromwell's grandchildren, reinforced the financial links between the Iretons and Cromwell. New light is thrown on the trust established to support Ireton's widow and children by considering Chancery proceedings that were initiated by Bridget's new husband, another New Model officer, Charles Fleetwood, that also illustrate the intwined private and public nature of Cromwell's finances, including his use of his state employees as part of his management of his financial interests. These Chancery proceedings also indicate Cromwell's trust in leading political figures of the time, Henry Vane and John Bradshaw, in his personal financial affairs when the trust was established in late 1651.
