Shropshire Routes to Roots

3. Cromwell's letter

Introduction

This letter was signed on July 16th, 1649. That was six months after the execution of Charles I and the establishment of England as a Commonwealth. The letter is a pass asking that the bearer, one James Smith, be permitted safe passage from Chester to Bristol.

The handwriting is very hard to decipher, so you will probably need to refer to the transcription.

Source

Letter requesting safe passage from Chester to Bristol [Shropshire Archive reference: LB11/4/76/43]

Transcription

Note that this transcript should be taken as a guide only. The interpretation of old documents and handwriting is sometimes an art as much as a science! All spellings have been modernised.

These are to require you to suffer and permit the bearer here of James Smith to have a horse and a pass from Constable to Constable from the City of Chester to the City of Bristol he behaving himself timely being a soldier for the states has orders for to quarter [stay in accommodation] for 21 hours, and if any doth resist him, the Constables of that liberty are assist him and to press him a horse for 4 miles span forward for the special business that he goes about,

Chester
July 16th

Oliver Crumwel

1649

Explanation

The letter seems to be valuable historical evidence. It seems to show that in July 1649, even after the execution of Charles I, the country must still have been dangerous for a Parliamentarian. This was why Oliver Cromwell, based in Chester, had to write a document ordering the Constables of each locality to protect his soldier as he went about his 'special business'.

OR DID HE?

Look again at the signature at the bottom. Could Oliver Crumwel really be the same man as Oliver Cromwell? As an historical source, this letter holds few definite answers and raises many questions.

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