FRANCES CROMWELL (WIFE OF RICHARD THE YOUNGER)

Frances Cromwell was born in 1575 in Huntingdonshire, England. She married Richard Whaley the Younger on July 12, 1595, in London, England. They had nine children. She died on February 21, 1639, in Huntington, Herefordshire, England, Was the aunt of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England.

Sir Henry Williams, alias Cromwell, father of Frances Cromwell, was a Knight of the Shire for Huntingdonshire and a grandfather of Oliver Cromwell. Sir Henry, of Welsh descent, the eldest son and heir of Sir Richard Williams, was highly esteemed by Queen Elizabeth I, who knighted him in 1563, and did him the honor of sleeping at his seat of Hinchingbrooke, on 18 August 1564, upon her return from visiting the University of Cambridge.

He was in the House of Commons in 1563, as one of the Knights of the Shire for Huntingdonshire, and was four times appointed Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire.f

Sir Richard Williams (Cromwell) Father of Henry and Grandfather of Frances

The list of prominent holders of the surname is almost endless, but one of the more unusual could be said to be the famous republican Oliver Cromwell, who "reigned" in England from 1650 to 1658, and whose family were formerly called Williams. They held extensive estates in Wales, but under instructions from King Henry V111 (1510 - 1547), the family name was changed to Cromwell.