Ironside (cavalry) Ironside (cavalry) The Ironsides were troopers in the Parliamentarian cavalry formed by English political leader Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, during the English Civil War. The name came from "Old Ironsides", one of Cromwell's nicknames. Cromwell first mustered a troop of cavalry (then referred to as "horse") at Huntingdon in Huntingdonshire, on 29 August 1642, early in the Civil War. John Desborough was quartermaster. The troop was late in being organised, and arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the war. Cromwell however did witness the defeat of the Parliamentarian horse
Oliver Cromwell later used as a burial place for Charles II's illegitimate descendants. In Westminster Abbey, the site of Cromwell's burial was marked during the 19th century by a floor stone in what is now the RAF Chapel reading: "The burial place of Oliver Cromwell 1658–1661". During his lifetime, some tracts painted Cromwell as a hypocrite motivated by power. For example, "The Machiavilian Cromwell" and "The Juglers Discovered" are parts of an attack on Cromwell by the Levellers after 1647, and both present him as a Machiavellian figure. John Spittlehouse presented a more positive assessment in "A Warning Piece Discharged", comparing him