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
Henry Cromwell Henry Cromwell Henry Cromwell (20 January 1628 – 23 March 1674) was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland. Henry Cromwell, fourth son of Oliver Cromwell, was born at Huntingdon on 20 January 1628. He was educated at Felsted School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Henry Cromwell entered the New Model Army towards the close of the First Civil War, and was in 1647 either a captain in Harrison's regiment or the commander of Fairfax's lifeguard. Heath and Wood identify him with the commandant of the life-guard. In the