Ironside (cavalry) and foot soldiers in Jo Walton's alternate history series the Small Change trilogy are named 'Ironsides'. Lawrence J. Epstein writes that the lyric "heaven is like Ironside's" in Bob Dylan's I Pity the Poor Immigrant refers to the puritanical view of religion shared by the followers of Cromwell. 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,
Sir Oliver Cromwell 2nd Viscount Brouncker. It seems that John and Abigail, like many of the Cromwells, thought it prudent after 1660 to use the older family name Williams. He was the brother of Richard, Robert (the father of the Lord Protector) and Henry Cromwell. Sir Oliver Cromwell Sir Oliver Cromwell ("c." 1566–1655) was an English landowner, lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1625. He was the uncle of Oliver Cromwell, the Member of Parliament, general, and Lord Protector of England. Cromwell was the heir of Sir Henry Williams, alias Cromwell, of Hinchingbrooke,