Lord Protector or otherwise unable to rule. Notable cases in England are: and in Scotland: The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland was the title of the head of state during the Commonwealth (or, to monarchists, the Interregnum), following the first period when a Council of State held executive power. The title was held by Oliver Cromwell (December 1653 – September 1658) and subsequently his son and designated successor Richard Cromwell (September 1658 – May 1659) during what is now known as The Protectorate. The 1653 Instrument of Government (republican constitution) stated that— Oliver Cromwell, Captain-General of the
Thomas Saunders (born 1626) Thomas Saunders (born 1626) Thomas Saunders (1626 – c. 1670) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660. Saunders was the son of John Saunders of Reading and Woolstone in Berkshire (the latter now in Oxfordshire) and his wife Margaret Evelyn, daughter of John Evelyn of Godstone, Surrey. He succeeded his father in 1638 and purchased the estate of Mongewell Park in Oxfordshire, across the River Thames from Wallingford, also in Berkshire (but now in Oxfordshire). In 1660, he was elected Member of Parliament for Wallingford in a by-election to the Convention Parliament.