Born at almost the end of the 16th Century, Oliver Cromwell would grow to become one of the most important figures of the following century. He was born to a family of the gentry, and lived the first four decades of his life as a gentleman farmer. Had not two changes occurred in his life – an inheritance from an uncle that made him richer, and a conversion to a more Puritan faith.
With these behind him, Cromwell would become first the Member of Parliament for Huntingdon, and rise through the ranks to become Lord-Protector of England by the time of his death. He would also, by this point, by a regicide who had led a civil war against his rightful king, and responsible for an invasion of Ireland that killed thousands, many of them civilians. Even today, while he is a divisive figure in England, he is still outright hated in many parts of Ireland.
