Henry An English Soldier Ireton, son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, born in Nottinghamshire in 1610, died in the camp before Limerick, Nov. 15, 1651. He graduated at Trinity college, Oxford, and commenced reading for the law; but his studies were interrupted by the civil war, and he joined the parliamentary army. At the battle of Naseby he was taken prisoner, but escaped. Having married Bridget Cromwell, Oliver's eldest daughter, in 1646, he was appointed captain of horse, and soon afterward colonel. Ireton was one of the most active in compassing the death of the king, and signed the death warrant. Under the protectorate Cromwell made him president of Munster and afterward lord deputy of Ireland, in which capacity he acted with much administrative vigor, and the greater part of the island submitted to him without resistance. He died of the plague. His body was carried to London, and buried in the chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster abbey. On the restoration his remains were exhumed, exposed on a gibbet, and burned by the hangman at Tyburn. The royalists admitted his ability, but denounced him as treacherous and hypocritical; his friends eulogized his sanctity and talents.

From his skill in drawing up ordinances, petitions, and declarations, he was called "the scribe." A pension of £2,000 from the confiscated estates of the duke of Buckingham, refused by him, was settled on his family.