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Henry Ireton (baptised 3 November 1611; died 26 November 1651) was an English general in the Roundhead army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and a son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell. He died of disease outside Limerick in November 1651.
On the night before the Battle of Naseby, in June 1645, Ireton succeeded in surprising the Cavalier army and captured many prisoners. The next day, on the suggestion of Cromwell, he was made commissary-general and appointed to the command of the left wing, with Cromwell himself commanding the right. The wing under Ireton was completely broken by the impetuous charge of Prince Rupert, and Ireton was wounded and taken prisoner, but Cromwell charged and successfully routed the Royalists, freeing prisoners including Ireton.
Ireton was at the siege of Bristol in September 1645, and took part in the subsequent campaign that succeeded in overthrowing the royal cause. On 30 October 1645, Ireton entered parliament as member for Appleby. On 15 June 1646,The Victoria County History gives the date of Ireton's first marriage as January 1647. during the siege of Oxford he married Bridget Cromwell, eldest daughter of Oliver Cromwell. The marriage brought Ireton's career into parallel with Cromwell's.
Ireton finally became convinced of the hopelessness of dealing with King Charles, and after the King's flight to the Isle of Wight, treated his further proposals with coldness and urged the parliament to establish an administration without him. Ireton served under Thomas Fairfax in the Second Civil War in the campaigns in Kent and Essex, although Fairfax, as Lord General, and not Ireton as is sometimes believed, was responsible for the executions of Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle at Colchester. After the rejection by the King of the last offers of the army, Ireton zealously supported bringing him to trial. He wrote the Army's statement about the regicide—the Remonstrance of the Army—with Hugh Peters. He was active in the choice to purge rather than re-elect Parliament and supported the second Leveller Agreement of the People. He sat on the King's trial and was one of the commissioners who signed the death warrant.
In May 1650, Cromwell was recalled to England to command a Parliamentary force preparing to invade Scotland, and Ireton assumed command of the New Model Army in Ireland with the title and powers of Lord Deputy to complete the conquest of the country. This he proceeded to do, becoming noted as much by the savagery of his methods as for his military skill. By the middle of 1650, Ireton and his commanders faced two problems. One was the capture of the remaining cities held by the Irish Confederate and Royalists forces. The other was an escalating guerrilla war in the countryside as Irish fighters called rapparees attacked his supply lines. Ireton appealed to the English Parliament to publish lenient surrender terms for Irish Catholics, to end their resistance, but this was refused.
His first action after the refusal was to mount a counter-guerrilla expedition into the Wicklow Mountains early in June 1650, to secure his lines of supply for the Siege of Waterford in south-east Ireland. Ireton then blockaded Waterford into surrender by August 1650. Ireton systematically constructed trenches to bring his siege guns within range of the walls and stationed a parliamentary fleet off the city to prevent it being supplied. Thomas Preston surrendered Waterford after a three-month siege. Ireton then advanced to Limerick by October, but had to call off the siege due to cold and bad weather. Early in 1651, Ireton ordered that areas harbouring the guerrillas should be systematically stripped of food – a scorched-earth policy that caused a famine in Ireland by the end of the year. Ireton returned to Limerick in June 1651 and besieged the city for five months until it surrendered in October 1651. At the same time, parliamentarian forces conducted the Siege of Galway, and Ireton rode to inspect the command of Charles Coote, who was blockading that city. The physical strain of his command took hold on Ireton and he fell ill.
After the capture of Limerick, Ireton had dignitaries of Limerick hanged for their defence of the city, including Alderman Thomas Stritch, Bishop Turlough O'Brien, and an English Royalist officer, Colonel Fennell. He also wanted the Irish commander, Hugh Dubh O'Neill hanged, but Edmund Ludlow cancelled the order after Ireton's death.
Ireton fell ill of the plague that was raging through the town, and died on 26 November. His loss reportedly "struck a great sadness into Cromwell" and he was considered a great loss to the Commonwealth of England. There are various anecdotes about his demise from Irish ecclesiastical and English Royalist sources. Thus, Ireton's death has been depicted as divine retribution for the hanging of Bishop O'Brien, who prior to his death had called upon Ireton to answer at God's judgment seat for the New Model Army's massacres; the Hibernica Dominicana claims that on his death bed, Ireton was "privately muttering to himself, 'I never gave the aid of my counsel towards the murder of that bishop; never, never; it was the council of war did it… I wish I had never seen this popish bishop'."The Death of Oliver Cromwell by HF McMains Meanwhile, the memoirs of English Cavalier officer Philip Warwick allege that, in his delirious state, Ireton's last words were, "Blood! blood! I must have more blood!"
At Ireton's funeral, in Westminster Abbey, John Watson and others wore new tabards that replaced the royal arms with the new arms of the Commonwealth.H. Stanford London, 'The Heralds' Tabards under the Commonwealth', Notes and Queries, Vol.198, 1953, pp. 276-278.
Ireton Avenue in Beeston near to Attenborough is named after General Ireton. Ireton Road in Market Harborough was also named after Henry Ireton, while Ireton's Way is now a very straight part of the A142 between Ely and Chatteris, built by Ireton when he was commanding East Anglian forces as a causeway across the flooded Fens around the River Ouse to rush troops and supplies over when resisting Royalist attack from Lincolnshire and the Midlands.
Ireton Street in Walton, Liverpool sits off County Road (A59) in between (William) Lenthall Street and (John) Hampden Street.
There is an Ireton Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which runs parallel to a Cromwell Road. Also, an Ireton Road is in Colchester. This adjoins Honywood Road, named after Sir Thomas Honywood, who led the Essex forces at the Siege of Colchester under the command of Thomas Fairfax.
An Ireton Avenue exists in Walton-on-Thames as well as 'Ireton's House' on the high street. 'Ireton's House' was gifted to Henry Ireton by Oliver Cromwell after the marriage to Bridget Cromwell.
His portrait continues to hang in the dining hall of Trinity College, Oxford.
Ireton is portrayed as a minor character in Rosemary Sutcliff's 1953 historical fiction novel Simon.
Ireton is the main character in John Attenborough's 1987 historical novel Destiny Our Choice, which gives a generally positive view of Ireton, claiming that he was influential in saving the life of Hugh O'Neill after the Siege of Limerick in 1650–51.
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