28 JUNE 1940, Page 13

OLIVER CROMWELL SIR, —Surely Mr. Isaac Foot, in his article on

Oliver Cromwell in your issue of June 14th, does less than justice to the Protector's social position. He calls him a fanner. As a fact the Cromwells were one of the great families based upon the loot of the monasteries. Oliver himself was the cadet of an immensely wealthy family (the Williamses —for everybody knows that Oliver's real name was Williams). Oliver was brought up in the shadow of his uncle's great house, and they had counted for two generations as one of the great landed magnates of the county. It is true that they later lost their money by spendthrift habits, but Oliver himself was brought up in the purple, at the time when his uncle and grandfather were at the height of their fortunes.—