Oliver Cromwell the Lord Protector was the ruler of the English Commonwealth when he
passed away in September 1658.
He was the man who defeated the King Charles I during the English Civil War and also was
the driving force behind the King’s execution.
However, following the restoration of the monarchy Cromwell’s remains were dug up
on the order of Charles I’s son, King Charles II.
The remains were then paraded throughout the streets of London, alongside other prominent
men behind the execution of Charles I, Cromwell’s remains were the posthumously executed at
Tyburn in rather disturbing scenes.
The corpse of the once all powerful figure, rotting without its head.
But there was a crazy mystery as to what happened to Cromwell’s Head, as it passed through
a number of different hands.
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Cromwell’s posthumous execution was a long departure to what happened to him at his funeral.
When he died, he was given the same funeral that a reigning monarch would have, and his
body was left undisturbed in Westminster Abbey before it was dug up.
It was paraded throughout London on a sledge, before being hanged in chains and beheaded.
Charles II was understandably seeking to punish those men behind his father’s execution,
and Cromwell’s body had been initially very difficult to exhume from Westminster.
After his head was severed with 8 blows from the axe, seperating it from his rotting corpse,
it was placed above Westminster Hall on a 20 foot metal spike.
There were rumours that his daughter managed to retrieve his corpse, but Cromwell’s head
stayed on the spike above Westminster Hall as a reminder of what he had done.
The posthumous execution took place on the 30th January 1661, but his head stayed on
the spike until the late 1680s, over 20 years.
But at some point it seemingly got dislodged, and then fell onto the floor.
But Cromwell’s head came into private ownership.
It’s believed that during a terrible storm towards the end of James II’s reign, it
fell from the pole and was thrown to the ground.
But then it was picked up by a guard of the Exchequer’s office who hid it in his cloak
and then stored it in the chimney of his house.
In London many people were searching for his full, and money ws offered for its return.
But in 1710, it was in the possession of Charles Du Puy, a Swiss French collector, who placed
it in his private museum in London.
It was at the time considered one of the best attractions in London, and Du Puy also boasted
that he could sell the head for a huge sum of money.
Following his death, the head then shifted in its significance.
During the 17th century, it was regarded as a key warning to the people of London, but
in the following century it became more of a morbid curiosity and a tourist attraction.
In the late 18th century, it was acquired by a failed comic actor and a drunk called
Samuel Russel, who was considered a possible relative of Cromwell.
It must have been sold to him, but Russel then tried to sell it to Sidney Sussex College,
but in 1780 it was seen by a goldsmith and toymaker James Cox.
Cox offered to pay £100 for it, but Russel refused to do so.
It was noted that he did not look after it, and often passed it around at parties, but
eventually Xoc managed to get control of the head.
He then sold it to the Hughes brother’s for a sum in todays money of over £30,000.
They wished to start a display in Bond Street, and purchased the head and other Cromwellian
items to display with it.
Their exhibition however was a bit of a flop, but their daughter continued to show off the
head.
It was floated around for sale yet again, and in 1815 was sold to Josiah Henry Wilkinson.
It remained in his family until it was later reburied, and many people came to view the
head.
It was said in 1845 that, ‘it has hair, flesh and a beard,’ leading to the fact
that the embalmed head could have been definitely Cromwell’s as it was obviously from someone
high status.
Authenticity reports ruled eventually that the head in the possession of the Wilkinson
family was with moral certainty that of Oliver Cromwell.
It passed throughout the Wilkinson family until Horace Wilkinson passed away, and he
wished to give it a proper burial.
But his son also named Horace then contacted Sidney Sussex College, where Cromwell had
attended and arranged for the skull to be returned there.
The college accepted, and it was then interred on the 25th March 1960 in a secret location
near the antechapel, preserved in the oak box which it had been kept in for over a century.
It was placed in an airtight container, and buried with only a few witnesses.
The story of Oliver Cromwell’s head is one which has been questioned and debated, however
it’s incredibly captivating.
One of the biggest questions still remains about Cromwell, and that’s what happened
to his body after his posthumous execution?
This will be looked at in a upcoming video, as it’s also a very captivating and bizarre
story.
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