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Petition of the three colonels

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The petition of the three colonels or The Humble Petition of Several Colonels of the Army[1] was a document of the English Interregnum. Written by John Wildman[2] John Okey, Thomas Saunders, and Matthew Alured—three colonels in the New Model Army—it criticised Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate and was circulated in the army during 1654.[3][4] In October that year, after the petition had been ceased and the three officers arrested, John Wildman published it.[5] Okey was court-martialled, was found not guilty of treason, and was set free once he resigned his commission. Saunders was not tried after he resigned his commission. Alured was cashiered from the Army and spent a year in prison because in addition to signing the petition he had stirred up dissatisfaction among English troops stationed in Ireland.[6]

Notes

References

  • Austin Woolrych. Britain in Revolution: 1625-1660, Oxford University Press, 2004

ISBN 0199272689, 9780199272686.