Petition of the three colonels
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 the Republican agitator John Wildman[2] in the name of 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] On 18 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
- ^ Barbara TaftThe Humble Petition of Several Colonels of the Army: Causes, Character, and Results of Military Opposition to Cromwell's Protectorate The Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Winter, 1978), pp. 15-41
- ^ Barbara TaftThe Humble Petition of Several Colonels of the Army: Causes, Character, and Results of Military Opposition to Cromwell's Protectorate The Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Winter, 1978), pp. 15-41, particularly p.23
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900) Nathaniel Rich
- ^ Woolrych. p 609
- ^ David Plant. Timeline 1654 October http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk
- ^ Woolrych p. 610
References
- Austin Woolrych. Britain in Revolution: 1625-1660, Oxford University Press, 2004
ISBN 0199272689, 9780199272686.
  | This article related to the history of England is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |