[Note: This biography was written by the late Harold B. Disbrowe of London, Ontario, a direct descendant of Major-General John Disbrowe, and furnished to us by Harold's great-nephew, Guy Disbrowe, of Toronto. You can read more about the author here.]

Introduction (below)
A List of References (below)
1. Background To Conflict
2. The Opening Phase
3. The Ironsides
4. Marston Moor
5. Naseby and the New Model
6. Langport and After
7. The Founding of the Protectorate
8. An Eventful Year (1654)
9. The West Indies Expedition
10. Major General of The West
11. The Second Protectorate
12. The End of The Commonwealth
13. Disbrowe: The Man and His Family
Appendix: The Disbrowe Family After 1800

For many years the author of this little volume was vaguely aware that his ancestor, Major General John Disbrowe, was a prominent servant of the English Commonwealth and Protectorate. It is only recently that he found the time to investigate the part played by this man in the momentous events of his time. This has not been easy for, while most works on Cromwell and the Civil War contain numerous references to him and his enfluential role in politics and the armed services, details of his personal life are strangely lacking. Aside from the precis in the National Dictionary of Biography he has, apparently, not been the subject of a previous biography. This work grew out of an attempt to place in proper sequence the fragmentary bits of information concerning him, which the writer managed to collect from various sources.

In order to lend significance to the known facts and circumstances in the life of John Disbrowe, is was necessary to place them within the context of the historical events of the times in which they occurred. For this background material the writer has drawn mainly from the works of Sir Charles Firth and Maurice Ashley, both renowned Cromwellian authorities. No attempt has been made to write a complete history of this period, which is very complicated, but merely to relate some details of the events in which Disbrowe was personally involved. Wherever possible the General has been allowed to tell his story through the medium of his dispatches to Cromwell and State Secretary Thurloe and some correspondence from other sources.

The research for this work was conducted in the Lawson Memorial Library, University of Western Ontario. The author is indebted to the university for the use of its facilities.

H. B. Disbrowe
London, Canada

(copied by Mrs. Georgina Carol Fuoco - nee Disbrowe - February 22, 1971)

Thurloe..........A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Esq.... (ed. Birch), 7 vols. 1742

Ashley(1)..........The Greatness of Oliver Cromwell, (Collier ed.) 1962

Ashley(2)..........Cromwell's Generals, 1954 (Jonathan Cape)

Noble..........Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell, 2 vols. 1784

Firth(1)..........Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England, 1934 (Oxford ed. 1961)

Firth(2)..........Cromwell's Army, 1902

Firth(3)..........The Raising of the Ironsides, (Royal Hist. Soc. N. S., vol. XIII), 1899

Gardiner..........History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 4 vols. 1903

Buchan..........Oliver Cromwell, 1934 (Hodder and Stoughton)

Morant..........History of Essex, 2 vols. 1768

Whitelock..........Whitelock's Memorials, 4 vols. 1635

Pepys..........Pepys Diary (Braybrooke), 4 vols. (Bigelow & Co., N.Y.)

Ludlow..........Ludlow's Memoirs 1625 - 1673 (Firth ed. 1894)

Clarendon..........The History of the Rebellion and Civil War in England, 3 vols. 1707

D. N. B. ..........Dictionary of National Biography, London 1888

L. & S. ..........Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, by Thos. Carlyle, 3 vols. (ed. Lomas 1904)

Abbott..........Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell (Cortez ed.), 2 vols. 1832

Encyclopedia.....The Complete Encyclopedia of Antiques, (ed. Ramsey 1962)

Disbrowe..........Records of Stirring Times 1726 - 1822 (William Heinemann 1908)

Chancellor..........The Ancient Sepulchral Monuments of Essex (Messrs. Edmund Durrant & Co., Chelmsford, 1890 - 2 vols.)

Chapter One: Background to Conflict