IRELAND

Returned six members to the Nominated Assembly of 1653

The Nominated Assembly was the first interregnum Parliament to include Members from Ireland, in an attempt to represent the ‘commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland’ as a whole. The MPs were not elected locally, but chosen by the council of state at Whitehall on the advice of Charles Fleetwood* and the parliamentary commissioners in Dublin, and direct evidence of the way such nominations were made does not survive. Clues can, however, be gleaned indirectly from two sources. First, the identity of the six MPs suggests that the Dublin government had considerable influence over the nomination process. Three were English soldiers: the governor of Dublin, John Hewson, the Ulster commander, John Clerke II, and Henry Cromwell, the lord general’s younger son, who had served in Ireland between 1650 and 1652. The three civilian MPs had long-standing Irish connections, but, more importantly, had all co-operated with the Dublin government. Vincent Gookin, a native of Munster, had come into the commonwealth service soon after 1649; Daniel Hutchinson, a Dublin alderman, had worked closely with the parliamentary commissioners in the early 1650s; Sir Robert King, from Connaught, had joined Hewson and Hutchinson in the army administration after the Cromwellian invasion. All six were thus considered supporters not just of the commonwealth, but of Fleetwood’s government in Dublin. Under Fleetwood’s direction, there may also have been a deliberate attempt to spread the seats geographically – two for Dublin, one each for Connaught, Ulster and Munster, and one for Oliver Cromwell’s* son – and to ensure that the nomination of three army officers was balanced by the return of three trustworthy ‘Old Protestants’ of Ireland.

Secondly, some insight into the nominations of 1653 can be gained from a comparison with the elections to the first protectorate Parliament in August 1654. In the latter case, the English council decided to create 20 constituencies, returning 30 Members, once again arranged by province, with elections to be held under military supervision in garrison towns; but the Irish council, still led by Fleetwood, was again given considerable influence over the electoral process.