The family fortune was made by the Protector's great-grandfather, Richard Williams, son of a Welsh gentleman from Glamorganshire, Morgan ap William. This Richard was introduced to the Court of Henry VIII by his kinsman, the great courtier and royal secretary Thomas Cromwell, later Earl of Essex. Some sources suggest that Richard's mother was Cromwell's sister, others that Cromwell himself had married the widow of a Williams. Richard soon became a favourite of the King and was one of the gentlemen sent to suppress the Pilgrimage of Grace. In recognition of his services he was appointed one of the Visitors of the religious houses as his kinsman pursued the policy that led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The rewards started to pour in - Richard was granted the estates of the nunnery of Hinchinbrook and the great abbey of Ramsey, both in Huntingdonshire, as well as several other smaller religious houses. Then, in 1540, he distinguished himself at a joust in Westminster. During the tournament he was knighted by Henry VIII and presented with a diamond ring off the King's own finger. On Henry's recommendation he changed his name to Cromwell in honour of his relation, the Earl of Essex. However, his fortunes were in no way injured by the sudden ruin and execution of the Earl. In 1541 Sir Richard Cromwell became High Sheriff of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire (the two counties were then, as they have been again in recent years, counted as one civil administration, and the High Sheriff was chosen in rotation from the old county of Cambridge, from the Isle of Ely, and from Huntingdonshire) and in 1542 he was elected to Parliament as MP for Huntingdonshire. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and served in France as a general of infantry. And all the while he accrued more and more honours and more and more estates and wealth. It was said when he died in 1546 that he must have left a prodigious fortune to his two sons, as big an estate as any peer.

- "Memoirs of the Protectoral -House of Cromwell" by the Reverend Mark Noble, published in 1787.

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http://www.datadirect.org.uk/cromwellcollection/genealogy/fiches/fiche68.htm#f1361

WILLIAMS Sir Richard -  8

Birth : 1495

Alias Cromwell

Death : 1547

Father : WILLIAMS Morgan ( ? - ? )

Mother : CROMWELL Katherine ( ? - ? )

Union : MARTYN Frances ( ? - 1533 )

Marriage : 1518

Children : CROMWELL Francis ( ? - 1598 )

CROMWELL Sir Henry ( ? - 1603 )

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http://www.thepeerage.com/p13113.htm#i131121

Sir Richard Cromwell1

M, #131121

Last Edited=17 Oct 2006

    Sir Richard Cromwell is the son of Morgan Williams and Catherine Cromwell.1 He married Frances Murfyn, daughter of Sir Thomas Murfyn.2

    Sir Richard Cromwell was baptised with the name of Richard Williams.1

Child of Sir Richard Cromwell and Frances Murfyn

Sir Henry Cromwell+1 b. 1537, d. 1604

Citations

[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 555. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.

[S1169] Rosie Davis, "re: Burrard Family," e-mail message from <e-mail address> (unknown address) to Darryl Lundy, 16 September 2004 - 12 June 2005. Hereinafter cited as "re: Burrard Family."