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 , Tracts, i. 246). Fleetwood does not appear to have been actively employed in the second civil war, and took no part in the king's trial. He was appointed on 14 Aug. 1649 governor of the Isle of Wight, in conjunction with Colonel Sydenham (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1649–50, p. 277). In the summer of 1650 he accompanied Cromwell to Scotland, and, as lieutenant-general of the horse, helped to gain the battle of Dunbar. During his absence Fleetwood was elected a member of the third council of state (17 Feb. 1651), and was recalled from Scotland and charged with the command of the forces retained in England (ib. 1651, pp. 44, 103). This position gave him the command of the forces collected to oppose Charles II's march into England. He met Cromwell on 24 Aug. at Warwick to concert measures with him, gathered at Banbury the militia of about twenty counties, and crossing the Severn established himself at Upton, on the south-west of Worcester (29 Aug.) From this point Fleetwood commenced the battle of 3 Sept., forcing his way across the Teme, and driving the royalists into Worcester (Old Parliamentary History, xx. 25, 33, 41, 60). His services were acknowledged by the thanks of the House of Commons, and his re-election to the council of state. In the following year Fleetwood's importance was further increased by his appointment as commander-in-chief in Ireland and his marriage with Cromwell's daughter. A few weeks after the battle of Worcester Fleetwood had lost his wife, Frances, daughter of Thomas Smith of Winston, Norfolk, who was buried at St. Anne's, Blackfriars, 24 Nov. 1651 (Notes and Queries, iv. 3, 156). Two days later died, the husband of Cromwell's eldest daughter, Bridget, and before the end of 1652 the widow became Fleetwood's second wife (, Cromwell, Letter clxxxix.). The marriage was attributed at the time to Mrs. Ireton's desire to regain the position she had lost; but this is hardly consistent with the account of her character given by the writer who tells the story (Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, ii. 189, 202, ed. 1885). Fleetwood's appointment to the command of the Irish army was due to Lambert's refusal to hold the post except with the rank of lord deputy, which office parliament had resolved to abolish. Accordingly the council of state nominated Fleetwood (8 July 1652), parliament approved, and Cromwell, as captain-general of the forces of the Commonwealth, granted him a commission as commander-in-chief in Ireland, 10 July 1652 (, i. 212). He was also made one of the commissioners for the civil government of that country (Instructions 24 Aug. 1652, Old Parliamentary History, xx. 92).

Fleetwood remained in Ireland from September 1652 to September 1655. On 27 Aug. 1654, or earlier, he was given the higher rank of lord deputy, and continued to hold that title until superseded by Henry Cromwell in November 1657 (14th Report of the Deputy-Keeper of Irish Records, p. 28; Mercurius Politicus, 3780). The chief work of Fleetwood's government was the transplantation of the condemned Irish landholders to Connaught, and he was also able to begin the settlement of the disbanded soldiers on the confiscated estates (, Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland, ed. 1875, pp. 228, 267). Fleetwood was personally a warm supporter of the policy of transplantation, and eager to punish [q. v.] for his book against it (, iii. 139). A bitter persecutor of catholic priests, he showed himself ever ready to protect and favour the anabaptists and extreme sectaries among the soldiers, and was accordingly disliked by the presbyterians. This was probably one of the causes of his recall to England (Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, i. 74). The sectarian party and the army in general petitioned for his return (, iv. 276, 421). Fleetwood approved and furthered the foundation of the protectorate. According to Ludlow he procured the proclamation of the Protector by a trick, and took care that all the Irish members in the parliament of 1654 should be staunch friends of the government (Memoirs, pp. 184, 189, ed. 1751). But according to Colonel Hewson it was Fleetwood's ‘sweet healing peaceable spirit’ which drew over the hearts of the scrupulous, and convinced them that ‘the interest of God's people’ could only be secure by Cromwell's rule (, iv. 276). But he was always ready to intervene on behalf of old companions in arms who were dissatisfied with the new government. He interceded for Colonel Alured, Colonel Rich, and Adjutant-general Allen, proceeded against Ludlow with great reluctance, and strove hard to win him over (ib. ii. 728, iii. 246, vi. 251;, pp. 205, 210). Fleetwood was also in complete agreement with Cromwell in the various breaches which took place between him and his parliaments. On the dissolution of the first (January 1655) he wrote to Thurloe, declaring that freedom for tender consciences, and the limitation of the powers and duration of parliament were the two essentials of any settlement (, iii. 23, 112, 136). In December 1654 Fleetwood had been appointed one of Cromwell's council, and on his return to England (September 1655) he at once assumed a lead-