WOMAN WITH A WILL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 November 1940, Page 8

WOMAN WITH A WILL

CROMWELL'S GRAND-DAUGHTER Here comes Cromwell's grand-daugh ter. She is Bridget Ireton, and she war born about 1650. You will know he: the minute you see her—the fine head Ihe lined face, the brilliant, searchin; eyes. She is a feminine epitome of her grandfather, and she is not onl? like him in appearance, but possesses much of his strength of will. Here she is, now an old lady, a widow —for Thomas Bendish, a well-to-do Yarmouth man, and a relative of Sii Thomas Bendish —is dead. His saltworks and his farms are gone, and all the money Bridget once had has vanished. She is turned 70. but she is no ashamed to work, and to work hard, for she has worked hard all her life and thought nothing of it. From earlj morning till late at night she has worked. and she has gone her own way, as the Protector did.

Look at her again. For all hei strength of character she has been noted for her charm of manner, and hei commonsense. And her daring, too. Do not forget that. She was once under suspicion for having something to do with the Rye House Plot of 1683 and she certainly risked her life tc help a relative to escape prison. She was not afraid to distribute literature in favour of the recognition of William the 'third, and if anyone ever said a word against Oliver Cromwell —there was trouble in store for them. Once —riding in a coach for London —she overheard a passenger say harsh things about the Protector who was then dead and buried. Up jumped Bridget Ireton, and from that moment until the coach rattled into the mews she gave the speaker a piece of her mind, and the minute she was on the cobble-stones she snatched a sword from another traveller, and challenged Ihe slanderer to fight to the death. Cromwell never had henchmen like her.

She died at Yarmouth, and she sleeps there to this day, one of the most remarkable women of her time.