Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 15

CROMWELL (OLIVER)
Military pass signed ("O Cromwell"), addressed "To all officers & souldiers under my Command", allowing the bearers, John Pye, John Brooke, Robert Heath and Nicholas Rainton, with four servants, horses and "travelling armes", free passage through any part of England and to Edinburgh ("...quietly to pase to any parte in England and to Edinburgh in Scotland without any let or molestation..."), "Given under my Hand and seale the last day of March: 1653", 31 March 1653

11 November 2015, 13:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £5,625 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Books & Manuscripts specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

CROMWELL (OLIVER)

Military pass signed ("O Cromwell"), addressed "To all officers & souldiers under my Command", allowing the bearers, John Pye, John Brooke, Robert Heath and Nicholas Rainton, with four servants, horses and "travelling armes", free passage through any part of England and to Edinburgh ("...quietly to pase to any parte in England and to Edinburgh in Scotland without any let or molestation..."), with a fine impression of Cromwell's private armorial seal in red wax at the top left-hand corner; with integral blank, docketed by Pye "31th March. 1653./ Generall Cromwell's Passe/ to my self & others." and "Mr Pye al[ia] passe", 1 page, with a Pot watermark [indicating Normandy paper], light surface-dirt and very faint spotting (especially to outer page of blank) but overall in fresh and attractive condition, folio, "Given under my Hand and seale the last day of March: 1653", 31 March 1653

Footnotes

'TO ALL OFFICERS & SOULDIERS UNDER MY COMMAND' – Cromwell issues a pass for a party to travel "to Edinburgh in Scotland without any let or molestation". This pass was known to Abbott through a brief summary only: 'Pass/ For four gentlemen to travel, with their servants and horses, throughout England. March 31, 1653', taken from an entry in Notes and Queries for 1886 (Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, ii, p. 628). It dates from an important period in Cromwell's life, three weeks before he seized the Speaker's mace and dissolved the Rump Parliament, being by the end of the year established as Protector. It is as Abbott remarks, a rare survival: 'Of all this, as of most such periods in his career, there is no record from his pen. In the midst of these matters of deep politics, the only documents are insignificant – a note which suggests some disagreement in the Dunch family which had appealed to him; a pass; and a commission for a preacher, or chaplain – none of them of any consequence, and none of them providing any clue as to his thoughts or actions' (ii, p.628).

Provenance: "Found at Clifton Campville Hall (near Tamworth) amongst a lot of old papers by S.A. Wilde. August 190 [sic]/ Estate belonged to the Trustees of John Pye a lineal descendant of the John Pye referred to in this permit. The other branch of the Pye Family own Faringdon Hall in Berkshire/ S.A.W.", note on the reverse of the late nineteenth century frame.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

ADVERTISING POSTERfor 'The Suffragette' newspaper, [c.1913-1914]

ARCHITECTURE - STUART (JAMES) AND NICHOLAS REVETT The Antiquities of Athens, 4 vol. bound in 2, 1825-1830

ILLUMINATED ADDRESS – CLARA CODD Illuminated printed address signed by Emmeline Pankhurst, [1909]

ARMENIAN - HISTORY, THEOLOGY AND PRINTING. Group of books/a map in Armenian, c.1825-1901 (12)

MUSIC & RECORDINGS – ETHEL SMYTH Collection of printed music, song sheets and records, [c.1911-1912]

BANK NOTES - MANUFACTURING BRADBURY (HENRY) On the Security and Manufacture of Bank Notes, FIRST EDITION, Bradbury and Evans, 1856