- Thomas Kelsey
Thomas Kelsey rose from obscurity as a "
London tradesman" to become an important figure in the government ofOliver Cromwell .Kelsey enlisted in the
New Model Army and fought on the side of Parliament during theEnglish Civil War , displaying a zeal that led him to become a Major-General in 1645. He was became a Lieutenant-Colonel in Colonel Ingoldsby's regiment from 1646. After the war he was elected as Deputy-Governor ofOxford , and in 1651 he was further appointed a Lieutenant ofDover Castle .As a member of the 'fifth Monarchist congregation' in London, led by John Simpson, during the early 1650s, he supported Oliver Cromwell in the establishment of the Protectorate and was elected MP for Sandwich in Kent for the
First Protectorate Parliament , and was appointed the Major-General forSurrey andKent during theRule of the Major-Generals .Thomas Kelsey was returned for Dover during the Second Protectorate Parliament, when he supported
John Desborough 's move to establish the Major-Generals as a permanent form of government.After the collapse of the Protectorate in 1659, Thomas Kelsey supported
John Lambert 's attempts to resist the Restoration. Major-General Kelsey was deprived of his commands under the recalledRump Parliament (Jan 1660), and was ordered to leave London. With the return of King Charles II in May 1660, Kelsey felt safer removing himself tothe Netherlands , but with others including John Desborough was instructed to return to England in 1666.Thereafter little more is known of his life, except that it has been suggested he turned his skills to becoming a brewer, and that he died around 1680.
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