We see, however, that from this time onward it was no longer thought necessary that people must be of royal or noble birth in order to deserve a grave in the Abbey. Any man who had done any especial service to his country and nation, whether in peace or war, was henceforward thought worthy of a place there, and this is just what helps to make the Abbey one of the most interesting places in the world. The chief man of the Parliamentary party to be buried in the Abbey was, of course, Oliver Cromwell himself. He died in 1658, and was buried in Henry VII’s Chapel. Although he was only called Lord Protector, his funeral was very stately, like that of a sovereign. It seems to us a curious thing that Cromwell should have wished that he and his family should be buried in this Chapel, among the royal Tudors and Stuarts, but so it was. Henry Ireton, son-in-law of Cromwell, and deputy for the Protector in Ireland, died in 1651, and was buried in the Cromwell vault in Henry VII’s Chapel. John Bradshaw, President of the Council that condemned Charles I to death, died in 1659, and was also buried in the Cromwell vault. Bradshaw had lived for some time at Westminster, the Deanery having been leased to him. An old story says that his ghost used to haunt part of the Triforium. These three men, Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw, were always looked upon as the chief regicides, and at the Restoration their bodies were not only dug up, but they were hanged at Tyburn and buried beneath the gallows. The heads were struck off by the executioner, and put up on poles outside Westminster Hall. Among other well-known names of the Commonwealth times are John Pym and William Strode, who are buried close to one another in the North Ambulatory. Pym was the famous leader of the popular party in the Long Parliament. He died in 1643. Strode was one of the five members whom Charles I demanded to have given up to him when he came to the House of Commons with an armed force in 1641–42. Another celebrated name is that of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, the great commander of the Parliamentary army. Essex was the son of Queen Elizabeth’s favourite, that Earl of Essex whose death made her last days so miserable. This younger Essex died in 1646, and was buried in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist. He had a very splendid funeral, at which his effigy was carried, dressed in his General’s uniform. After the funeral some Royalists broke into the Abbey, stripped the uniform off the effigy, and broke it in revenge for what they considered to be Essex’s treachery. At the Restoration his coffin was not found, so he was fortunately left undisturbed in his grave. In the same Chapel is buried another great soldier of the time, Colonel Popham, who distinguished himself both on land and sea. His body was allowed to remain in the Abbey, but the inscription was effaced. Popham died in 1651.