Oliver Cromwell signed documentA 361 year old vellum document featuring the incredibly rare signature of Oliver Cromwell The man who changed British history. Oliver Cromwell (1599 1658) was Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1653 to 1658 the first time in 800 years that England had not been ruled by a king. Cromwell was one of the most vociferous opponents of Charles Is rule and was second in command of the parliamentary troops against the royalists in the English