Dr Patrick Little

Research Fellow, House of Lords, 1640-1660

plittle@histparl.ac.uk

Current Research/Role

I am the Assistant Editor of the 1640-60 Lords section, having joined the History in 1994. I was educated at the Universities of Cambridge, Dublin and London, and am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. I was part of the team that produced the nine-volume History of Parliament: House of Commons 1640-60, published in 2023, concentrating in particular on Ireland, Scotland and the western counties of England. In the Lords section, I am currently working on peers from the south and west of England, having filed recently draft articles on Francis Russell, 4th earl of Bedford, and his son William, 5th earl of Bedford.

Research Interests

Outside the section, my research has concentrated on the political history of Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century, and I have also published extensively on the Cromwellian Protectorate, including studies of Oliver Cromwell as lord protector, the protectorate Parliaments, and the government of Ireland and Scotland. Recently my research has expanded to include the Church of Ireland and its relationship with the Irish Protestant community.

Publications

Books

The Diary of Richard Boyle, 2nd earl of Cork and 1st earl of Burlington, 1650-73 (Dublin: Irish Manuscripts Commission, forthcoming) [co-edited with C. Dennehy].

The Church of Ireland under the Stuarts (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2025) [edited]. 

J. Morrill (ed.), The Letters, Speeches and Writings of Oliver Cromwell (3 vols., Oxford, 2022): [co-edited vol. III (1653-8) with J. Halcomb and D. L. Smith].

Ireland in Crisis: War, Politics and Religion, 1641-50 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020) [edited]. 

The English Civil Wars: A Beginner’s Guide (London: Oneworld Publications, 2014). 

Parliaments and Politics during the Cromwellian Protectorate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) [with D. L. Smith]. 

Oliver Cromwell: New Perspectives (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2008) [edited]. 

The Cromwellian Protectorate (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2007) [edited]. 

Lord Broghill and the Cromwellian Union with Ireland and Scotland (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2004).

Specialisms: Ireland. Scotland. Parliament. Church of Ireland. Strafford. Oliver Cromwell. Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, Richard Boyle, earl of Cork and Burlington.