Major-General Robert Overton c. 1609 to 1678, was a member of the landed gentry from Yorkshire, who fought for Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and reached the rank of Major General in 1652.
A committed republican and religious Independent who sympathised with the Fifth Monarchists, like others with similar views he opposed the establishment of The Protectorate, and was held in the Tower of London from 1655 to 1659.
A close friend of the poet John Milton, Overton was the author of various articles and pamphlets, as well as poetry written for his wife Anne.
[2] As positions hardened during the period leading up to the First English Civil War in August 1642, Robert Overton supported the Parliamentarian cause, probably influenced by Sir William Constable, 1st Baronet, who later became a regicide.
[4][8] The letter makes it clear that he supported actions like Pride's Purge if the "corrupt Commons" stopped the Army's reforms.
In December 1652, when George Monck's successor Richard Deane was recalled, the General appointed him as Military Commander over all English forces in the Western Highlands with the governorship of Aberdeen, the senior rank of Major-General.
During 1650, he and his wife had become members of the "church": in retrospect he considered the execution of Charles I as a fulfilment of the fundamentals of Old Testament scripture so often cited in Ezekiel 21:26-27: "Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
Cromwell informed him that he could keep his position in the army so long as he promised to relinquish his office when he could no longer support the policies of the Protectorate.
It was alleged that a verse in Overton's handwriting was found amongst his papers: He was accused of planning a military insurrection against the government and plotting to assassinate Monck.
"[13]In 1655 Cromwell was convinced enough of his guilt to have him removed from the governorship of Hull and to confiscate the lands granted to him by Parliament in Scotland handing them back to Earl of Leven the owner before they were sequestrated.
Barbara Taft mentions that "It is not unlikely that respect for Overton's ability and fear of his appeal as an opposition leader played a major role in his imprisonment.
"[6] After Cromwell's death and the re-installation of the Commonwealth, Grizelle, his sister, his wife Anne, her brother, and many Republicans, presented his case to Parliament, on 3 February 1659, along with letters from Overton's close friend John Milton.
Overton and John Milton probably became acquainted from an early moment in their careers in St Giles, Cripplegate, where they removed and lived for a time.
Milton considered Overton a scholar and celebrated him and his exploits in his "Defensio Secundo" by writing: "...bound to me these many years past in friendship of more than brotherly closeness and affection, both by the similarity of our tastes and the sweetness of your manners."
Overton's return was called "his greatest political triumph; a huge crowd, bearing laurel branches, acclaimed him and diverted his coach from its planned path."
[17][18] By early 1660, Overton's position started to diverge from that of Monck, as he did not support the return of Charles II, yet he and his officers refused to aid Generals Lambert and Fleetwood.
He was regarded, perhaps falsely, as one of the Fifth Monarchists, and at the first rumour of insurrection was arrested and sent to the Tower of London in December 1660, where Samuel Pepys went to see him writing in his diary that Overton had been found with a large quantity of arms.
He managed a short interval of freedom but was again arrested on 26 May 1663 on "suspicion of seditious practices and for refusing to sign the oaths or give security."
As Andrew Marvell, the English Satirist, wrote in a letter to John Milton, "Col. Overton [was] one of those steady Republicans whom Cromwell was unable to conciliate and was under the necessity of security.