Colonel John Reed, Governor of Poole and ardent Parliamentarian, 1650 (c)

Oil on canvas by unknown artist, 1650 (c).

A soldier from the age of 16, Reed (1632-1730) reached the rank of colonel in Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. During the 2nd Civil War (1648-1649) he commanded the Parliamentarian garrison at Poole Castle. On the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, he fled to the American colonies, settling in Warwick, Rhodes Island. He later lived in Norwalk, Connecticut.