Henry Ireton - in Fiction

In Fiction

In the 1970 film Cromwell starring Richard Harris and Alec Guinness, Michael Jayston plays Ireton as a subtle but well-meaning manipulator who hates Charles I and pushes Cromwell into taking actions which the latter at first considers neither desirable nor possible but then pursues all the way. This version of Ireton is ready to denounce the King and plunge England into civil war before Cromwell becomes convinced that this is a necessary step. In the film, he and Cromwell are also among the five members whom Charles I attempts to arrest on the eve of the war (when in fact they were not) and, after the King is executed, is upbraided by Cromwell as being too ambitious. There is no mention in the film of Ireton marrying Cromwell's daughter.

Ireton is portrayed as a minor character in Rosemary Sutcliff's 1953 historical fiction novel Simon.

Ireton is the main character in John Attenborough's 1987 historical fiction novel Destiny Our Choice, which gives a generally positive view of Ireton, claiming that he was influential in saving the life of Hugh O'Neill after the siege of Limerick.