Charles Fleetwood, an English republican, son of Sir William Fleetwood, died in 1692. At the commencement of the civil war he enlisted as a trooper in the parliamentary army, and in 1645 was made colonel, and governor of Bristol. In the same year he was returned to parliament for Buckinghamshire, and in 1647 he was one of the commissioners to treat with the king. After the establishment of the commonwealth he became lieutenant general, distinguished himself at the battle of Worcester, and in consequence of his great influence with the army, after the death of his first wife Cromwell gave him his eldest daughter Bridget, the widow of Ireton, in marriage. In 1652 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland, and afterward lord deputy; but his opposition to the ambitious projects of his father-in-law soon caused his recall. He was appointed one of the fourteen major generals to whom the internal government was committed during the latter days of the protectorate. On the death of the protector he endeavored by his influence with the troops to supplant Richard Cromwell, but in the midst of his intrigues the Stuarts were restored, and he narrowly escaped execution as a rebel, He retired to Stoke-Newington, and passed the rest of his life in obscurity.

He was cunning, timid, and irresolute, with but little military skill; and his influence and promotion in Cromwell's army were mainly due to his power in praying and extemporaneous preaching.