Hampden John

Hampden, John (1594-1643), a renowned English patriot, was descended from an ancient Buckinghamshire family. His mother was the sister of Oliver Cromwell's father. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and studied law at the Inner Temple. In 1621 he was returned to Parliament as member for Grampound. In the early Parliaments of Charles I., in which he represented Wendover - he associated himself with Eliot, Pym, and the other members who withstood the king's attempts to rule as an autocrat. In 1627 he was imprisoned for a short time for refusing to contribute to a forced loan. When Charles proceeded in 1637 to levy ship-money from inland as well as maritime towns, Hampden refused to pay the tax. He was summoned before the Court of Exchequer, and seven out of the twelve judges declared against him; but his determined attitude had already done much to encourage the opposition to the king's demands. Hampden sat in the Short Parliament of 1640, was returned to the Long Parliament as member for the county of Buckingham, and took a leading part in Strafford's impeachment. He was one of the five members whom Charles attempted to seize in the House in January, 1642. When the Civil War broke out he was placed in command of a regiment, which he had himself raised, in the army of the Earl of Essex. After distinguishing himself at Edgehill and elsewhere, he was slain in a skirmish with a troop of horse under Prince Rupert at Chalgrove Field near Thame in June, 1643.