Hicks Sir Baptist

Hicks, Sir Baptist, Bart., created Baron Hicks and Viscount Campden in 1628, was born in 1551. Through his connection with the Court under Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., he prospered exceedingly, combining mercery with money-lending. He built at his own charge the old Clerkenwell Sessions House, long known as Hicks' Hall, and through his daughter's marriage became an ancestor of many existing peers, e.g. the Dukes of Devonshire, Beaufort, Portland, and Rutland, the Marquis of Northampton, the Earls of Gainsborough and Essex, and Lord Byron. He died in 1621.