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JOHN HAMPDEN (c. 1595-1643)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 900 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:HAMPDEN (c. 1595-1643)  , See also:English statesman, the eldest son of See also:William See also:Hampden, of See also:Great Hampden in See also:Buckinghamshire, a descendant of a very See also:ancient See also:family of that See also:place, said to have been established there before the See also:Conquest, and of See also:Elizabeth, second daughter of See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Cromwell, and aunt of See also:Oliver, the future See also:protector, was See also:born about the See also:year 1595 . By his See also:father's See also:death, when he was but a See also:child, he became the owner of a See also:good See also:estate and a See also:ward of the See also:crown . He was educated at the See also:grammar school at Thame, and on the 3oth of See also:March 1610 became a commoner of Magdalen See also:College at See also:Oxford . In 1613 he was admitted a student of the Inner See also:Temple . He first sat in See also:parliament for the See also:borough of See also:Grampound in 1621, representing later See also:Wendover in the first three parliaments of See also:Charles I., Buckinghamshire in the See also:Short Parliament of 164o, and Wendover again in the See also:Long Parliament . In the See also:early days of his See also:parliamentary career he was content to be overshadowed by See also:Eliot, as in its later days he was content to be overshadowed by See also:Pym and to be commanded by See also:Essex . Yet it is Hampden, and not Eliot or Pym, who lives in the popular See also:imagination as the central figure of the English revolution in its earlier stages . - It is Hampden whose statue rather than that of Eliot or Pym has been selected to take its place in St See also:Stephen's See also:Hall as the noblest type of the parliamentary opposition, as See also:Falkland's has been selected as the noblest type of parliamentary royalism . Something of Hampden's fame no doubt is owing to the position which he took up as the opponent of See also:ship-See also:money . But it is hardly possible that even resistance to ship-money would have so distinguished him but for the mingled massiveness and modesty of his See also:character,. his dislike of all pretences in himself or others, his brave contempt of danger, and his charitable readiness to See also:shield others as far . as possible from the evil consequences of their actions . Nor was he wanting in that skill which enabled him to See also:influence men towards the ends at which he aimed, and which was spoken of as subtlety by those who disliked his ends . During these first parliaments Hampden did not, so far as we know, open his lips in public debate, but he was increasingly employed in See also:committee See also:work, for which he seems to have had a See also:special aptitude .

In 1626 he took an active See also:

part in the preparation of the charges against See also:Buckingham . In See also:January 1627 he was See also:hound over to See also:answer at the See also:council See also:board for his refusal to pay the forced See also:loan . Later in the year he was committed to the See also:gate-See also:house, and then sent into confinement in See also:Hampshire, from which he was liberated just before the See also:meeting of the third parliament of the reign, in which he once more rendered useful but unobtrusive assistance to his leaders . When the See also:breach came in 1629 Hampden is found in epistolary See also:correspondence with the imprisoned Eliot, discussing with him the prospects of the See also:Massachusetts See also:colony,2 or rendering ' An earlier viscountcy was bestowed in 1776 on See also:Robert Hampden-Trevor, 4th See also:Baron Trevor (1706-1783), a great-See also:grandson of the daughter of See also:John Hampden, the patriot; it became See also:extinct in 1824 by the death of the 3rd See also:viscount .

End of Article: JOHN HAMPDEN (c. 1595-1643)
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