John Hampden (c. June 1595 – 24 June 1643) was an English politician from Oxfordshire, who was killed fighting for Parliament in the First English Civil War. An ally of John Pym, and cousin of Oliver Cromwell, he was one of the Five Members whom Charles I of England tried to arrest in January 1642, a significant step in the outbreak of fighting in August. All five are commemorated at the State Opening of Parliament each year.
When the war began in August 1642, Hampden raised an infantry regiment for Parliament. His death on 18 June 1643 after the Battle of Chalgrove Field was considered a significant loss, but meant he avoided the later ideological splits that led to the execution of Charles I in January 1649, and establishment of the Commonwealth of England.
Combined with his reputation as an honest, principled, and patriotic opposer of arbitrary rule, this led to the erection of his statue in the rebuilt Palace of Westminster in 1841, representing the Parliamentarian cause. Prior to the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were among those who referenced him to justify their cause.
John Hampden was born around June 1595, probably in London, eldest son of William Hampden (1570–1597), and Elizabeth Cromwell (1574–1664). The family were long-established in Buckinghamshire, and William was Member of Parliament for East Looe in 1593. After the death of his father in April 1597, his cousin, another William Hampden, was appointed executor but became involved in a bitter legal dispute with Elizabeth; John's younger brother, Richard (1596–1659), inherited his estates at Emmington.
Hampden married Elizabeth Symeon in 1619, and they had nine children together prior to her death in 1631, of whom seven survived into adulthood: Ann (1616–1701), Elizabeth (1619–1643), John (1621–1642), William (died 1675), Ruth (1628–1687), Mary (1630–1689), and Richard (1631–1695), Chancellor of the Exchequer under William III. In 1640, he married Letitia Knollys (1591–1666); they had no children before he died in 1643.
1610 to 1629; Political activism
Hampden graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1610, and attended the Inner Temple from 1613 to 1615, not necessarily to become a lawyer, but because knowledge of the law was then considered part of a gentleman's education. While studying in London, he became involved with other Puritans, a general term for anyone who wanted to 'purify' the Church of England by removing what they considered to be Catholic practices. Members belonged to a variety of Protestant sects, the most prominent being Presbyterians like Hampden, connecting him to a network that included Richard Knightley, Lord Saye, and John Preston.
In 1621, he became MP for Grampound, a rotten borough in Cornwall controlled by the local magnate, John Arundell; a good example of the complexity of the period, Arundell opposed ship money in the 1630s, but during the First English Civil War held Pendennis Castle for Charles I. Hampden subsequently financed a successful campaign to restore parliamentary representation to Wendover in 1624, a seat he held until 1629. As MP for Wendover in 1626, he sat in the so-called "Useless Parliament", known as such for failing to pass any legislation. In return for approving taxes, Parliament demanded the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham, a close friend of the king, and a military commander notorious for inefficiency and extravagance.
Rather than comply, Charles dissolved it and resorted to raising money through forced loans, with over 70 individuals jailed for refusing to pay, including Hampden's uncle, Sir Edmund Hampden. When Hampden also declined to subscribe, he was arrested, and while in prison met Sir John Eliot, a leading member of the Parliamentary opposition. When the "loans" failed to produce sufficient income, Charles was forced to call new elections in March 1627, which returned "a preponderance of MPs opposed to the King", including Hampden, John Selden, Edward Coke, John Pym and a young Oliver Cromwell.
Released to attend the new Parliament, Hampden collaborated with Eliot and others in efforts to limit Royal power. The most significant was the June 1628 Petition of Right, which opened the way to a new impeachment of Buckingham, a campaign that ended after he was assassinated in August 1628 by a disgruntled soldier. The next issue was that of Roger Maynwaring and Robert Sibthorpe, two priests who published sermons supportive of the divine right of kings, passive obedience, and which implied Charles was entitled to raise taxes as he wished.
In the 17th century, many believed 'good government' and 'true religion' were closely linked, and alterations in one implied alterations in the other. Using divine right to justify the levying of taxes without the approval of Parliament was inflammatory enough in itself, but Maynwaring also claimed those who disobeyed the king risked eternal damnation, infuriating Puritans who generally believed in predestination, and salvation through faith. His suggestion 'kings were gods' was also regarded as blasphemy. Censured for preaching against the established constitution, the two men were later pardoned by Charles, who dismissed Parliament in 1629, and instituted eleven years of Personal Rule.
Hampden's role in the 1628 Parliament was largely behind the scenes, where his organisational and man-management skills could be best used, but placed him in the inner circle of parliamentary opposition. In 1629, the Earl of Warwick granted him lands in Saybrook Colony, now Old Saybrook, Connecticut; participation in the colonial movement was common among Puritan leaders. Other participants included Pym, who was treasurer of the Providence Island Company, Warwick, Lord Saye, Knightley, Henry Darley, William Waller, and Lord Brooke. Company meetings provided cover to organise political opposition; whether its members also considered permanent emigration is still disputed.
Hampden remained a relatively obscure figure, until 1637, when he was prosecuted in a test case to confirm the legality of ship money. This was a long-standing levy, raised in coastal counties to fund the Royal Navy, but only in time of war, not every year as Charles was now doing. Opposition was based on the principle of taxes imposed without parliamentary approval, not the tax itself; there was widespread support for a powerful navy to protect English trade.
Its extension into inland counties like Hampden's estates in Buckinghamshire widened opposition to its collection, and how it was spent. Sovereign of the Seas, a 100 gun warship built between 1634 and 1637, was a prestige project five times the cost of normal ships, too large for any English harbour and too slow to fight the Barbary pirates the Crown claimed justified building ships. Finally, rather than using it to deter Charles used it to transport Spanish bullion and supplies to Flanders for their war against the Protestant Dutch, payment for which he kept.
The parliamentary leaders, including Hampden, owned multiple properties, and to make it clear they only opposed its legality, they were careful to pay some assessments. Hampden was tried by the Court of Exchequer in June 1637 (R v Hampden), but divisions among the judges delayed their ruling until July 1638. Although seven out of the twelve found the tax legal, the fact five did not made it a public relations disaster for Charles; less than 20% of the £208,000 assessed for 1639 was paid. Many refused demands for coat and conduct money during the 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars, fearing if they did, Charles would turn them into permanent taxes.
1640 to July 1642; the road to civil war
Following defeat in the first of the Bishops Wars, Charles recalled Parliament in April 1640; when the Short Parliament refused to vote taxes without concessions, he dissolved it after only three weeks. However, the humiliating terms imposed by the Scots after a second victory in 1640 forced him to hold fresh elections in November; Pym acted as unofficial leader of the opposition, with Hampden co-ordinating the different factions. Shortly after the Long Parliament assembled, it was presented with the Root and Branch petition; signed by 15,000 Londoners, it demanded England follow the Scottish example and expel bishops from the Church of England.