John Hampden (21 March 1653 – 12 December 1696), the second son of

Richard Hampden Richard Hampden (baptized 13 October 1631 – 15 December 1695) was an English Whig politician and son of Ship money tax protester John Hampden. He was sworn a Privy Counsellor in 1689 and was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 18 March 1690 unt ...

, and grandson of

Ship money Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs ...

tax protester

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English landowner and politician whose opposition to arbitrary taxes imposed by Charles I made him a national figure. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and cousin to Oliver Cromwell, he was one of t ...

, returned to England after residing for about two years in France, and joined himself to William Russell and

Algernon Sidney Algernon Sidney or Sydney (15 January 1623 – 7 December 1683) was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of Englan ...

and the party opposed to the arbitrary government of Charles II. With Russell and Sidney he was arrested in 1683 for alleged complicity in the

Rye House Plot The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York. The royal party went from Westminster to Newmarket to see horse races and were expected to make the r ...

, but more fortunate than his colleagues his life was spared, although as he was unable to pay the fine of £40,000 which was imposed upon him he remained in prison. Then in 1685, after the failure of

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London ...

's rising, Hampden was again brought to trial, and on a charge of

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

was condemned to death. But the sentence was not carried out, and having paid £6000 he was set at liberty. In the Convention Parliament of 1689 he represented

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

, but in the subsequent parliaments he failed to secure a seat. It was Hampden who in 1689 coined the phrase "

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

".In testimony before a House of Lords committee in the fall of 1689; (2004), ''The Revolution of 1688-89: Changing Perspectives'', Cambridge U.P., 310 pages , p. 3 He died by his own hand on 12 December 1696. Hampden wrote numerous pamphlets, and Bishop Burnet described him as "one of the learnedest gentlemen I ever knew". He married Sarah Foley (died 1687), and had two children: *

(aft. 1674 – 27 July 1728), an MP and Privy Counsellor * Letitia Hampden, who married John Birch MP as his second wife After her death, he married Anne Cornwallis and had two children: *

(c. 1696 – 4 February 1754), an MP * Ann Hampden (died September 1723), married Thomas Kempthorne

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampden, John 1653 births 1696 deaths People from Buckinghamshire People of the Rye House Plot English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1689–1690 English politicians convicted of crimes British politicians who committed suicide Suicides by sharp instrument in England