Richard Hampden (baptized 13 October 1631 – 15 December 1695) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Whig politician and son 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 co ...

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 th ...

. He was sworn a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...

in 1689 and was

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

from 18 March 1690 until 10 May 1694.

Life

Like his father and son he sided with Parliament against the

House of Stuart The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...

. During the

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

in the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in t ...

of 1656 History of Parliament Online -Hampden, Richard
/ref> and voted in favour of offering the crown to the

Lord Protector Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') was a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometimes ...

Oliver Cromwell. In 1657 he entered the Other House (the protectorate's House of Lords). He purchased the manors of Wendover Borough and Forrens from John Baldwin in 1660. 'The borough of Wendover', A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1925), pp. 20-31. Date accessed: 29 May 2011
/ref> Also in 1660 he was elected MP for

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 ...

(a constituency dominated by his family) in the Convention Parliament, and was elected to represent the same constituency in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

(1661–1679). After the fall of

Earl of Clarendon Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776. The family seat is Holywell House, near Swanmore, Hampshire. First creation of the title The title was created for the first time in the Peer ...

in 1667, he became more active in politics, voicing his opposition to the war with the Dutch and the alliance with France. By the latter half of the 1670s, he was considered by

Earl of Shaftesbury Earl of Shaftesbury is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley, a prominent politician in the Cabal then dominating the policies of King Charles II. He had already succeeded his fa ...

to be an ally. Hampden was particularly active during

the Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...

and undermined the authority of the Lord Treasurer the

Earl of Danby Earl of Danby was a title that was created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1626 in favour of the soldier Henry Danvers, 1st Baron Danvers. He had already been created Baron Danvers, of Dauntsey in the County of Wiltsh ...

. He was re-elected to the Parliaments of 1679 and played an active part in the attempt to pass the

Exclusion Bill The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Sco ...

to bar the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

from the succession and also supported the bill to give toleration to Protestant dissenters. In 1681 he was elected to the Oxford Parliament for the county of Buckinghamshire (exchanging seats with his son

). During the convening of this short parliament he again supported exclusion. In 1685, Hampden again represented the borough of Wendover but was far less active in politics as King James II, the man Hampden had tried to exclude from the succession, was now king. After the successful invasion by William of Orange, he chaired the committee of members of James II's parliament that on 27 December 1688, invited William to call a convention and to take over the government in the interim. Hampden sat in the Convention Parliament of 1689 and was a central figure in the enabling legislation to crown William and Mary. In February 1689 he became a privy councillor, and on 9 April became a commissioner of the Treasury. In 1690 he represented the county of Buckinghamshire in William and Mary's first parliament, and in the same year was made

. During the next five years, when his health allowed, he was active in the government. He did not stand for re-election to William and Mary's second parliament in 1695, and died on 15 December 1695.

Family

He married Letitia Paget, daughter of

William Paget, 5th Baron Paget William Paget, 5th Baron Paget (13 September 1609 – 19 October 1678) was an English peer. He was born at Beaudesert House, Staffordshire, England to William Paget, 4th Baron Paget and Lettice Knollys. Career He was a Parliamentarian with ...

, and had three children: *

* Richard Hampden, died young * Isabella Hampden, married Sir William Ellys, Bt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampden, Richard 1631 births 1695 deaths Chancellors of the Exchequer of England Members of the Privy Council of England People from Buckinghamshire Roundheads English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695