A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



direct succession by Baldwin, Robert, and Bartholo- 

 mew. In the lawsuit, Alexander appears instead of 

 Bartholomew, his mother being Alice, the daughter 

 and heiress of ' Remerus le Loherer.' 10 Alexander 

 was followed by Reginald" and another Alexander, 

 who held the manor, as one knight's fee, early in the 

 reign of Henry III." He was Sheriff of Bedford- 

 shire and Buckinghamshire in 1249 and 1259." He 

 died between 12723" and 1302 3, when he had 

 been succeeded by his second son Reginald. 1 * John 

 de Hampden, the son of Reginald, held the manor in 

 I346, 16 and was a knight of the shire in two Parlia- 

 ments of Edward III in 1351-2, and again in 1363." 

 He died in 1375, and his son 

 Edmund inherited the manor, 18 

 and, like his father, repre- 

 sented the county in Parlia- 

 ment. 19 He was also sheriff 

 of the two counties five times 

 during the reigns of Richard II, 

 Henry IV, and Henry V." 

 John Hampden, his son, suc- 

 ceeded him," and obtained, in 

 14467, a charter of liberties 

 within his manor of Great 

 Hampden, granting him a 

 view of frankpledge twice a 



year, with the assize of bread, wine, and ale, and 

 other privileges. He also had a grant of free warren in 

 his demesne lands, and licence to inclose and impark 

 500 acres of land and 100 acres of wood in the 

 manor." He was sheriff in 1456." Thomas 

 Hampden succeeded him in 1457-8," and held the 

 manor till his death, shortly after the accession of 

 Henry VII." His heir was his son John Hamp- 

 den, 86 but the manor seems to have been in the hands 

 of trustees or feoffees till 1495, when they demised 

 it to John Hampden." He died the next year," 

 and Great Hampden passed to his son John.* 9 The 

 second John Hampden was knighted before 1513, 

 and in that year was with the royal fleet in command 

 of The Saviour.* He also may be identified with the 

 Sir John Hampden ' of the Hill ' who followed 

 Henry VIII to the Field of the Cloth of Gold," and 

 attended him at his meeting with the Emperor 

 Charles V. 32 On his death in 1 5 5 3 M he left two 

 daughters as his heiresses, but he left Great Hampden 

 by will to his cousin John Hampden,* 4 the son of 

 William Hampden of Dunton, and of Audrey one 

 of the daughters and heiresses of Richard Hampden 

 of Great Kimble. 35 John Hampden left the manor 

 to his son Griffith in tail male, and the latter 



HAMFDIN. Argent a 

 laltire gules between four 

 eagles assure. 



succeeded to it on his father's death in 1558." 

 He died in 1591, and it passed to his son William 

 Hampden, 37 who married Elizabeth daughter of Sir 

 Henry Cromwell and aunt of the Lord Protector. 38 

 He did not survive his father many years, dying in 

 I597, 39 and naturally had not taken so much part in 

 the public life of the county as some of his predeces- 

 sors. His will is interesting, and suggests that his 

 life was mainly occupied with country pursuits, his 

 horses being carefully described and generally be- 

 queathed by name.* His son and heir John was a 

 minor at the time of his father's death. 41 He after- 

 wards became the most famous member of his family, 

 earning the name of the ' Patriot ' " by his refusal to 

 pay the illegal tax of ship-money. He was born in 

 London, but probably lived as a boy at Great Hamp- 

 den." He was sent for three years to the grammar 

 school at Thame, and in 1609 became a commoner 

 of Magdalen College, Oxford. 44 In 1613 he was 

 admitted a student of the Inner Temple, 45 and six 

 years later he married his first wife Elizabeth Symeon. 

 The next year he was returned to Parliament for the 

 first time, 46 and from 1625 to 1628 he represented 

 the borough of Wendover without interruption. 47 In 

 these years he mainly lived in London, and though 

 sitting on many committees, did not take a leading 

 part in Parliamentary affairs. Before the dissolution 

 of 1629 he retired to the country and lived at Great 

 Hampden.* 8 There are, however, practically no 

 records of his life there, his private letters that have 

 been preserved being very few in number. He is 

 said to have been fond of making improvements in his 

 estates and house, and parts of the present house may 

 have been built by him in 1629 and the succeeding 

 years. 



To Great Hampden the sons of Sir John Eliot 

 frequently went during their father's imprisonment in 

 the Tower. 49 Eliot himself received provisions from 

 Great Hampden, one such present being sent with 

 the following letter : ' This bearer fe appointed to 

 present you with a buck out of my paddock, which 

 must be a small one to hold proportion with the place 

 and soyle it was bred in.' M In the county he was 

 active as a justice of the peace for the Three Hundreds 

 of Aylesbury." In 1634 he was presented at a special 

 ecclesiastical visitation for not always attending his 

 own parish church. His opposition to the Church 

 of England and the bishops had not at this time 

 become so pronounced as it did later, and he made 

 his peace with Sir Nathaniel Brent, the vicar-general, 

 promising his willing obedience to the laws of the 

 Church in the future." 



10 Curia Regis R. 73, m. 6 d. 

 " Ibid. 



18 Testa dt Kevlll (Rec. Com.), 245*, 

 259*. 



18 List of Sheriffs, P.R.O. 



Feet of F. Bucks. Hil. I Edw. I. 



Feud. Aids, i, 98. 



" Ibid. 123. 



V Return of Members of Part. 



19 Lipscomb, Hist, of Bucks, ii, 231. 

 19 Return of Members of Part. 



List of Skeriffi, P.R.O. 



sl De Banco. R. 813, m. 442. 



Chart. R. 25 & 26 Hen. VI, no. 26. 



88 List of Sheriffs, P.R.O. 



84 Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Hen. VI, no. 9. 



85 Ibid. (Ser. 2), xxiii, no. 47. 



* Cat. of Inq. Hen. VII, no. 124. In 

 the Buckinghamshire inquisition, the 



name of the heir of Thomas Hampden 

 is given as Edward, but this is a mistake 

 for John, who appears in the Essex return. 



De Banco. R. Mich. II Hen. VII, 

 m. 1 1 2 d. 



98 From a brass in Great Hampden 

 Church. 



"Lipscomb, Hut. of Bucks, ii, 233 ; 

 Feet of F. Bucks, Mich. 28 Hen. VIII. 



*> L. and P. Hen. VIII, i, 3980. 



M Ibid. 



88 Ibid iii (i), 906. 



88 From a brass in Great Hampden 

 Church. 



84 P.C.C. 1 1 More. 



85 Exch. Inq. p.m. bdle. 25, no. II. 

 88 Ibid. bdle. 51, no. 21. 



*' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxxxii, 

 no. 67. 



288 



M Diet. Nat. Biog. rxiv, 254, 



89 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlviii, no. 



39- 



40 Lipscomb, Hist, of Bucks, ii, 235. 

 ** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxlviii, no.. 



39- 



48 Diet. Nat. Biog. xxiv, 254. 



48 Nugent, Mem. of Hampden, 20. 



44 Ibid. 



45 Ibid. 

 4 Ibid. 



4 ' Return of Members ofParl. 



48 Nugent, Mem. of Hampden. 



49 Ibid. ; letters of John Hampden to. 

 Sir John Eliot. 



* Ibid. 79. 



61 Cal. ofS.P. Dom. 1629-31, p. 417 i 

 ' 6 3 r -3> PP- 44> 3 8 i l6 34~5. P- 447- 

 68 Cal. ofS.P. Dom. 1634-5, P- 2 5- 



