Hampden, John

Hampden, John (hămp`dən, hăm`–), 1594–1643, English parliamentary leader; cousin of Oliver Cromwell. He entered Parliament in 1621, became closely associated with Sir John Eliot, and was imprisoned (1627) for refusing to pay the forced loan demanded by Charles I. With Viscount Saye and Sele, John Pym, and other parliamentary leaders, he involved himself in various colonization schemes. In 1637, Hampden challenged the king's right to raise revenue by the device of ship money, a tax originally levied on ports for defense purposes but extended by Charles to inland counties. He was convicted (1638) by a very narrow margin for his refusal to pay the tax, and the case inflamed popular resentment against the king. Conspicuous as a leader of both the Short and Long Parliaments, Hampden was one of the five members whose attempted arrest by Charles (1642) helped to precipitate the English civil war. He raised a regiment for the parliamentarians and was mortally wounded at Chalgrove Field, fighting Prince Rupert.

---

Hampden, John

(born 1594, London, Eng.—died June 24, 1643, Thame, Oxfordshire, Eng.) English Parliamentary leader. In 1635 he refused to pay 20 shillings in ship money, a levy by Charles I for outfitting his navy, on the ground that only Parliament was empowered to levy taxes. Though the court ruled in favour of Charles, resistance to the tax became widespread. In the Long Parliament (1640), Hampden attacked royal policies and was one of the five members who evaded arrest by the king in 1642. The ship-money episode was one of the controversies that led to the English Civil Wars, in which Hampden was mortally wounded.

---

Hampden, John 

Born 1594, in London; died June 24, 1643, at Chalgrove Field, in Oxfordshire. Important figure in the English Revolution of the 17th century.

In 1621, Hampden was elected to Parliament and became one of the leaders of the parliamentary opposition. In 1637 he was convicted of refusing to pay Ship Money, a tax introduced by Charles I. The Hampden case helped intensify the struggle against absolutism. In 1640 the Long Parliament set aside the decision of the court. Hampden was included in the list of five Long Parliament leaders whom Charles I ordered arrested in January 1642 on the charge of high treason, but popular protest thwarted implementation of the order. At the outbreak of the Civil War Hampden joined the Independents and participated in organizing the parliamentary army. On June 18, 1643, he was fatally wounded in battle.

IU. M. SAPRYKIN