Hatton, Sir Christopher

Hatton, Sir Christopher, 1540–91, English courtier. He became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, from whom he received offices, honors, and lands. Knighted in 1578, he acted as Elizabeth's spokesman in the House of Commons and, although not a lawyer, was lord chancellor from 1587 until his death. He was a friend and patron of Edmund Spenser. Hatton himself wrote the fourth act of Tancred and Gismund (first pub. 1591), a tragedy by Robert Wilmot, Henry Noel, Hatton, and others. Ely Place in Holborn, formerly in the possession of the bishops of Ely, was granted to him, and the name of the garden there was changed to Hatton Garden.

Bibliography

See A. G. Vines, Neither Fire Nor Steel: Sir Christopher Hatton (1978).