John Hampden

Timeline

1. 1621–1629Palace of Westminster · LondonBased at the Great Hampden estate, Hampden was elected MP for Wendover in 1625, 1626, and 1628, and was close to John Eliot, Viscount Saye and Sele, and others. In 1626 he paid only part of a Privy Council sealed loan, and in January 1627 refused to pay the Aylesbury forced loan, for which he was imprisoned until 1628, becoming an early practitioner of resistance to taxation without parliamentary consent.
2. 1635–1638Court of Exchequer, Westminster · LondonCharles I extended the wartime coastal Ship Money tax inland and levied it year after year. Hampden, having already paid part of the tax in most parishes, deliberately refused to pay an assessed sum of about twenty shillings to create a test case. In 1637 the case went to the twelve judges of the Exchequer, who ruled in favor of the Crown 7 to 5 in 1638, holding that the king could levy taxes without parliamentary consent in emergencies. The narrow majority made the debate over the legality of resistance public, and Ship Money was abolished after the Long Parliament.
3. 1640–1642Palace of Westminster · LondonAfter the Long Parliament convened in November 1640, Hampden became Pym's chief assistant in attacking royal policy, participating in the impeachment of Strafford and the abolition of Ship Money. On 4 January 1642 Charles I personally entered the House of Commons in an attempt to arrest Pym, Hampden, Holles, Hazlerig, and Strode, but failed, and the king soon left London. This move gave the opposition a majority in both houses, making the outbreak of civil war even harder to avoid.
4. 1642–1643Chalgrove battlefield / Thame · OxfordshireHampden raised an infantry regiment at his own expense and took part in Edgehill in October 1642. In spring 1643 he advanced toward Oxford with Essex, and after capturing Reading in April was held back by the commander's hesitation. On 18 June 1643 he encountered Rupert's cavalry at Chalgrove, was shot in the shoulder, and the wound became infected; he died at Thame on 24 June and was buried at Great Hampden the next day. The Parliamentarian side shaped him into a model of the 'patriot'.