Richard Hampden

Richard Hampden (aft. 1674 – 27 July 1728) of Great Hampden, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons almost continuously from 1701 to 1728. Early life Hampden was the eldest son of John Hampden, and his first wife Sarah Foley, daughter of Thomas Foley of Witley Court, Worcestershire. He was great-grandson of Ship money tax protestor John Hampden. His younger half-brother was John Hampden, MP. In 1696, he succeeded his father to the Wendover estate and Hampden House. His father committed suicide, which was agreed to be a "sad cloud" over the son: friends urged him not to react by "sowing his wild oats". He studied at Utrecht in 1699. In 1701, he married his cousin Isabella Ellys, daughter of Sir William Ellys, 2nd Baronet, MP of Wyham and Nocton, Lincolnshire. Career Hampden was returned unopposed as MP for Wendover at the two general elections of 1701, and was elected in contest in 1703 and 1705. At the 1708 general election, he was returned unopposed as MP for Buckinghamshire but was defeated in contests in 1710 and 1713. In 1710 he was offered a seat on the Treasury Commission but refused. He then quarreled with the Queen, urging her not to dissolve Parliament. Anne made the crushing retort that "though she had offered him employment she had not asked for his advice". He was returned as MP for Berwick-on-Tweed at a by-election on 22 December 1711 and at the 1713 general election.