John Bampfield (c. 1586 – c. 1657)Venning & Hunneyball of

Poltimore House Poltimore House is an 18th-century country house in Poltimore, Devon, England. The Manor of Poltimore was from the 13th to the 20th century the seat of the Bampfylde Baronets, Bampfylde family, which acquired the title Baron Poltimore in 1831. ...

and

North Molton North Molton is a village, parish and former Manorialism, manor in North Devon, England. The population of the parish in 2001 was 1,047, decreasing to 721 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. An electoral ward with the same name also ...

, Devon, England, was a Member of Parliament for Tiverton in Devon (1621) and for the prestigious county seat of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

(1628-9).

Origins

Bampfield was the eldest son and heir of Sir Amias Bampfield (c. 1560 – c. 1626), MP, of

Poltimore Poltimore is a village, civil parish and former manor in the East Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It lies approximately northeast of Exeter. The parish consisted of 122 households and a population of 297 people during the 20 ...

and

, by his wife Elizabeth Clifton, who was a daughter of Sir John Clifton of

Barrington Court Barrington Court is a Tudor architecture, Tudor manor house begun around 1538 and completed in the late 1550s, with a vernacular stable court (1675), situated in Barrington, Somerset, Barrington, near Ilminster, Somerset, England. The house w ...

, Somerset.

Career

Bampfield matriculated at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

on 13 July 1604, aged 18. He was a law student at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1607. In 1621 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Tiverton, Devon. He was elected an MP for

in 1628 and sat until 1629, when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Baal-Barrow', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 51-78. Date accessed: 19 November 2011
/ref> In 1631 he founded

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...

in memory of his late wife.

Marriage and children

In 1602 Bampfield married Elizabeth Drake, a daughter of Thomas Drake (d.1605) of Buckland Drake, Devon, and a niece of Admiral Sir

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...

(d.1596)Vivian, pp.40; 299 of

Buckland Abbey Buckland Abbey is a Grade I listed 700-year-old house in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, Yelverton, Devon, England, noted for its connection with Sir Richard Grenville the Younger and Sir Francis Drake. It is owned by the National ...

, Devon. This was part of a double union in which his sister, Jane Bampfield, married Francis Drake, who was a brother of Elizabeth Drake.Vivian, pp.39-40; Venning & Hunneyball Drake and Bampfield then attended Oxford together two years later. By his wife he had children, including: *Amias Bampfylde, eldest son, who died in Italy without children.Vivian, p.40 *Arthur Bampfield, second son, died without children. *

Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet (c. 1610 – April 1650) of Poltimore, Devon, Poltimore and North Molton and Tamerton Foliot, all in Devon, was an England, English lawyer and politician. He was one of Devonshire's Roundhead, Parliamentarian lead ...

(1610–1650), third son and

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

, one of Devon's Parliamentarian leaders during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, who predeceased his father. The heir to his baronetcy and paternal inheritance was his eldest son

Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Baronet Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Bt., DL, JP (ca. 1633 – 9 February 1692) of Poltimore and North Molton and Warleigh, Tamerton Foliot, in Devon, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 168 ...

(c. 1633 – 1692). *

Francis Bampfield Francis Bampfield ( 1615 – 16 February 1684) was an English Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist preacher, and supporter of Saturday Sabbatarianism. Born into a family of Devon gentry, he began as a conservative supporter of the ...

(died 1663/4), sixth son, a Nonconformist minister who died in

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the pr ...

. *

Thomas Bampfield Thomas Bampfield ( 1623 – 8 October 1693) was a lawyer from Devon. A supporter of Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he sat as MP for Exeter between 1654 and 1660. For a short period in 1659, he was Speaker of the House of Commo ...

(died 1693), eighth son, MP, briefly

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

Sources

Venning, Tim & Hunneyball, Paul, biography of ''Bampfield, John (c.1586-c.1657), of Poltimore, Devon''
published in The

History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in ...

: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, Cambridge University Press, 2010 * Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp. 38–41, pedigree of ''Bamfield of Poltimore''

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bampfield, John 1580s births Year of death missing Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Members of the Middle Temple People from North Devon (district) English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1628–1629 Members of the Parliament of England for Tiverton Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Devon