John Hampden
English scholar and pamphleteer
Years: 1653 - 1696
John Hampden (21 March 1653 – 12 December 1696), the second son of Richard Hampden, returnsto England after residing for about two years in France, and joins himself to Lord William Russell and Algernon Sidney and the party opposed to the arbitrary government of Charles II.
With Russell and Sidney he is arrested in 1683 for alleged complicity in the Rye House Plot, but more fortunate than his colleagues his life is spared, although as he is unable to pay the fine of £40,000 which is imposed upon him he remains in prison.
Then in 1685, after the failure of Monmouth's rising, Hampden is again brought to trial, and on a charge of high treason is condemned to death but the sentence is not carried out, and having paid £6000 he is set at liberty.
In the Convention Parliament of 1689 he represents Wendover, but in the subsequent parliaments he fails to secure a seat.
It is Hampden who in 1689 coins the phrase "Glorious Revolution".
He dies by his own hand on 12 December 1696.
Hampden wrote numerous pamphlets, and Bishop Burnet described him as "one of the learnedest gentlemen I ever knew".
