John Hampden

Over in Thame today to help Tony deliver some loose copies of The Dickensian for binding up, I came across this memorial to John Hampden.

Hampden was one of the leading parliamentarians involved in challenging the authority of Charles I in the run up to the English Civil War. He stood trial in 1637 for his refusal to be taxed for ship money, and was one of the Five Members whose attempted unconstitutional arrest by Charles I in the House of Commons of England in 1642 sparked the Civil War. As the memorial plaque details, he was wounded in battle at Chalgrove Field and died in this house a few days later.

Hampden, of course, was not a Quaker. But he exemplifies a tradition of dissent and free-thinking in Buckinghamshire which has very deep roots. The Lollards, for example, had a very strong influence in the Chilterns. And the Whigs of the eighteenth century, entrenched in Buckinghamshire and passionate for the cause of "civil and religious liberty", continued the tradition of Hampden. So perhaps it's not fanciful to think that there is a genius loci, a 'spirit of the place', that encourages radicalism and independence of mind.