John Hampden’s Ale, which will only beavailable in pint bottles, also marks the15th anniversary of the brewery. Specialcolour labels have been designed, featur-ing the Walker portrait of John Hampden

countersigned by LordBuckinghamshire on thefront, and with brief detailsabout Hampden on the back.Each bottle will be num-bered, and they couldquickly become collectors’items.

The ceremony, at whichColonell John Hampden’sRegiment of Foote will pro-vide a Guard of Honour andLord Buckinghamshire willbe presented with bottlenumber 1, is restricted tomembers of the John Hamp-den Society and selected

guests. If you wish to attend, pleasecontact the Hon. Secretary for aninvitation - preferably with an SAE andlisting all names. This will entitle you toadmission and a buffet lunch, but thebrewery premises are quite small and itmay be necessary to limit the invitationsto the first 40 applicants.

Interested members will be shown aroundthe brewery, and there is a shop whichfeatures many beer-related products, suchas cheeses and sausages made with ale,pickled onions in hopped vinegar, and

malt-flavoured marmalade.

The land on which the Chil-tern Brewery stands mayhave formed part of JohnHampden’s Stoke Mandevillelands, for which he was as-sessed 20 shillings ShipMoney. A copy of the roll offreeholders who objected tothe tax, with Hampden’sname at the top of the list,hangs in the church at GreatKimble, less than two milesaway. The brewery is withina few yards of the road fromGreat Hampden to StokeMandeville and Aylesbury,so it is possible that JohnHampden may have riddenpast here frequently.

The Society’s 3rd birthday will bemarked by the launch of the specially-brewed John Hampden’s Ale - pro-duced by a brewery right in the heartof the Hampden country.

Our Patron, the Earl of Buckinghamshire,mashed this special brew at 6.30 on themorning of 14 September at the ChilternBrewery at Terrick, between Stoke Man-deville and Princes Risborough. The op-eration took place under the supervisionof owner and Head Brewer RichardJenkinson, and with the Hon. Secretary inattendance. The ale will be launched at aspecial ceremony at the Chiltern Breweryat 11.15 am on Saturday 28 October -the day after the third anniversary of theformation of the Society.

JOHN HAMPDEN’S ALE MARKSSOCIETY’S ANNIVERSARY

Quarterly Journal of The John Hampden Society

No. 12 - Autumn 1995

THE PATRIOT

THE SOCIETY AND

THE INTERNET

A fast-growing method of communicationand information exchange is the Internet -a network of computers linked together bytelephone which is used by millions ofpeople and organisations all over theworld.

As well as offering Electronic Mail,which is faster and cheaper than fax forinternational and long distance correspond-ence, the Internet has a section called theWorld Wide Web, which currently holds 6billion pages of information on topics ofalmost every conceivable subject.

The committee is seriously consideringhaving a John Hampden Society homepage (which can, in fact, be any number ofpages) on the World Wide Web. Thiswould be available to any Internet useranywhere in the world, and could generatean enormous amount of interest in JohnHampden and the Society.

The Hon. Secretary will be attending aone-day course about the Internet atNewbury College on 25 November, butany comments and advice from memberswould be welcome.

� John Hampden is already on computerinternationally. Computer users with a CDROM drive who have the MicrosoftEncarta Encyclopaedia, produced in theUSA, can read a short 200-word biographyof the Patriot which is concise, informativeand has only one minor date error.

Brewers (by appointment) of

JOHN HAMPDEN’S ALEand other fine beers

* * *

The Chiltern BreweryNash Lee Road

Terrick, AylesburyBuckinghamshire HP17 0TQ

Tel: 01296 613647Fax: 01296 612419

Why not visit our brewery shop?

Signing the brewery visitors' book

Lord Buckinghamshire mashes the specialbrew, supervised by Richard Jenkinson

The following is part of a long andthoughtful letter received from Dr PaulHooper in July.

Selborne Pyle Chute Chale Ventnor Isle of Wight PO38 2LE

Sir,

I first became an admirer of JohnHampden when, as a schoolboy, I readHugh Ross Williamson’s biography, andit was borne in upon me what greatcharacters were the men who were ‘actorsupon the stage’ (to quote Sir WilliamWaller) of those times - on both sides.

While it is right and appropriate thatattention should be paid to the militaryaspects of John’s career, I feel moreemphasis should be given by the Societyto his place as a Parliamentary managerand tactician, for this surely is where hisgreat strength lay. He has been overshad-owed by Pym, but his part in laying thefoundations to the resistance to KingCharles’ autocratic rule was crucial, andprobably deserves deeper research, thoughmost of it will have been done informallyand not recorded.

Perhaps we should give prominence tothe small attic room in Broughton Castle(where the walls had no ears) where Johnmet with Lord Saye and others about theProvidence Bay Company, the Saye-brooke project, and probably other thingsas well. Probably the tactic used in theShip Money trial were discussed here. ButJohn’s place as a Parliamentarian isparamount. I doubt if even his most ardentadmirers would regard him as an out-standing soldier.

I am currently involved in researchingthe events on the Isle of Wight during the

Civil War, Commonwealth and Protector-ate. If any members have any relevantnuggets I would be glad to hear fromthem. The only tenuous connection withJohn Hampden is that his daughter Marymarried Col. Robert Hammond who wasGovernor of Carisbrooke Castle duringCharles’ imprisonment, and Sir GilbertGerrard, mentioned in John’s will, wasrelated by marriage to the Meux family ofKingston on the Island.

Paul Hooper.

The points that Dr Hooper makes arevery relevant and have been accepted bythe committee. It must be pointed out thatour concentration on matters militaryduring the past year was necessary tosecure Chalgrove’s place on the Battle-fields Register.

8 Weston Road

Lichfield

Staffs WS13 7NT

Re. ‘The Patriot’ No. 11

It isn’t entirely correct to suppose that theSealed Knot has no regiments named afterfamous leaders. John Lilburne, doughtyand fearless champion of the commonpeople, is mentioned in every book of theCivil War.

In battle he was commended for hisbravery and leadership, and the sea-greenribbons are still worn with pride by Lt.Col. Lilburne’s Dragoones in the SealedKnot. Lilburne handed over his regimentto Col. Okey in 1645.

David Appleby

Serjeant, Lilburne’s Dragoones, SealedKnot.

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LETTERS

ACCOMMODATION, RESTAURANT& BANQUETING

COMING EVENTSThanks to Fred Tildesley of Thame for details

of an interesting item in the Workers Educa-tional Association programme for the WestBucks villages this winter:

The Civil War in Oxfordshire andBuckinghamshire

TERESA WILSON

Why did Cavaliers and Roundheads fighthere? What was it like? We will study the ca-reers of John Hampden, killed at Chalgrove,and Edmund Verney, killed at Edgehill, usingdocuments, slides and a visit.

Thursdays 2.00 - 3.30pm

10 meetings from 18 January

Fee: £25.00 Oakley Village Hall, Oakley

Enrolment details from Paul Warwick, 15Carters Lane, Long Crendon, Aylesbury HP189DE. Tel: 01844 208535.

Betty McBean has also sent a programme forthe Mermaid Theatre season, which commencesin October. From 30 January to 9 March 1996is the World Premiere of ‘The Trial ofCharles I’ by Glyn Robbins.

Although this took place more than 5 yearsafter John Hampden’s death, this play shouldbe of great interest to students of the period.The box office number is 0171 236 2211, andthere are discounts for groups of 15 or more.

RESIGNATIONRaymond Jones, Chairman of Great Hampden

Parish Council and Churchwarden at St. MaryMagdalen Church, has tendered his resignationfrom the committee due to pressure of business.

Raymond, who farms Hampden Bottom Farm,was one of the members of the original steeringcommittee when the Society was formed threeyears ago, and has made a valuable contribu-tion to its success. It was thanks to him that theSociety was involved in helping to save theHampden memorials in the church in 1993.

The Society would like to thank Raymond forhis services.

MRS ELSIE CARTERWe regret to announce the death of member

Mrs Elsie Carter of Solihull, sister and aunt ofGeorge and Elizabeth Morris respectively, whodied on 26 July.

Lord Buckinghamshire and Hon. Secretary Roy Baileytoast the success of the new John Hampden's Ale

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Published by:

The The The The John John John John Hampden Hampden Hampden Hampden Society,Society,Society,Society,

The The The The Malt Malt Malt Malt House, House, House, House, Great Great Great Great Shefford,Shefford,Shefford,Shefford,Hungerford, Hungerford, Hungerford, Hungerford, Berkshire Berkshire Berkshire Berkshire RG17 RG17 RG17 RG17 7ED.7ED.7ED.7ED.

Tel Tel Tel Tel & & & & Fax: Fax: Fax: Fax: 01488 01488 01488 01488 648441648441648441648441

AGM DATEA suggestion has been made that the date of

the AGM be put back from February to co-incide with any Chalgrove dinner and/orHeritage Trail that we may decide to hold inmidsummer.

The committee has mixed feelings about this,but the suggestion has many merits. If we de-cide to repeat this year’s highly successful din-ner at the Spread Eagle, Thame, around 18June, it will give those members who havesome distance to travel another reason for at-tending, and time to explore the area associatedwith John Hampden in weather than is likely tobe better than in February.

Members’ feelings on this idea would be ap-preciated before the beginning of December, sothat we can discuss them at the next committeemeeting.

MISSENDEN WEEKENDSadly, the Adult Education Weekend at Mis-

senden Abbey on 9/10 September never tookplace. By mid-August the Abbey had only re-ceived 5 bookings, and so they were forced tocancel.

This is a grave disappointment after the suc-cess of last year’s weekend, and it is possiblethat every year is too frequent for such anevent. We may try again next year, or leave ituntil 1997. Members’ views would be useful.

CONGRATULATIONSCommittee member Derek Lester has been

promoted to Major and is now CommandingOfficer of Colonell John Hampden’s Regimentof Foote.

David Appleby has been awarded an EEC bur-sary to study for an M.A. at the University ofEssex. He reports that he has started work on abiography of the Earl of Manchester, who wasa close colleague of Hampden’s by 1642.

1995Sat 28 October 11.15 am Members only.

Launch of ‘John Hampden's Ale’ at the

Chiltern Brewery, Terrick, Aylesbury.

Tickets from the Hon. Secretary.

INTRODUCTION

Hampden House, set in the wooded ChilternHills of South Buckinghamshire, has a specialbeauty and interest. But it is very complex anddiverse, having been built, extended, remod-elled and redecorated many times in the lastsix and a half centuries. Successive ownershave never torn it all down to start fromscratch, but have always preferred, or beenable, to add, rebuild or renovate part. Likemost old houses and most cathedrals, it is notA unity but a fascinating agglomeration ofwork of different periods, a vast jigsaw puzzlewith pieces of every century since the 14th.

The whole house has a most difficult architec-tural history and nothing is quite what it seemsat first sight. For example the front entrance ofthe house, the main west wing, was built in the14th century as the kitchen, buttery and pantry,remodelled with a skin of criss-cross-patternedbrickwork in the early 16th century, andlargely rebuilt as a suite of family rooms withthe most up-to-date details in the mid 17thcentury.

But what we actually see as we approach thehouse, a charming Georgian Gothic design,dates from 1743 and is both skin-deep andmuch altered. It was ingeniously adapted outof the 16th and 17th century fabric and verysoon changed, by being battlemented in 1752and stuccoed over in 1757. Whether anythingof the 14th century still stands after all this isimpossible to say, as the walls are all plasteredon the inside and stuccoed or brick faced onthe outside.

THE FORM AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE

HOUSE

(1) Eleventh to thirteenth centuries

The remains of the Hampdens’ first manorhouse probably lie beneath the lawns some-where between the present house and thechurch. Excavation could reveal post-holes duginto the chalk to hold the main timbers ofseparate hall, kitchen, chambers, storerooms,stables and barns, altered and rebuilt at varioustimes on flint or chalk block foundations.

(2) Fourteenth century

In about 1350 the first John Hampden or Johnde Hampden built a new stone house withlinked rooms. This forms the basis of thepresent house. The great hall remains with itsfine south doorway, but it has lost its northdoorway opposite, the three doorways in thewest wall that led to pantry, buttery andkitchen, all its windows and the original roof.The kitchen range has become, after manychanges, the entrance foyer. Just to the east ofthe hall most of the first floor solar or familyroom and its undercroft probably remains, butwith no recognisable features. The north wallwas removed when the main staircase was in-stalled in the 17th and 18th century. With itsstables and a walled garden the medievalhouse no doubt lay within a fairly small walledor moated enclosure.

(3) Fifteenth century

In the 1430s or 40s the second John Hampdenbrought the house up to date with the largeporch outside the south door and presumablyvarious other changes. The roof of the porch isof 1741, when the top floor was added, but the

two lower floors are ancient. Remains of anold stone spiral staircase have been exposed onall three floors, the top section having nodoubt been a turret above a flat pitched roof.The great hall now has a fine fifteenth centurytimber roof or false ceiling, but this is notoriginal. It was brought from elsewhere andfitted in about 1920.

(4) Sixteenth century

Between the 1530s and the 1560s HampdenHouse was again modernised. The outer skinof brickwork, with its characteristic Tudorcriss-cross pattern, is of this period. By thistime the walls were probably partly weatheredchalk block and partly timber framed, and hadto be rebuilt in some places or given a newface in others. Many gables and bay windows,so typical of this time, will have been added.

There are several ornate chimney stacks,which seem to be of the 19th century butremade on the old lines, while a number offine early Renaissance carved panels, all resetin modern panelling, suggest that Sir JohnHampden had put in some splendid panelledrooms. The only interior feature of this time toremain in position is a timber attic doorwayover the main staircase. We must imagine afine normal walled garden with knot patternedbeds, designed to set off the patterned brickwalls.

(5) Seventeenth century

The tall centre section of the east wing datesfrom about 1620, about the time of the firstmarriage of John Hampden the Patriot. It has abasement, chambers and parlours on the twolower floors and a long gallery on the topfloor, with its original low pitched roof. Thewing has lost all its splendid plasterwork andpanelled rooms in later alterations. One fineblocked window on the first floor with parts ofothers and a reconstructed top floor fireplacegive the date, but from the outside and on theground floor every detail is of the 18thcentury.

Twenty or thirty years later, the main westwing was drastically remodelled and reroofed.From being the kitchens this part of the housewas turned into a family suite. On the firstfloor the south-west turret room has a fineplaster ceiling and plain classical fireplace,which is matched by another in the adjoiningroom over the entrance foyer. In the attics areseveral more fireplaces of the same style.

Some doors, the staircase of the wing, and thegallery of the great hall are all consistent withthe most up-to-date taste of a wealthy butpuritanical architectural enthusiast of just be-fore the Civil War. The best example of thisaustere style is the church of St. Paul, CoventGarden, completed in 1638 by Inigo Jones forthe Earl of Bedford, a puritan like JohnHampden.

The gallery around the great hall linked thenew rooms in the west wing with JohnHampden’s slightly older reception rooms inthe west wing. The north-west wing served asthe kitchens until very recent times and,although no original details are visible, it musthave been built shortly before the olderkitchens were reconstructed, to keep the househabitable.

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To be continued . . .

THE HISTORY OF HAMPDEN HOUSE Part 1

(Adapted from an article supplied by Hampden Group Management Ltd.)

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The following letter was received last Novem-ber together with a photograph of the paintingreproduced below:

2 Quay Street

Woodbridge

Suffolk IP12 1BX

Dear Sir,

I was most interested to read your letter in‘The Times’ about John Hampden as I possessa late 17th century painting (below) attributedto Sir Peter Lely, which I acquired on 17 April1939 when I was living in Prestwood on theedge of the Hampden estate. The owner of theHampden estate was the Earl of Buckingham-shire, a descendant of John Hampden, and theEarl had decided to leave his home at HampdenHouse and was therefore putting up for sale byauction the contents of the House, including anumber of family portraits painted by Sir PeterLely (1618-80) which had been painted beforeLely became as famous as he later was. I wentto the sale as I had been living for several yearsin a cottage adjoining one of the woodlands ofthe Hampden estate and I wanted to have oneof the family portraits as a momento of myliving there.

It was purely luck that enabled me to buy atthe sale Lot 70, which was hanging in a con-spicuous position at the foot of the staircaseleading out of the hall. It was described in thesale catalogue merely as a portrait of ‘one ofJohn Hampden’s family’. I had not seriouslyexpected to acquire this lot as the sale wasattended by a very large number of picturedealers and local neighbours, but it so hap-pened that when it came up for sale, a school-boy who was standing just in front of mefainted and fell on the floor. In the disturbancewhich followed, while the boy was carried outof the room, the sale continued and I had thegood fortune to purchase Lot 70 for the ab-surdly low figure of £25.

There was no doubt about the painting beingthe work of Sir Peter Lely as it was known thatthe artist spent several weeks in the Hampdenhouse, painting members of the family, andlater, when I showed the picture to the DeputyCurator of the National Portrait Gallery, heconfirmed that the attribution of the painting toSir Peter Lely was unquestionably correct. Hehad no evidence as to which member of theHampden family it represented, though he was

fairly certain it was one of John Hamp-den’s sons, since the National PortraitGallery had been shown quite recentlya portrait of the same man, with anunquestionable facial resemblance tothe young man who was the subject ofmy picture.

The National Portrait gallery manreckoned that the painting was doneabout the year 1660, and they retain intheir archives a photograph of it,though they had no record as to whichof John Hampden’s sons it portrayed.

Since then I have had my paintingcleaned but it still remains in the framewhich held it when I first saw it at thefoot of the staircase at HampdenHouse. I have not done any research asto which of John Hampden’s sons itdepicted, but it may well be that youcould offer some evidence of this byreference to documents which the JohnHampden Society presumably holds. Ienclose a photograph of my painting,which you are welcome to add to yourSociety’s archives. I have no intentionof disposing of this painting but willprobably be leaving it to one of mygrandsons.

John Hadfield

David Appleby writes:

The painting certainly looks like thework of Lely’s studio. The informa-tion that Lely actually spent sometime with the Hampden family isextremely interesting and something I hadn’theard before. The demand on Lely’s profes-sional time was accelerating by the end ofthe Commonwealth period, so precludingthe opportunity for such ‘housecalls’. It was

common practice to paint posthu-mous portraits of prominent familymembers (cf. Van Dyck’s portrait ofthe 9th Earl of Northumberland) sothis rare visit could have been theoccasion of the painting of a posthu-mous portrait of John Hampden.

The sitter bears some resemblanceto the 1680s portrait of ‘John Hamp-den’ at Broughton Castle, suggestingthe possibility of a family relation-ship. The NPG’s estimate of c.1660looks reasonable.

The frame is very interesting in-deed. It could well date to thesecond half of the seventeenth cen-tury (and therefore be original to thepainting?) or possibly early 18th cen-tury. The decoration and embellish-ments appear to have a continental(Italian?) flavour.

Mention of a possible Italian flavour isinteresting, because another alleged portrait ofJohn Hampden has come to light, thanks to MrsLilian Bowler of Christchurch. Following ourreview of various Hampden portraits in theAutumn 1993 issue of ‘The ‘The ‘The ‘The Patriot’Patriot’Patriot’Patriot’, Mrs Bowlersent some photocopies and a photograph of apicture owned by her niece, Mrs GuilianoScamponi of Colchester.

Mrs Scamponi purchased the original in anantique shop in Italy some years ago and it can

be seen that the picture (above) has somesimilarities with the Houbraken engraving, al-though the direction is reversed. The inscriptionreads ‘Goldar Sculpt.’, ‘In the Possession of SirRichard Ellys Bart.’, and ‘Published as the Actdirects July 30 17?5’.

The date of publication is difficult to decipher,even on the full-size photocopy supplied by MrsScamponi, and it could be either 1725 or 1785.Mrs Bowler claims it is the former, and that thepicture therefore predates Houbraken’s engrav-ing of 1740. Unfortunately for this theory, JohnGoldar, the engraver, was not born until 1729!Furthermore, the mysterious Hogarth’s Act,under which this portrait was apparently pub-lished, did not come into force until 25 June1735. Goldar lived until 1795, so he could haveengraved it in ’85, but it could not then havebeen in the possession of Sir Richard Ellys,because he died in 1742, when Goldar was only13.

The same ownership inscription is on theHoubraken engraving and, as Elliot Vineypointed out in ‘The Patriot’ No 8, Ellys was agreat-grandson of John Hampden. Mrs Scamp-oni’s picture bears on the back a label from T.T.Davis, Picture Dealers and Frame Makers ofHull, dated 17 July 1907, and the engraving islisted among about a dozen under the name ofJohn Hampden in The British Museum’s Cata-logue of Engraved British Portraits dated 1910.Here it is described as another copy from theHoubraken engraving, measuring 8 x 6½ inches,and being a plate to Harrison’s edition ofRapin’s ‘History of England’. The dimensionsare interesting, as Mrs Scamponi’s full-sizephotocopy is considerably bigger, measuringsome 16 inches by 9.

The conclusion seems to be that this engravingis a copy of the Houbraken one, and wasprobably executed in 1785.

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