Charles Compton (c. 1624–1661)

Sir Charles Compton (c. 1624–November 1661) was a Northamptonshire landowner, a Cavalier in the First English Civil War, and briefly an MP for Northampton after the Restoration.[1]

Family

Compton was the second son of Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton of Castle Ashby and his wife Mary.[1] He was educated at Eton College[1][2] and accomplished at music and mathematics.[3] Compton's father and brothers James (3rd Earl), William, and Spencer were also Cavalier officers, while his brother Henry became bishop of London. According to David Lloyd, Charles and William were identical twins.[3] Another source gives their birth years as 1623 and 1625, with Spencer and Francis both 1629.[4][5] The seven younger children of the 2nd Earl shared £30,000 after his 1643 death, Charles buying land at Grendon with his portion.[1] He was married twice; first to Mary, sister of Sir William Fermor, 1st Baronet of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire;[1] and secondly (c. June 1661) to Felicia, daughter of Thomas Pigott of Chetwynd, Shropshire, widow of William Wilmer,[1] who brought with her an estate at Sywell.[1] Charles supported enclosure.[3]

With Mary, Compton had three sons and two daughters. With Felicia, Compton had one daughter, born after his death.[1] Felicia's son Wlliam with her first husband was father of MP William Wilmer (c. 1692–1744).[1][6] Felicia later married, thirdly, MP John Beaumont.[1]

Compton's children included:[1]

Career

In the First English Civil War, Compton was lieutenant colonel in the regiment of his brother the 3rd Earl.[3][11] Arthur Collins, citing Lloyd, wrote that Compton was "distinguished for sobriety, moderation, discipline, conduct, and activity in the field".[3][7] The Mercurius Politicus described him as "acting like the Knight of the Burning Pestle in all the country between Oxford and Banbury".[12] Among the engagements in which he fought were Hopton Heath, where his father was killed,[7] Edgehill;[7] and the siege of Banbury Castle.[11] Lloyd credits Compton with the December 1643 ruse which captured Beeston Castle,[3][7] although Edward Burghall credits Captain Thomas Sandford for this.[13] Compton was made knight bachelor at Oxford on 12 December 1643 alongside his brothers William and Spencer.[1][14] In January 1645 Charles and William led an assault to retake Compton Wynyates, the Earl's seat, from William Purefoy; they captured outbuildings but had to withdraw for lack of reinforcements.[7][15] On 26 February 1645, near Daventry, they led 300 horse to victory over 400 Roundheads.[16]

In the Second English Civil War and Interregnum Compton was suspected of royalist sympathy but paid £127 to the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents in 1648 and lived quietly.[1] In 1659 he was involved in John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt's conspiracy for a royalist rising, and with Lord Bruce was blamed for by Mordaunt for its failure in the east and north.[17]

After the Restoration, Compton received a commission in the Royal Horse Guards and became a justice of the peace and deputy lieutenant.[1] He won a by-election in Northampton in November 1661 but before he could take his seat he died in a fall from his horse.[1] In recognition of his royalism, his son Hatton was recommended to be a Knight of the Royal Oak.[1]

Likenesses
External image
image icon Engraved portrait of Sir Charles Compton From the original picture in the Collection of Marquis of Northampton.

There is a portrait of Compton in the dining room at Compton Wynyates, alongside those of his father and brothers.[5] An engraving of this was included in Henry Drummond's 1846 Histories of noble British families and published separately by William Pickering.[18] A miniature c. 1645–1650 by Samuel Cooper is in a private collection in Scotland.[19] A portrait by Peter Lely at Ham House was formerly identified as Sir Charles Compton but is now identified as John Leslie, 1st Duke of Rothes.[20][21] In the same room hangs Lely's portrait of Sir William Compton,[20][22] whom David Lloyd says was Charles' identical twin,[3] and of which there is a copy in the National Portrait Gallery, London.[20][23]

Styles
  • to 12 December 1643: the Honourable Charles Compton
  • from 12 December 1643: the Honourable Sir Charles Compton

References
  1. Edwards, E. R. (1983). "Compton, Sir Charles (c.1624-61), of Grendon and Sywell, Northants.". In Henning, B.D. (ed.). The House of Commons 1660-1690. History of Parliament. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 9 March 2023 – via History of Parliament Online.
  2. College, Eton; Sterry, Sir Wasey (1943). The Eton College Register, 1441–1698. Spottiswoode, Ballantyne. p. 81.
  3. Lloyd, David (1668). "The life and Death of Sir Charles Compton". Memoires of the lives, actions, sufferings & deaths of those noble reverend, and excellent personages: that suffered by death, sequestration, decimation or otherwise, for the Protestant religion, and the great principle thereof, allegiance to their soveraigne, in our late intestine wars, from the year 1637, to the year 1660. and from thence continued to 1666. With the life and martyrdom of King Charles I. London: Samuel Speed. pp. 359–361.
  4. Burman, John (1936). Gleanings from Warwickshire History. Cornish Brothers. p. 29.
  5. "The Dining Room". Compton Wynyates. Jarrold. 1976.
  6. Foster, Charles Wilmer; Green, Joseph Joshua (1888). History of the Wilmer family, together with some account of its descendants. Leeds: Goodall and Suddick. pp. 67–70.
  7. Collins, Arthur (1756). "Compton, Earl of Northampton". Peerage of England. Vol. II (3rd ed.). London. pp. 218–219.
  8. Williamson, Adam; Fox, John Charles (1912). The official diary of Lieutenant-General Adam Williamson, deputy-lieutenant of the Tower of London, 1722–1747;. Vol. XXII, 3rd series. London: Camden Society. p. 21.
  9. Burke, J. Bernard (1880). "Domville of Templeogue". A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (42nd ed.). London: Harrison. p. 382.
  10. Mason, William Monck (1820). The History and Antiquities of the Collegiate and Cathedral Church of St. Patrick Near Dublin, from it Foundation in 1190, to the Year 1819: Comprising a Topographical Account of the Lands and Parishes ... and Biographical Memoirs of Its Deans. Dublin: W. Folds for the author. p. lviii.
  11. Compton, Alwyne, Lord (1853–1855). "Notes on the Civil War and the Siege of Banbury". Transactions of the Archaeological Society of North Oxfordshire. Society. 1: 33 No. 10.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Cartwright, Julia (August 1891). "Edge Hill and Compton Winyates". Atalanta. Hatchards'. 4 (47): 716.
  13. Lysons, Daniel (1810). Magna Brittanica: The county palatine of Chester. T. Cadell and W. Davies. pp. 548–549.
  14. Metcalfe, Walter Charles (1885). A Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath, and Knights Bachelor: Made Between the Fourth Year of King Henry VI and the Restoration of King Charles II and Knights Made in Ireland, Between the Years 1566 and 1698, Together with an Index of Names. London: Mitchell and Hughes. p. 201.
  15. Northampton, William, Marquess of (1904). Compton Wynyates. London: A.L. Humphreys. pp. 40–43.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. Tymms, Samuel (1835). "Northamptonshire; History". The Family Topographer. Vol. V. J.B. Nichols and Son. p. 21.
  17. Isham, Gyles (1955). The Correspondence of Bishop Duppa and Sir Justinian Isham, 1650–1660. Publications. Vol. 17. Northamptonshire Record Society. p. 166.
  18. "Engraved portrait of Sir Charles Compton (1623-1661)". Fairclough Portrait Collection. University of Leicester. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  19. Lloyd, Stephen (2006). Portrait Miniatures from Scottish Private Collections. National Galleries of Scotland. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-903278-79-6.
    • Edwards, Ralph; Ward-Jackson, Peter (1959). Ham House A Guide. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. pp. 47–48.
    • Ham House, Surrey. London: National Trust. 1995. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-0-7078-0275-6.
  21. "John Leslie, Duke of Rothes (c.1630-1681)". National Trust Collections. National Trust. NT 1139951.
  22. "Sir William Compton (1625-1663)". National Trust Collections. National Trust. NT 1139946. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  23. "Sir William Compton". National Portrait Gallery. NPG 1522. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
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