| Authorised form of name | Compton; James (1622 - 1681); 3rd Earl of Northampton; playwright and translator |
| Dates | 1622 - 1681 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, England, Europe |
| Date of birth | 19 August 1622 |
| Place of death | Castle Ashby House, Northamptonshire, England, Europe |
| Date of death | 15 December 1681 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, England, Europe (29 December 1681) |
| Activity | Education:
Eton College; Queens' College, Cambridge; MA (1636), DCL (Oxford 1642)
Career:
MP for Warwickshire (1640-1643); Succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Northampton (1642/43); defeated the Parliamentary forces near Banbury (1643); translated multiple manuscripts from own collection, incl. 'Agamemnon' and 'Hercules furens' as well as Macchiavelli's 'La Mandragola' (c. 1649); imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time of Sir George Booth's attempted rising (1659); Recorder of Coventry (1660-1681) and of Northampton (1672); Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire (1660-1681); Colonel of a regiment of horse (1662); Steward of Tamworth (1663); Commissioner for freedom of trade with Scotland (1668); Commissioner for taking account of moneys given to loyal and indigent officers (1671); Master Forester of Whittlewood Forest (1669); Colonel of a regiment of foot (1673); Privy Councillor (1673-1679); Constable of the Tower (1675-1679); Lord of Trade (1677)
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| Membership category | Original Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/05/1663 |
| RSActivity | Committee and panels:
Committee on reconsideration of aspects of the charter (4 December 1666) |
| Relationships | Parents: Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton (1601-1643), and Mary Beaumont; succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Northampton (1643)
Married: 1) Isabella Sackville, daughter of 3rd Earl of Dorset and Baroness Clifford 2) Mary, daughter of 3rd Viscount Campden, and, Hester, daughter of 2nd Baron Wotton
Children: Alethea (1661-1678); five others with Sackville; George Compton, 4th Earl of Northampton; Mary Sackville, Countess of Dorset; Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington; two other children
Son-in-law: Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset (FRS 1699) |
| OtherInfo | As a Royalist during the English Civil War, Compton ultimately in 1646 surrendered to the Committee of Both Kingdoms. Post-war and after paying his fine, he could resume ownership of his properties in 1651, although he was briefly imprisoned again during the 1659 Booth's Uprising. As a member of the House of Lords, one of his most remembered and controversial acts was the proposed banishment of Edward Hyde (1st Earl of Clarendon). During the 1679 Exclusion Crisis, he was removed from both his posts as a Privy Councillor and the Constable of the Tower of London. He is most remembered as a patron of the arts and for uncovering and translating manuscripts held in his family's possession at Castle Ashby. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; Foster; GEC; Hunter
Notes:
The election date is Compton's re-election date into the Society after the grant of the second charter in April 1663. All Fellows admitted in a two-month window after this charter, until 22 June 1663, are considered Original Fellows. He was previously mentioned as a member 22 May 1661. He was summoned to the House of Lords as Lord Compton in his father's barony in 1711. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/53109445 |
| Code | NA5743 |