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Family and Education
b. 19 Aug. 1622, 1st. s. of Spencer Compton, 2nd earl of Northampton and Mary, da. of Sir Francis Beaumont of Cole Orton, Leics.; bro. of Charles Compton†, Francis Compton†, William Compton† and Henry Compton, bishop of London; styled. Lord Compton 24 June 1630-43.CP ix. 679, 681; Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford ed. D. J. H. Clifford (Stroud, 1990), 121. educ. Eton, 1633-6;Eton Coll. Reg. ed. W. Sterry, 81. Queens’, Camb. MA 1635-6, adm. fell. commoner 21 Jan. 1637;Al. Cant. travelled abroad (Low Countries), 1640;SP16/468/87. DCL Oxf. 1 or 2 Nov. 1642.Al. Ox. m. (1) 5 July 1647, Isabella (d. 1661), da. of Richard Sackville, 3rd earl of Dorset, 3s. d.v.p., 2da. d.v.p. (2) c. 1664 (with £11,000), Mary (d. 1719), da. of Baptist Noel, 3rd Visct. Campden, 3s. (1 d.v.p.), 2da. (1 d.v.p.).Castle Ashby, Castle Ashby ms 1220; HP Lords, 1660-1715, ii. 626. suc. fa. as 3rd earl of Northampton, 19 Mar. 1643. d. 15 Dec. 1681.CP ix. 682.
Offices Held

Local: commr. assessment, Warws. 1642;SR. Northants. (roy.) 25 Aug. 1643;Bodl. Dugdale 19, f. 27. impressment (roy.), Northants. and Warws. 3 Jan. 1644, 17 Mar. 1645;Bodl. Dugdale 19, ff. 47v, 104v. oyer and terminer, Midland circ. 10 July 1660-aft. Feb. 1673.C181/7, pp. 14, 641. Master of game, Whittlewood Forest, Northants. 12 July 1660–d.CSP Dom. 1660–1, p. 118. Ld. lt. Warws. and Coventry 17 July 1660–81; Tower Hamlets 30 July 1675–79.Castle Ashby mss 974, 976; Lds. Lts. of Counties ed. Sainty, 115. J.p. Northants., Warws. by Oct. 1660–d.C220/9/4, ff. 58v, 88v; Eg. 2557. Commr. corporations, Coventry 1662.CCSP v. 255. Chief ranger, Whittlewood and Saulcey Forests, 1665. Dep. kpr. of hawks, Saulcey Forest 1666.W. Bingham Compton, Hist. of the Comptons of Compton Wynyates (1930), 117. Gamekpr. within 12 miles of Castle Ashby, 1666–d.CSP Dom. 1665–6, p. 383. Commr. sewers, Mdx. and Westminster 17 Oct. 1667-aft. Oct. 1672.C181/7, pp. 412, 627. Custos rot. Northants. 16 May 1671–d.C231/7, p. 392; Collins, Peerage, iii. 257. Commr. rebuilding Northampton, 1675.SR.

Military: capt. of ft. (roy.) regt. of fa. 6 Aug. 1642;Castle Ashby mss, 1083.1, 4; Compton, Hist. of the Comptons, 83. col. of horse and ft. 23 Mar. 1643-bef. 21 Jan. 1645.Add. 18980, f. 28; HMC Hastings, ii. 96; Bodl. Dugdale 19, f. 115. Gov. Banbury 23 Mar. 1643.Add. 18980, f. 28; HMC Hastings, ii. 96. Col.-gen. and cdr. of forces in Northants., Warws., Coventry and Peterborough 23 Mar. 1643.HMC Hastings, ii. 96; Compton, Hist. of the Comptons, 86. Col. of ft. regt. formerly of John Lenthall*, 11 June-17 Nov. 1660;Castle Ashby ms 39; Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. i. 384. col. of horse, 1662;Castle Ashby ms 1089a; CSP Dom. 1661–2, p. 475. col. of ft. 1673.CSP Dom. 1673, p. 223. Constable, Tower of London 1675–8.CSP Dom. 1675–6, p. 218, 1678, Addenda 1674–9, p. 551.

Civic: recorder, Coventry 1660–d.;B. Poole, Coventry, its Hist. and Antiquities (1870), 369. Northampton 14 Oct. 1672–d.CSP Dom. 1672–3, p. 46; Compton, Hist. of the Comptons, 128. Freeman, Edinburgh 1662.Norfolk RO, Townshend mss, box marked Raynham 75. High steward, Tamworth 1663–d.C. F. Palmer, Hist. of the Town and Castle of Tamworth (Tamworth, 1845), 140–1, app. xxiii.

Central: commr. confirming ministers by ?Oct. 1660;CSP Dom. 1660–1, p. 350. assessing peers for militia, 1662; for subsidy, 1663; for poll tax, 1666; for assessment, 1677, 1678;Warws. RO, CR 2017/C48/165; SR. commr. settling trade with Scotland, 1668;CSP Dom. 1667–8, p. 473. taking accts. of money for loyal and indigent officers, 1671.CSP Dom. 1671, p. 255. PC, 1673–9.PC2/63, f. 1; CP ix. 682; E. R. Turner, Privy Council of Eng. in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (2 vols. Baltimore, 1927), i. 425. Ld. of trade, 1677.CP ix. 682.

Academic: FRS by 1661.M. Hunter, The Royal Soc. and its Fellows, 1660–1780 (1982), 164–5.

: Lord Compton (1622-81), of Compton Wynyates, Warws. 1622 – 81 and Northants., Castle Ashby.
Likenesses

Likenesses: oil on canvas, aft. W. Dobson;NT, Knole. oils, P. Lely.Castle Ashby, Northants.

Volume
Commons 1640-1660
Web Title

COMPTON, James, Lord Compton (1622-81), of Compton Wynyates, Warws. and Castle Ashby, Northants.

Will
admon. 10 July 1682.PROB6/57, f. 97v.
Estates
Income of his fa. in 1635 was £6,058, but with debts of over £10,500 in 1630.Warws. RO, CR 556/274 ff. 13, 116. By his own estimate he inherited debts of £30,000 in 1643, and assessed his own annual income as no more than £3,000.Add. 34253, f. 42; CCC 1247. Fined £14,153 for delinquency;CCC 1248. created trust of 1 manor in Oxon., 5 in Som., Crosby House, Bishopsgate St.., St Helen’s Bishopsgate rectory, City of London; Eastwood rectory, Essex; manors of Clerkenwell, Canonbury and Cutlers, Mdx. to pay debts of fa. 24 Sept. 1643;Castle Ashby ms 941. mortgaged manors in Mdx. for £8,500, 1650-1661;Castle Ashby ms 734i.k,l,p,q,r. debts stated to be £27,123 in May 1653;Castle Ashby ms 1086. received 50-year lease of crown lands valued at £1,500 p.a., 1660;Eg. 2551, f. 112. lease from Queen Dowager Henrietta Maria of Holdenby, Northants., 1660;Norfolk RO, Townshend mss, box marked Raynham 96. pension of £1,000 p.a., 11 Feb. 1676 d.CSP Dom. 1675-6, p. 591. Half-year income in 1676 was £3,772; expenditure £3,254, from lands in Northants., Warws., Hunts., Suss., Som. and Yorks.Warws. RO, CR 556/275.Household: master of king’s leash, by 1664.Norfolk RO, Townshend MSS, box marked Raynham 97.
Oxford 1644
No
Addresses
Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Nov. 1659.Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford, 142.
Religion
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