HANMER, Sir John, 1st Bt. (c.1591-1624), of Hanmer, Flints.

The Hanmer family were descended from Sir Thomas de Macclesfield, who acquired and took his name from Hanmer in Maelor Saesneg at the end of the thirteenth century. His descendants married a succession of Welsh heiresses, and several supported Glyndŵr’s rebellion. DWB (Hanmer of Hanmer). By 1600 the family held 3,500 acres in Maelor, and another 1,000 acres in Shropshire, Montgomery and the main part of Flintshire. C142/447/45; 142/451/98; 142/452/39. This gave them significant influence in local politics: Sir Thomas, the 1st baronet’s great-grandfather, represented Flintshire in Parliament in March 1553, and thereafter successive heads of the family were intermittently returned to the Commons until the mid-eighteenth century.

Hanmer’s early death meant that he had little chance to demonstrate his potential as a county figure, but during the five years he was head of the family he acquired a baronetcy, served as sheriff of Flintshire and was appointed to the Council in the Marches. When Parliament was summoned in January 1624 Hanmer was nominated at a meeting of the shire gentry before (Sir) Richard Wynn* and (Sir) James Whitelocke* were able to launch Sir Thomas Mostyn as a rival candidate. NLW, 9059E/1185-7. Hanmer was duly returned, but his only recorded activity during the session was to attend a meeting of the committee for the estate bill confirming the sale of a Denbighshire estate to Sir Francis Lacon* (16 Apr. 1624). CJ, i. 768a; C.R. Kyle, ‘Attendance Lists’, PPE 1604-48 ed. Kyle, 205.

Hanmer died on 29 June, a month after Parliament was prorogued. In his will of 14-18 June he left bequests to his wife and under-age son Thomas†, and appointed, among others, his wife’s uncles Sir John Trevor I* and (Sir) Thomas Trevor* as trustees of his estate, instructing them to sell lands in Montgomeryshire to pay his debts and to secure his son’s wardship. PROB 11/145, ff. 240v-1v. Dame Dorothy subsequently purchased the wardship for £400, but became entangled in a dispute with her son, which was only resolved in 1634. C2/Chas.I/H48/61; 2/Chas.I/H100/45. The latter, though only 14, reportedly challenged John Salusbury* for the knighthood of the shire in 1626, P. Roberts, Y Cwtta Cyfarwydd ed. D.R. Thomas, 111. represented Flintshire Boroughs in the Short Parliament and was an active royalist at the outbreak of the Civil War. He went abroad in 1644, but ended his days as a Court supporter in the Cavalier Parliament. DWB (Hanmer of Hanmer); HP Commons 1660-90, ii. 476-7.