John Bampfield

John Bampfield (c. 1586 – c. 1657)[1] of Poltimore and North Molton, Devon, England, was a Member of Parliament for Tiverton in Devon (1621) and for the prestigious county seat of Devon (1628-9).

Arms of Bampfylde: Or, on a bend gules three mullets argent

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Amias Bampfield (died 1626), MP, of Poltimore and North Molton, by his wife Elizabeth Clifton, a daughter of Sir John Clifton of Barrington Court, Somerset.

Career

He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford on 13 July 1604, aged 18. He was a law student at the Middle Temple in 1607. In 1621 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Tiverton, Devon. He was elected an MP for Devon in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[2]

Marriage and children

In 1602 Bampfield married Elizabeth Drake, a daughter of Thomas Drake (d.1605) of Buckland Drake, Devon, and a niece of Admiral Sir Francis Drake (d.1596)[3] of Buckland Abbey, Devon. His sister Jane Bampfield married Francis Drake, a brother of Elizabeth Drake.[4] By his wife he had children including:

• Amias Bampfylde, eldest son, who died in Italy without children.[5]
• Arthur Bampfield, second son, died without children.[5]
• Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet (1590–1650), third son and heir apparent, one of Devon's Parliamentarian leaders during the Civil War,[6] who predeceased his father.[7][5][8] The heir to his baronetcy and paternal inheritance was his eldest son Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Baronet (c. 1633 – 1692).
• Francis Bampfield (died 1663/4), sixth son,[5] a Nonconformist minister[2] who died in Newgate Prison.
• Thomas Bampfield (died 1693), eighth son,[5] MP, briefly Speaker of the House of Commons.

Sources

• Venning, Tim & Hunneyball, Paul, biography of Bampfield, John (c.1586-c.1657), of Poltimore, Devon published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, Cambridge University Press, 2010
• Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp. 38–41, pedigree of Bamfield of Poltimore

References

1. Venning & Hunneyball
2. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Baal-Barrow', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 51-78. Date accessed: 19 November 2011
3. Vivian, pp.40; 299
4. Vivian, pp.39-40; Venning & Hunneyball
5. Vivian, p.40
6. Venning & Hunneyball
7. Venning & Hunneyball
8. Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 306.

Parliament of England
Preceded by Constituency enfranchised 1615	Member of Parliament for Tiverton 1621–1622 With: John Davie	Succeeded by Sir George Chudleigh Humphrey Weare
Preceded by John Drake John Pole	Member of Parliament for Devon 1628–1629 With: Sir Francis Drake, 1st Baronet	Succeeded by Parliament suspended until 1640