An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and a cousin of Oliver Cromwell, he was one of the Five Members whom Charles I of England tried to arrest in January 1642, a significant step in the outbreak of fighting in August.

His death on 18 June 1643 after being wounded in the Battle of Chalgrove Field was considered a significant loss, largely because Hampden acted as a bridge between the different Parliamentarian factions.

Combined with a reputation for honest, principled, and patriotic opposition to arbitrary rule, in 1841 his statue was erected in the rebuilt Palace of Westminster, representing the Parliamentarian cause.

[3] After the death of his father in April 1597, his cousin, another William Hampden, was appointed executor but became involved in a bitter legal dispute with Elizabeth; John's younger brother, Richard (1596–1659), inherited his estates at Emmington.

[2] Hampden graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1610, and attended the Inner Temple from 1613 to 1615, not necessarily to become a lawyer, but because knowledge of the law was then considered part of a gentleman's education.

Members belonged to a variety of Protestant sects, the most prominent being Presbyterians like Hampden, connecting him to a network that included Richard Knightley, Lord Saye, and John Preston.

In return for approving taxes, Parliament demanded the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham, a close friend of the king, and a military commander notorious for inefficiency and extravagance.

The next issue was that of Roger Maynwaring and Robert Sibthorpe, two priests who published sermons supportive of the divine right of kings, passive obedience, and which implied Charles was entitled to raise taxes as he wished.

[c] Using divine right to justify the levying of taxes without the approval of Parliament was inflammatory enough in itself, but Maynwaring also claimed those who disobeyed the king risked eternal damnation, infuriating Puritans who generally believed in Predestination, and salvation through faith.

However, the humiliating terms imposed by the Scots after a second victory in 1640 forced him to hold fresh elections in November; Pym acted as unofficial leader of the opposition, with Hampden co-ordinating the different factions.

Many feared he was about to sign an alliance with Spain, a view shared by the French and Venetian ambassadors; ending arbitrary rule was thus important for England and the European Protestant cause in general.

Laud was impeached in December 1640, and held in the Tower of London;[e] the king's chief minister the Earl of Strafford, former Lord Deputy of Ireland and organiser of the 1640 Bishops War, was executed in May 1641.

[21] The Commons also passed a series of constitutional reforms, including the Triennial Acts, abolition of the Star Chamber, and an end to levying taxes without Parliament's consent.

[28] However, regardless of religion or political belief, in 1642 the vast majority believed a 'well-ordered' monarchy was divinely mandated; where they disagreed was what 'well-ordered' meant, and who held ultimate authority in clerical affairs.

However, his main contribution was holding the Parliamentary factions together over the first winter, and preparing for a long war by initiating the negotiations that led to the Solemn League and Covenant with the Scots in August 1643.

Unlike Pym, who died of cancer in December, his loss was mourned on both sides of the conflict; his close friend Anthony Nicholl wrote ‘Never Kingdom received a greater loss in one subject, never a man a truer and more faithful friend.’[31] In 1843, George Nugent-Grenville, a Whig radical politician and author of the hagiographic and often inaccurate Memorials of John Hampden, paid for the Hampden Monument, located near the battle site.

[34] Prior to the 1774 American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams used Hampden to claim rebellion against the state could be reconciled with patriotism, while his death in battle allowed him to be positioned as a martyr to the cause of liberty.

[2] A variety of establishments bear his name, in Britain, and other parts of the English-speaking world, notably the United States; these include Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia, founded in 1775, plus numerous schools, towns, counties, hospitals, and geographical points.

His enduring popularity as a symbol of Parliamentary freedom continues; Mount Hampden was selected as the location for the new Parliament of Zimbabwe building, due for completion in 2022.