John Bampfield

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

John Bampfield (c.1586-c.1657)^[1] of Poltimore and North Molton, Devon, England, was Member of Parliament for Tiverton (1621) and Devon (1628-9).

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Amias Bampfield (d.1626), MP, of Poltimore and North Molton, by his wife Elizabeth Clifton, 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 student at the Middle Temple in 1607. In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Tiverton, Devon. He was elected MP for Devon in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.^[2]

Marriage & progeny

Bampfield married Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Thomas Drake of Buckland and niece of Admiral Sir Francis Drake, by whom he had progeny including:

• Amias Bampfylde, eldest son, died in Italy without progeny.^[3]
• Arthur Bampfield, 2nd son, died without progeny.^[3]
• Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet (1590-1650), 3rd son and heir apparent, seemingly predeceased his father.^[3][4] The heir to his baronetcy and paternal inheritance was his eldest son Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Baronet (c. 1633–1692).
• Francis Bampfield (d.1663/4), 6th son,^[3] a Nonconformist minister^[2] who died in Newgate Prison
• Thomas Bampfield (d.1693), 8th son,^[3] 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 Visitation 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, p.40
4. 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.