Giles Mompesson
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Giles Mompesson (c. 1583 – 1663) was an English office holder and courtier who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1621, when he was sentenced for corruption. He was officially a "notorious criminal" whose career was based on speculation and corruption. His name came to be regarded as a synonym for official corruption, because he used nepotism to gain positions for licensing businesses by which he pocketed the fees. In the reaction against Charles I, Mompesson's name was invoked as a symbol of all that was wrong with aristocracy. Sir Giles Overreach, the anti-hero of Philip Massinger's 1625 play A New Way to Pay Old Debts, is based on Mompesson.[1]
Licensing monopoly
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Mompesson was born in
In 1616, Mompesson used his influence to propose to Villiers that there be a commissioner of inns.
Mompesson's performance of his job was aggressive and avaricious. He expanded his brief to license taverns, which was clearly the historical realm of the Justices of the peace, and he trespassed into the jurisdiction of the Justices in other ways as well. Justices of the Peace were responsible for keeping the domestic peace, and Mompesson would allow taverns closed for ill repute and bad behaviour to reopen if they paid him a stiff bribe/fee.
In 1617, Mompesson proposed to Villiers and received a scheme to raise £10,000 in four years by selling decayed timber from royal estates. For performing this public service, he was to receive £1,000 personally in the first year, with another £1,000 due at the end of four years. Evidence would later show that he made over £10,000 profit beyond what he gave to the Treasury, as well as the £2,000 due to him. By the next year, his reputation was such that there was a backlash. Mompesson was given a second monopoly, to investigate the production of
Backlash, trial, and banishment
The sentiment against Mompesson was very high in 1620, and Bacon warned Villiers to take away Mompesson's licensing of inns, in particular. Buckingham, however, continued to support him. Mompesson was re-elected MP for Great Bedwyn in 1621. In February 1621, the
Mompesson's response was to admit his guilt and plead for
His wife, Katherine, stayed in England. She petitioned Charles I for relief, asking that her husband be allowed to return to dispense with his estate, since it was entangled. Commons ordered that all of Mompesson's gains be forfeit, except for the New River annuity, which would go to Katherine. The fine devolved to John St. John. In 1623, Charles gave Mompesson three months to be in England, a period which was later extended. The House of Commons ordered him out of the country on 8 February 1624, but he was back in the country soon after. He lived in Wiltshire in retirement for the rest of his life.
Katherine died in 1633.[3] Mompesson erected a monument to her in St Mary's, the parish church of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire.[4]
Forest of Dean riots
Mompesson was again using his family connections through his sister-in-law
The lands were worked for iron ore and timber. During riots aimed at destroying the enclosures and returning the lands to common in 1631, an effigy of the "odious projector" Sir Giles was thrown into the iron ore pits and buried as they were filled in by the rioters. Another agent in his employ was shot at and his house burnt.[5]
Last years
During his later years, his name was not forgotten by Parliamentarian forces, he was fined in 1645, in 1649, and as late as 1651.[6] He was a Royalist during the English Civil War and visited the king in 1647, though he did not militarily participate.[6] His own will was dated 1 September 1651, but was not tested and proved in court until 3 August 1663. So he died some time between those dates.[7]
References
- ^ "Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Giles Overreach (Sir)". bartleby.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
- ^ Robert, Steel (1910). Bibliotheca Lidesiana. Oxford: Clarenden Press. p. 154.
- ^ Dunning, R.W.; Rogers, K.H.; Spalding, P.A.; Shrimpton, Colin; Stevenson, Janet H.; Tomlinson, Margaret (1970). Crittall, Elizabeth (ed.). "Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 9 pp75-90 - Parishes: Lydiard Tregoze". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St. Mary, Lydiard Park (1023470)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
- OL 4742314M, 0520036816 p62-63
- ^ a b Lee, Sidney Lazarus (1894). "Mompesson, Giles". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Healy, Simon (2010). "Mompesson, Giles (1584–c.1651), of Little Bathampton, Wilts. and London". In Thrush, Andrew; Ferris, John P. (eds.). The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1604–29. Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge Press.
- Lee, Sidney and Sean Kelsy. "Giles Mompesson". In Matthew, H.C.G. and Brian Harrison, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. vol. 38, 569–572. London: OUP, 2004.
- MOMPESSON, Giles (1584-c.1651), of Little Bathampton, Wilts. and London; Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
- Steele, Robert (1910). Bibliotheca Lidesiana (PDF). Vol. 5. Clarenden Press Oxford. p. 154. Lists the Royal Proclamations issued by the Tudors and Stuarts 3 March 1621