View source for James Compton 1622-1681

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===[[name::James]] [[name::COMPTON]], 3rd [[personal title::Earl of Northampton]] [[date of birth::1622]]-[[date of death::1681]]===

====Biographical Note====
Son of [[family::Spencer Compton]], 2nd Earl of Northampton (1601-1643). Admitted to [[education::Queen’s College, Cambridge]], 1634. [[occupation::MP]] for [[location::Warwickshire]] 1640-1642. Fought on the Royalist side in the Civil War, compounded for his estates in 1646. He was imprisoned during the Interregnum, during which time he wrote and translated plays. After the Restoration he became [[occupation::lord lieutenant]] of [[location::Warwickshire]] and [[occupation::recorder]] of [[location::Coventry]]. He was elected [[occupation::fellow]] of the [[organisations::Royal Society]] in 1663. He was [[occupation::privy councillor]] 1673-9, [[occupation::constable of the Tower]] 1675-9, and a [[occupation::lord of trade]] in 1677. He married twice, first to [[family::Isabella Compton|Isabella]] (1622-1661), daughter of [[associates::Richard Sackville]], 3rd earl of Dorset (d.1624) and then after her death to [[family::Mary Compton|Mary]] (d.1719), daughter of [[associates::Baptist Noel]], third viscount Campden and had eleven children in total.

====Books====
Ca.250 books, valued at [[monetary value::£57 3s 6d]], were seized from his home by the [[organisations::London Committee for Sequestration]] in 1643, and sold. An inventory survives in the Committee's records in The National Archives.  His [[format::manuscript]] [[subject::literature|plays]] and translations, long held at [[location::Castle Ashby]], are now in the [[present repository::British Library]].

====Sources====
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*[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3124421 Priced list of delinquents' books sold, The National Archives SP 20/7].
*Kelliher, W. H. [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/46937 "Compton, James, third earl of Northampton (1622–1681), playwright and translator."] ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. 
*Roy, I. The libraries of Edward, 2nd Viscount Conway, and others, ''Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research'' 43 (1968), 35-46.
*Williams, W. P. The Castle Ashby manuscripts, ''The Library'' 6th ser 2 (1980), 391-412.
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[[Category:Aristocracy]]
[[Category:Earls]]
[[Category:Libraries Seized]]
[[Category:All Owners]]