COMPTON, Sir Henry (c.1584-1649), of Allfarthing, Wandsworth, Surr., Brambletye, East Grinstead, Suss. and Finch Lane, London.

Compton was born into an ancient and prominent Warwickshire family, which had first represented the county in Parliament in the fourteenth century and which prospered into the seventeenth, notwithstanding a tendency towards Catholicism. Compton’s father was elevated to the peerage, while his brother William Compton (d. 1630) became 1st earl of Northampton. 35M. Hodgetts, ‘Elizabethan priest-holes’, Recusant Hist. xii. 116-17; CP. Powerful patrons promoted Sir Henry Compton’s career. Thanks to his kinsman Thomas Spencer, a bencher, he was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1602, quickly elevated to the status of an associate bencher (1604), and soon granted a reversion to the valuable position of custos brevium of the common pleas.36LIL, Admiss. Bk. 3, f. 131; LI Black Bks. ii. 84; CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 173. Despite the problems attendant on the marriage in 1592 of Compton’s widowed mother and guardian to the 2nd earl of Dorset (Robert Sackville†), Compton developed a strong relationship with the Sackville family.37WARD9/158, ff. 18v-19; Comber, Suss. Genealogies Ardingly, 178-9; Clifford Diaries, 35, 60, 61, 72; HMC Downshire, iv. 8.

The Sackville interest at East Grinstead enabled Compton to take one of the borough seats in the last Elizabethan Parliament (1601). Following his marriage to the daughter of the 2nd earl of Dorset, he was re-elected to all but one of the Jacobean and early Caroline parliaments. He did not sit in Parliament in 1624, when he had been travelling abroad, but the 4th earl of Dorset (Edward Sackville†), lord lieutenant of Sussex, was probably responsible for his appointment that year as a justice of the peace and a deputy lieutenant.38SO3/7, unfol.; CSP Dom. 1623-5, p. 300; HP Commons 1604-1629. Thereafter, alongside acting as a trustee for the Sackvilles, Compton quickly assumed a prominent position in local administration.39Suss. Manors, i. 129; E. Suss. RO, SPK, unbound; Hic MSS 84, 365, 366; QI/EW1, f. 7; LCD/EW1, ff. 2-74v.

Compton’s standing was also based on his own considerable wealth. In the 1618 will of his mother the dowager countess of Dorset, for example, portions of £8,000 were left to the daughters of Compton, her ‘dearly beloved son’ and executor.40PROB11/132/298. From 1630 the post of custos brevium brought Compton not only a degree of patronage over minor offices within common pleas, but also an income of around £2,000 a year.41CSP Dom. 1629-31, p. 182; 1636-7, p. 268; SP23/205, pp. 1-3, 5, 9, 21-8, 207. His landed estate was later valued at over £3,000 a year.42SP23/205, pp. 1-3.

Compton maintained strong Catholic connections. His first wife was presented as a recusant before the Sussex assizes in 1624, while Compton himself was reported as being a Catholic in 1626 and 1628.43Rushworth, Hist. Collns. i. 396; HMC Portland, i. 1. Many of those friends for whom he was a trustee or executor in that decade appear to have been recusants, while his second marriage, to another Catholic, integrated him further with leading Sussex recusant families.44Add. 39478, ff. 165-72v; CD 1628, iii. 64; E.B. Burstall, ‘The Pastons and their manor of Binham’, Norf. Arch. xxx. 108; CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 350; SO3/7, unfol.; C66/2253/9. He subsequently became a guardian and trustee of, among others, Francis Montagu, 3rd Viscount Montagu, and Sir Thomas Gage of Firle, and took leases on lands confiscated from recusants, presumably as part of mutually beneficial deals.45WARD9/163, ff. 17, 20, 49; 9/430; Add. 39476, ff. 6, 196; W. Suss. RO, Add. MS 9377; E. Suss. RO, SAS/G13/76, SAS/G/19/23-24, 26; Suss. Manors, ii. 500; Coventry Docquets, 224, 270, 477. In 1631 his sons William and Richard were admitted to the Catholic seminary at Douai, while around the same time his daughter Cicely married leading Henry Arundell, heir of leading Catholic peer Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour.46Douay Coll. Diaries ed. E.H. Burton and T.L. Williams (Cath. Rec. Soc. x), 290, 298; CP.

Despite such connections Compton remained active on the bench in Sussex throughout the 1630s.47Bodl. Rawl. B.431, ff. 15-41; SP16/192, f. 147; SP16/203, f. 155; SP16/220, f. 112; SP16/247, f. 159; SP16/395, f. 40. In 1637, however, his religious views fell under suspicion when he employed a renowned Catholic, Otho Polewhele, as music tutor to one of his sons. Compton convinced the privy council that his wife was responsible for the appointment, and the case was discharged, but he appears to have been summoned again in April 1638.48PC2/47, ff. 155v, 160v; 2/49, f. 58. In November, possibly in an effort to display his religious conformity, Compton presented to Oare rectory in Sussex William Wildman, whose continued tenure until his death in 1647 seems to rule out any papist or ceremonialist tendencies.49IND1/17004, p. 60; Al. Cant. However, suspicions about Compton’s family persisted: both Compton’s wife and estate steward were presented as recusants before the Sussex quarter sessions in January 1641.50E. Suss. RO, QR/E51/19.

In 1639 Compton contributed money to the king’s Scottish campaign, and, with some initial encouragement, appears to have been zealous in collecting contributions from other Sussex gentry.51CSP Dom. 1625-49, p. 604; PC2/48, f. 310; Add. 33058, f. 67. It is likely that in the spring elections of 1640 he was returned to Parliament for East Grinstead as a ‘court’ candidate, as well as upon his own proprietorial interest and that of his friend the earl of Dorset. Unlike Dorset’s secretary, John White I*, a candidate for the other borough seat, Compton faced no opposition at the poll or dispute later.52CJ ii. 10b; Aston’s Diary, 46-7, 152. There is no indication, however, that Compton played any part in the work of the Parliament.

Compton was not elected to the Long Parliament, when Dorset secured the seat for his son, Lord Buckhurst (Richard Sackville*). Had he been returned, his suspected recusancy and his role as a monopolist (soap 1632; butter 1636) might well have ensured his rapid removal from the House. 53Rushworth, Hist. Collns. ii. 136; CSP Dom. 1637-8, p. 299; 1640, p. 491; SO3/11, unfol. These were the grounds for his being declared a delinquent by the Commons on 17 August 1641.54CJ ii. 260a; Procs. LP v. 211; vi. 451. Although Compton was bailed (26 Aug.) on security of £10,000 provided by his nephew Spencer Compton, 2nd earl of Northampton, and Henry Carey, 1st Viscount Rochford, he was warned to attend Lincoln’s Inn in order to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance (18 Nov.).55CJ ii. 273b; Procs. LP vi. 566, 573; HMC 4th Rep. 104; D’Ewes (C), 52; LI Black Bks, ii. 360. Once the Commons had voted the soap monopoly to be illegal, he was named in the ensuing bill, introduced into the House in February 1642.56CJ ii. 299b; PJ iii. 185 The following July Compton, together with his wife and children, was presented for recusancy, on the grounds of having failed to take communion for a year.57ASSI35/84/8, m. 14.

During the civil war Compton supported the king, as did Northampton, who was killed at Hopton Heath; the latter’s sons James Compton* (3rd earl of Northampton), Charles Compton and William Compton† (governor of Banbury); and the Arundells. It is unclear how active a part Sir Henry played in the royalist war effort. Parliament granted him – as trustee to the earl of Dorset – the reversion of the keepership of Little Park in Eltham, but a letter from Harbert Morley in November 1642 reporting that Compton had offered horse and cattle to the king’s forces fed suspicion among MPs.58SP16/489, f. 135; Add. 18777, f. 61b. However, it was not until April 1643 that there was an order for his committal to the Tower, and for the sequestration of his office and estate.59CJ iii. 31b, 142a, 149a, 152a, 160a; Add. 31116, p.171.

Once again it seems that powerful friends came to Compton’s aid. He was released from the Tower upon petition after only a few months (2 Oct. 1643), on grounds of ill-health, and on condition that he remained within ten miles of London.60CJ iii. 260b; CSP Dom. 1641-3, p. 514; SP16/498, f. 179. Almost immediately, an inquiry was launched into the grounds whereby his estate had been sequestered, and by March 1644 Compton had taken the Covenant.61SP20/1, p. 102; SP23/205, p. 1. It is possible that protection came as a quid pro quo, from men like Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of Essex. Compton was executor to Richard Burke, 4th earl of Clanricarde, and a trustee for Ulick Burke, the 5th earl, who was his brother-in-law and Essex’s half-brother; he could not have discharged his longstanding and onerous obligations to an estate weighed down with debt had he been in prison.62The Humble Petition of Thomas Brewer (1654, 669.f.19.55); Life and Lttrs of Sir Lewis Dyve ed. Tibbutt (Beds. Hist. Rec. Soc. xxvii), 15; C54/3275; Lttr-Bk. of the Earl of Clanricarde 1643-47 ed. J. Lowe (1983), 38, 88; Mems. and Lttrs. of Ulick, Marquiss of Clanricarde ed. K. de Burgh, Marquess of Clanricarde (1757), 340.

There were others in Parliament who sought to inflict heavy penalties on Compton for his allegiance to the king. On 16 October 1643 he was assessed at £1,200, while in February 1644, following the decision of the Committee for Sequestrations that there were grounds for proving his recusancy, the Commons disabled him from holding the post of custos brevium, which was passed to John Glynne*.63CCAM 268; SP20/1, pp. 172, 203, 275; CJ iii. 385a-b, 371a, 383a, 384b, 392a; LJ vi. 405a, 406a-b; Add. 18779, f. 50a; Add. 31116, p. 218 That July there was the first reading of a bill to punish Compton as a monopolist.64HMC 6th Rep. 215; CJ iii. 554b; Add. 31116, p. 297. By the first week of May 1645 Compton faced imprisonment for failure to pay his assessment, the reversal of an earlier decision to protect his woodlands, and further questioning concerning his having sheltered Catholics in Sussex.65CCAM 268; SP20/1, pp. 660, 756; SP23/233, ff. 158-9. His petition for protection against the actions of his creditors was upheld by the Lords on 24 May.66LJ vii. 376a, 382b; HMC 6th Rep. 60; LJ vii. 389a. However, by the end of July he had been re-assessed at £3,000, and following information regarding £2,000 which he held as executor to the Catholic John Arundel (25 Aug.), he was ordered to be brought into custody once again (1 Sept.).67CCAM, 49, 268.

Ten days later the Commons ordered his release so that he could go to Spa for his health, on condition that he should return to England within three months.68CJ iv. 269a. But MPs had been hoodwinked: Charles I had designated him as an envoy to the king of Portugal. Compton left England in mid-October, having been awarded £4 per day from the royal coffers, and remained in Paris until April 1646.69SO3/13, unfol.; Prestage, Dip. Rel. Portugal, 109-11; M.F. Santarem, Quadro Elementar (1859), xvii. 55-60; Eg. 2550, ff. 34v-35. In the meantime, still in ignorance of his true intent, on 9 December the Commons granted him a further three months’ leave.70CJ iv. 371.

Following the surrender of Oxford and the end of the first civil war, in December 1646 Compton sought to compound for his delinquency. Moves were made to suspend the plundering of his estates, but proceedings were hampered by suspicions of his Catholicism.71CCC 1602. In January 1647 the Commons earmarked his estate to provide for reduced officers.72CJ v. 47b. It was valued at over £3,000 a year, although he claimed to owe over £24,000, and his fine was set at £5,289, which was to be abated £3,675 on condition that he settled three rectories (Lemington, Glos. and Bolton and Clapham, Lancs.) on puritan ministers.73CCC 1602; SP23/205, pp. 1-3. The upshot is uncertain, and in late 1647 and 1648 the possibility of punishment over the soap monopoly continued to hang over Compton.74CJ v. 382; HMC 6th Rep. 215. On 15 June 1648 he was removed from his chamber in Lincoln’s Inn.75LI Black Bks. ii. 378; LIL, E1a1, fo. 223. Later in the year, Compton sought a further review of his case, but this was hampered by his continued absence from England, without leave of Parliament.76CCC 78, 88, 91, 94, 115, 1603.

Compton spent the rest of his life abroad. The king recalled him in January 1648 from what proved an unsuccessful mission to Lisbon, but he seems to have died in Paris, some time before 5 July 1649.77Prestage, Dip. Rel. Portugal, 109-11; Santarem, Quadro Elementar, xvii. 55-60; Nicholas Pprs. i. 79; HMC Finch i. 65; CCC, 1603. No will survives, although in August 1650 one Henry Compton and John Lumley were described as his executors.78CCC 2501. He had made settlements on his children over the years and had trustees who included John Goodwyn* – a pointer towards another potential protector. His wife had been a party on 26 December 1648 to a deed which vested land in these trustees to pay Sir Henry’s debts and raise portions for their younger offspring.79CCC 1603-4. She was described by the Norfolk committee in 1650 as a ‘professed ancient papist recusant’.80CCC 299. Richard, the heir, who held land in Hampshire, took the oath of abjuration of Catholicism in November 1652.81Derbys. RO, D779B/T 196-7; CCC 1603. Henry, the eldest son of their father’s second marriage, who inherited Brambletye, claimed to have spent most of the 1640s abroad and overcame allegations of participation in insurrection to do take the oath in November 1650. His sequestration was discharged in January 1651 on the deposition by Robert Goodwin* that he had frequented East Grinstead church, but he was killed in May 1652 in a duel with George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos, on Putney Heath.82Comber, Suss. Genealogies Ardingly, 178-9; CCAM 1183; CCC 1603; CP (Arundell of Wardour); PROB11/221/646. George, the fourth son, based in Lancashire, was alleged in 1652 to be insane.83CCAM 1442. None of Compton’s sons were elected to Parliament, although three of the sons of his nephew, the 2nd earl of Northampton, sat in the Cavalier Parliament.84HP Commons 1660-1690.