HOOKE, John (c.1605-85), of Bramshott, Hants

The Hookes traced their roots in Hampshire back to Norman times, although arms were granted only in 1600 to the MP’s grandfather, John Hooke (d. 1613), who had acquired the manor of Bramshott. The latter had married an aunt of Francis Rous* and was from 1604 father-in-law of Rous’s step-brother, John Pym*.20Capes, Rural Life in Hants, 164-6, 333; Grantees of Arms (Harl. Soc. lxvi), 128. The MP’s father, Henry, who was sheriff of Hampshire in 1624–5 and otherwise active in the militia, invested in the local iron industry and acquired manors ten miles east of Bramshott at Ashurst in Surrey and seven miles south at Liping in Sussex.21Capes, Rural Life in Hants, 167, 178-9; VCH Surr. iii. 12; VCH Suss. iv. 64. In his will, drawn up in August 1640, he provided £1,500 for his daughter’s dowry and £600 at age 23 for his youngest son, Edmund, to be administered by his eldest son and executor, John, the future MP.22PROB11/184/131.

John spent nearly eight years at the Middle Temple, but left before being called to the bar.23MTR ii. 685, 782. A financially advantageous marriage a few months later – a union that was to last for over fifty years – may have been a factor in this. Hooke was sufficiently well-established to join the commission of the peace in his father’s lifetime.

With war looking increasingly likely, on 23 July 1642 Hooke was among those named by Parliament as a deputy lieutenant to prevent the passage of enemy troops and ordnance through Surrey and safeguard the county’s armaments.24LJ v. 233b. Appointed a sequestration commissioner in March 1643, he was nominated to the south-eastern association in November, but this was rescinded early in March 1644, perhaps because of the defection of his brother Edmund to the royalists.25A. and O.; LJ vi. 450a. When Edmund’s case came before the Committee for Advance of Money in November 1645 Hooke deposed that he had paid his brother’s allowance, but had not sent money or horses to him since he had departed to the king. It took several years to extricate himself from the demands of the Committee, but in the meantime his public career resumed.26CCAM 621-2. He was again named a local commissioner in June 1644 and continued to serve through the 1650s.27A. and O. His selection as sheriff of Hampshire on the day of Charles I’s execution indicates a presumption of loyalty to the republic.28CJ vi. 126a.

The future MP should not be confused with the John Hooke who was keeper of the royal tennis court and who was mentioned, in company with Michael Oldisworth* and William Wheler* among others, in disputes over the rights of members of Charles I’s former household to salaries and goods.29e.g. CSP Dom. 1636-7, p. 463; 1649-50, pp. 275, 542; 1654, pp. 255, 279; 1655, p. 291; c.f. Capes, Rural Life in Hants, 167. It was almost certainly that Hooke who was an assessment commissioner in Middlesex and Westminster between 1648 and 1652 and who petitioned the protector for office in 1656.30CSP Dom. 1656-7, p. 142; A. and O.; c.f. Capes, Rural Life in Hants, 167-8. A third John Hooke, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, was dealing with the navy commissioners in the mid-1650s.31CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 409, 465, 474.

Reacting to a recommendation by a committee of the Rump in 1651 that cathedral churches be demolished, John Hooke of Bramshott joined neighbours like Sir Thomas Jervoise* in petitioning that Winchester cathedral might be spared, ‘out of our zeal for the propagation of the gospel’.32Capes, Rural Life in Hants, 191-2. Nonetheless, he was prepared to conduct marriages in his capacity as a justice of the peace, as in April 1654 at Alton.33Capes, Rural Life in Hants, 192-4. In June 1658 he was approved as commissioner for ejecting scandalous ministers in Hampshire.34CSP Dom. 1658-9, p. 42.

At the end of that year he was a candidate in the parliamentary elections at Haslemere, which was more or less equidistant from his properties in Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex. Initially he was returned, together with Henry Fitzjames*. However, a petition from John Westbrooke*, a friend of county grandee Sir Arthur Onslowe*, led to an investigation by the committee of privileges. Convening on 17 February 1659, the committee identified ‘the principal question’ as, whether freeholders who were not also inhabitants were enfranchised. On 3 March the House agreed with the committee’s recommendation that they were not and on this basis disallowed Hooke’s election, which was dependent on votes from non-residents, a miller and the bailiff.35Burton’s Diary, iii. 325; CJ vii. 618b. Hooke was finally ‘cast out’ and Westbrooke admitted on 23 March, while the bailiff appeared before the Commons to erase Hooke’s name from the indenture on 31 March.36Burton’s Diary, iv. 243; CJ vii. 622a.

Hooke was elected for Winchester to the Convention and continued to hold local office after the Restoration.37HP Commons 1660-1690. He died on 14 May 1685, leaving generous provision for his widow. His pious will also left half a crown each to ten poor people, on condition they attended the services of both Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer on Sundays.38PROB11/382/266; Capes, Rural Life in Hants, 217. He was the only member of his immediate family to sit in Parliament.