HARINGTON, John (1539/40-1613)

The Haringtons were named after a village on the Cumbrian coast, where they had acquired land by the twelfth century, but the senior branch of this family, ennobled in 1326 as barons Harington of Aldringham, died out in 1457. Meanwhile, a collateral line assembled an estate in the east Midlands through purchase and marriage: Sir Robert Harington^‡ sat in the Commons under Richard II. Their main Rutland estates were vastly increased by Sir John Harington^‡, treasurer-at-war for two of Henry VIII’s campaigns in the 1540s, and by the end of Elizabeth’s reign their income had reached £5,000 a year (around £4,000 in land rentals), ‘equal [to] the best barons and … not much behind many earls’. On the eve of the 1589 Parliament, the then head of the family, Sir James Harington, was considered for elevation to the peerage.24 Grimble, 19-73; Lansd. 104, f. 52v; Leics. RO, DE3214/172/15. The Rutland family were only distantly related to the celebrated epigrammatist Sir John Harington (1560-1612) of Kelston, Somerset, a courtier and godson of Queen Elizabeth, who ran into serious troubles at the start of James’s reign due to his links with the Gunpowder Plotter Sir Everard Digby.25 Grimble, 76-83, 119-42.

Harington’s mother was a Sidney of Penshurst, Kent, and in 1589 his aunt Frances Sidney, widow of Thomas Radcliffe^†, 3rd earl of Sussex, appointed him one of the overseers of her bequest of £5,000 towards the foundation of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Problems with the title to the new college’s site delayed its opening, and Harington and another of the countess’s executors, Henry Grey^*, 6th earl of Kent, were obliged to procure a private act in 1593 to confirm the purchase of the old Greyfriars’ site. Shortly beforehand, Harington successfully recommended his nephew James Montagu^* (later bishop of Winchester) to the university’s heads of house as master of the new foundation. Vice Chancellor Robert Some, while observing that Montagu, then an undergraduate at Christ’s College, was ‘not so thoroughly known unto every one of us’, accepted Harington’s assurances that the countess had wished the post to go to one of her kindred.26 Sidney Sussex Archives, Box 1/17; T.S. Wyatt, ‘Building and endowment of the Coll.’, Sidney Sussex Coll. Camb.: Historical Essays ed. D.E.D. Beales and H.B. Nisbet, 43-5. Some was vice chancellor in 1590-2. As the foundress’ legacy proved to be worth little more than £4,000, Harington and Montagu cut costs wherever possible: by the time the college admitted its first students in 1598, Harington had disbursed just under £2,268 towards the project; but the early fellows complained about their meagre stipends; while the chapel stood unfinished until 1601-2, and was not paved until Harington gave the college a consignment of stone in 1612.27 Sidney Sussex Archives, Box 1/6, 18a, 18b, unnumb. (master and fellows of Sidney Sussex to Henry Grey, 6th earl of Kent [c.1598]), MR.29; Wyatt, 47-53. Harington also passed his manor of Saleby, Lincolnshire to the college in 1608, and donated an eight volume set of Plantin’s polyglot bible to the library; the college expressed its gratitude by allowing Harington, Kent and Montagu to dominate its patronage until their deaths.28 Wyatt, 53; N. Rogers, ‘Early Hist. of Sidney Sussex Coll. Lib.’, Sidney Sussex Coll. Camb.: Historical Essays, 79; Sidney Sussex Archives, Box 1/17/1-3, 5, 1/18a, unnumb. (Harington to fellows 1 May 1609; Harington to Samuel Ward 3 Apr. 1611, 16 Jan. [1612], 1 Apr. 1612; Lady Harington to Samuel Ward 1 Apr. 1612).

The Sidney connection also made Harington a relative of Robert Devereux^†, 2nd earl of Essex, but, unlike his son-in-law, Edward Russell^*, 3rd earl of Bedford, Harington was not involved in Essex’s abortive rebellion of February 1601. Harington’s obsequious appeals to Robert Cecil^* (later 1st earl of Salisbury) in the aftermath of this rising helped to secure Bedford’s release.29 HMC Rutland, iv. 428; HMC Hatfield, xi. 119. Many former Essexians saw their fortunes revive upon the accession of King James, none more so than Harington, who was distantly related (being seventh cousin) to the new monarch. In April 1603 James spent a day hunting on Harington’s Rutland manor of Exton, and at the coronation three months later he ennobled his kinsman, who was now in his mid sixties. In October James appointed Harington governor to his daughter Princess Elizabeth, a signal honour. He also made Harington’s son John (later 2nd Lord Harington)^* one of Prince Henry’s companions, while Harington’s daughter Lucy, countess of Bedford, joined the court of Anne of Denmark. The Haringtons were thus among the clearest victors in the Gadarene rush for court preferment during the first months of the new reign.30 Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure, i. 193, nn.14-15; HMC Hatfield, xv. 58; SO3/2, f.136; JOHN HARINGTON, 2ND BARON HARINGTON; H.M. Payne, ‘Aristocratic Women and the Jacobean Court, 1603-25’ (Univ. London Ph.D. thesis, 2001), 280.

As it transpired, James ‘could not have pitched on a properer [sic] tutor for his daughter than Lord Harington’, who put a good deal of thought into stimulating his pupil’s not particularly academic imagination. The king proposed that Elizabeth should not be grounded in the classics, but in religion, history, the fine arts and household management. Harington erected a series of wooden buildings in the grounds of his house at Coombe Abbey, Warwickshire, in various architectural styles; used a series of flashcards to teach her about monarchs and their realms throughout history; and encouraged her to manage her own budget in regular meetings with the children of local gentry, so that she might learn how to save enough to offer charity to the poor. He also encouraged her to explore the flora and fauna of his gardens, which included a greenhouse, and was said to have acquired one of the newly invented telescopes to promote an interest in astronomy. One important attribute which may have recommended Harington’s services to James was his personal piety: he raised his own son to be a diligent student of scripture, and to scrutinize his conscience via prayer and a spiritual diary; and he personally oversaw the princess’s religious education, expounding daily scriptural readings to her.31 Mems. of the Queen of Bohemia ed. M. Erskine, 109-10, 123-36, 139-40; R. Stock, The Churches Lamentation for the loss of the Godly (1614), 78-82.

Harington’s position was an invaluable route to royal favour, but it was also immensely expensive: he was expected to run a household for the princess and her aristocratic companions on an initial grant of only £1,500 p.a., which sum was eventually raised to £2,500 in 1608. He often had to plead with the notoriously empty Exchequer for prompt payment of this allowance, and as his account closed around £30,000 in arrears, he was clearly spending over twice as much as he received from the crown during the ten years the princess remained in his charge.32 LS13/280, f. 198; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 154, 257-8, 600; xviii. 338, 405-6; xix. 104, 299, 334; CSP Dom. 1603-10, pp. 434, 552; 1611-18, p. 97; E407/57/2. In order to recoup this shortfall, he proposed a series of projects to Salisbury: a farm of the writs of outlawry; a share of the starch-making farm; the profits of timber sales in Leighfield Forest, Rutland; and a patent for concealed lands.33 HMC Hatfield, xix. 289, 435; xxi. 3, 51-3, 74; HMC Var. viii. 4-5; HMC Sackville, i. 154-6; CSP Dom. 1603-10, pp. 534, 557, 620. Amid stiff competition from other courtiers, he secured only the timber grant. However, after years of lobbying he finally obtained two other grants which offered significant yields: in 1612 his son John secured a reversion to a half share of the immensely lucrative chief clerkship of Common Pleas; and in 1613 he was granted a patent to mint brass farthing tokens, although Ludovic Stuart^*, 2nd duke of Lennox [S] (later duke of Richmond in the English peerage), who coveted a share of this farm, intervened to ensure that his profits from this concession were capped at £20,000.34 Chamberlain Letters, i. 331, 434; CSP Dom. 1611-18, pp. 141, 174, 180; HMC Cowper, i. 77; C66/1992/17.

Preoccupied as he was with his royal charge, Harington had very little time to attend Parliament. In 1604, he was present in the Lords only on the opening day of the session (19 March). When the next session convened, on 5 Nov. 1605, he did not even plan to attend the opening, which was fortuitous, as the Gunpowder Plotters intended to seize Princess Elizabeth from Coombe Abbey that same day. Hearing of the approach of the conspirators, he fled with his charge to nearby Coventry, then accompanied Fulke Greville^* (later 1st Lord Brooke) to capture the conspirators at Holbeach House, Worcestershire; two months later he claimed that he was ‘not yet recovered from the fever occasioned by these disturbances’. In the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that he was given leave of absence by the Lords on 21 Jan. 1606; he also missed the 1606-7 session.35 LJ, ii. 264b, 361a; CSP Dom. 1603-10, pp. 241-2, 244; HMC Hastings, ii. 49-51; J. Harington, Nugae Antiquae (1769), i. 78-81. He is noted as having been present on 16 days during the spring session of 1610, perhaps because his son was then sitting in the Commons, having been returned at a by-election for Coventry. He was named to committees for two estate bills, attended the investiture of Henry, prince of Wales, and took the newly required oath of allegiance with his fellow peers. He is not recorded as having attended any of the sittings during the autumn session.36 LJ, ii. 579b, 603b, 608b.

One of the intangible benefits of Harington’s position was that it gave him access to Princess Elizabeth’s aristocratic companions, and it was perhaps inevitable that he developed aspirations to forge a glittering match for his only surviving son. In 1607 his daughter, the countess of Bedford, proposed a match between her brother and Salisbury’s only daughter, Lady Frances Cecil. The earl politely declined, but shortly thereafter Harington claimed the princess asked to have Lady Frances join her household. Salisbury, however, wanted to match Frances with a member of the ancient nobility, and she was eventually married to Henry, Lord Clifford^* (later 5th earl of Cumberland). Much later, Sir James Whitelocke^‡, a distant relative of the Haringtons, recalled that a match had been proposed between Harington’s heir and one of the daughters of Henry Percy^*, 3rd earl of Northumberland, both of whom lived with the princess at Coombe; but in the end death overturned all of Harington’s plans.37 HMC Hatfield, xvii. 629 [should be dated 1607]; xix. 14, 45; xx. 297; Liber Famelicus of Sir J. Whitelocke ed. J. Bruce (Cam. Soc. lxx), 39; Mems. of the Queen of Bohemia, 107-8.

Harington’s position at court reached its zenith with Princess Elizabeth’s marriage to the Elector Palatine in February 1613. He received a New Year’s gift of £2,000 from the bridegroom, had a place of honour at the wedding, and was one of the delegation ordered to accompany the newly-weds to Heidelberg see to the princess settled in her jointure lands.38 HMC Downshire, iv. 2; CSP Dom, 1611-18, pp. 167, 170; Chamberlain Letters, i. 403, 427. Before their departure, Harington and Lennox settled their dispute over the farthing tokens patent, and Harington and his wife travelled in considerable style, on an allowance of £6 per day. Lady Harington was delighted to be accorded the status of a princess at the Palatine court, and the couple tarried in Heidelberg for some time after the official business of the visit was concluded, but they departed in August, apparently intending to take the waters at Spa with their daughter, the countess of Bedford.39 HMC Cowper, i. 77; CSP Ven. 1610-13, pp. 523-4; Chamberlain Letters, i. 442; HMC Downshire, iv. 169, 183-4; SP81/12, ff. 171-2; T. Birch, Ct. and Times Jas. I, i. 265-8; E351/2801. However, while at Worms, Harington, enraged by the misbehaviour of two members of his retinue, died quite unexpectedly; his body was repatriated for burial at Exton.40 HMC Downshire, iv. 186; Liber Famelicus of Sir J. Whitelocke, 31; HMC Buccleuch, i. 145. He left no will, but his son John^*, the 2nd baron, secured administration of his estate on 27 Sept. 1613. The latter also inherited the family estates, although he was only to enjoy them for six months before his own death, which extinguished the peerage. Lady Harington and the countess of Bedford sold the family estates over the next 15 years.41 PROB 6/8, f. 118; JOHN HARINGTON, 2ND BARON HARINGTON.