HATTON, Christopher (1605-1670), of Kirby Hall, Northants. and Scotland Yard, Westminster

Hatton inherited his father’s extensive estates in Northamptonshire, including land and ecclesiastical patronage near Peterborough. In January 1625 Hatton was first returned for Peterborough while still a minor at the by-election caused by the elevation of Sir Francis Fane* to the peerage. However, he proved unable to take his seat, as James I’s last Parliament had already been prorogued before he was elected, and was automatically dissolved by the king’s death the following March. Still under age, he was again returned for Peterborough to the first Parliament of the new reign, but left no trace in the records of its debates. In February 1626 he was dubbed a knight of the Bath at Charles I’s coronation. It is not known whether he stood for election to Charles’s second parliament that same year, but if so he failed to find a seat. He was provided with an opening at Clitheroe after his uncle, Thomas Fanshawe I* challenged the return of an unnaturalized Scot, George Kirke, and succeeded in obtaining a new writ. Once again Hatton went unnoticed in the records of the Parliament. He reciprocated Fanshawe’s favour two years later by helping him to buy the manor of Barking, Essex, from the Crown.25 CSP Dom. 1627-8, p. 578, 1628-9, pp. 49, 192.

It was later said by Roger North† that Hatton ‘diverted himself with the company of players and such idle people that came to him [at Scotland Yard], while his family lived in want at Kirby’.26 R. North, Lives, ii. 294. Together with his close friend William Dugdale, Hatton spent much of his time collecting antiquities and historical records, and briefly contemplated soliciting for the office of keeper of records in the Tower of London.27 W. Hamper, Life, Diary and Corresp. of Sir William Dugdale, 170-80, passim. Appointed the duchy of Lancaster’s steward of Higham Ferrers in 1637, Hatton was twice elected for the borough, where his wife’s family had influence, in 1640. However, as a commissioner of array he was expelled from the Commons in September 1642. He joined the king at Oxford, where he served as Charles’s comptroller of the Household, sat on the Privy Council, and was raised to the peerage in 1643. He also produced an edition of the psalms, with prayers composed by the Arminian Jeremy Taylor, and received an honorary doctorate.28 F. Madon, Oxford Bks. ii. 165, 342-3. However, after the king’s defeat, Hatton resigned his Court posts, and compounded in 1648 on an estate worth over £2,200 a year by his own account, before fleeing abroad, where he remained in exile until 1656.29 CCC, 1579; M.F. Keeler, Long Parl. 208. After the Restoration he was appointed governor of Guernsey, but spent little time there after quarrelling with his deputy.30 CSP Dom. 1661-2, pp. 574, 600, Add. 1660-70, 696, 697. He preferred to live in London, where he became a founding member of the Royal Society. He died intestate on 4 July 1670 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.31 Westminster Abbey (Harl. Soc. Reg. x), 172. He was succeeded by his son Christopher, who represented Northampton from 1663 until he was raised to the Lords.