LANGHAM, James (c.1621-99), of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Mdx. and Cottesbrooke, Northants.

Although Langham attained his majority during the civil war, he left no discernible mark upon public affairs before the mid-1650s and was widely seen as ‘a man of letters and cogitation’, who preferred scholarly pursuits to political engagement.21F. de La Mothe Le Vayer, The Great Prerogative of a Private Life (1678), epistle ded. In 1655, the minister and historian Thomas Fuller dedicated part of his The Church History of Britain to Langham and referred admiringly – as did others – to his command of Latin.22T. Fuller, Church Hist. of Britain (1655), pt. 1, p. 123; Luttrell, Brief Relations, iv. 552; The Diary of Thomas Isham ed. N. Marlow, G. Isham, 153.

In the elections to the second protectoral Parliament in the summer of 1656, Langham was one of six men returned for Northamptonshire – allegedly as a result of sharp practice by Major-general William Boteler* on election day.23Supra, ‘Northamptonshire’; Bodl. Top. Northants. c.9, p. 109. Boteler’s electoral tactics aside, Langham almost certainly owed his election to his family’s long connection with and considerable estate in the county.24Infra, ‘John Langham’. He received no committee appointments in this Parliament and made no recorded contributions to debate. In the elections to Richard Cromwell’s Parliament of 1659 he was returned for Northampton – very probably as a favour to his father, who was a native of the town and had donated £600 to the corporation for charitable purposes in 1654.25Northampton Bor. Recs. ed. Cox, ii. 342, 345, 361. Once again, Langham made no recorded impression upon the House’s proceedings. Langham and his father were patrons during the 1650s of the godly minister of Cottesbrooke, Thomas Burroughs, who would suffer ejection from the living in 1662.26T. Burroughs, A Soverain Remedy for All Kinds of Grief (1662), epistle ded.; Calamy Revised, 91. In May 1660, Langham accompanied his father to The Hague, where both men were knighted by Charles II.27Infra, ‘John Langham’.

Langham and Francis Hervey* stood as candidates for Northampton in the elections to the Cavalier Parliament in 1661. Both men reportedly enjoyed the ‘the love and affection’ of the dissenting interest in the town, and they headed a poll on election day. But their return was contested and the House declared the election void. Early in 1662, Langham wrote to the corporation concerning measures for the maintenance of the town’s ministers.28Northants. RO, Northampton assembly bk. 3/2, p. 163. He regained his seat at a by-election that year, only to have his return once again contested and declared void by the House. He did not stand in the resulting by-election, opting to counter the court interest by mobilising the town’s ‘sober and discreet party’ in support of a moderate royalist candidate.29Northants. RO, Fermor Hesketh Baker ms 712, unfol.; HP Commons 1660-1690, ‘Northampton’; ‘Sir James Langham’; Bodl. Top. Northants. c.9, p. 111; Northampton Bor. Recs. ed. Cox, ii. 498. From the mid-1660s he seems to have resided chiefly in London with his father.30CSP Dom. 1664-5, p. 105. He was a noted patron of godly clergymen, among them Richard Baxter – whose London conventicles he attended – and appears to have employed the ejected minister Ralph Strettell as his household chaplain.31E. Pierce, Christ Alone Our Life (1691), epistle ded.; Calamy Revised, 466; Isham Diary ed. Marlow, Isham, 145; J.T. Cliffe, The Puritan Gentry Besieged (1994), 80-1, 118, 119, 220. Purged from the bench in 1682 for his whiggish sympathies, he was restored to local office after the Glorious Revolution.32HP Commons 1660-90, ‘Sir James Langham’.

Langham died on 22 August 1699 and was buried at Cottesbrooke on 5 September.33Vis. Northants. 116. In his will, he left the bulk of his estate both real and personal to his wife.34PROB11/452, ff. 148v-9. He died without surviving male heirs and was succeeded by his brother Sir William Langham, who sat for Northampton on four occasions between 1679 and 1690.35HP Commons 1660-90, ‘Sir William Langham’.