Christopher Hatton - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sir Christopher Hatton (1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

and a favourite

Favourite

A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...

of Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

Early days

His father was William Hatton (d. 1546) of Holdenby

Holdenby House

Holdenby House is a historic country house in Northamptonshire, traditionally pronounced and sometimes spelt Holmby. The house is situated in the parish of Holdenby, six miles northwest of Northampton and close to Althorp....

, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

and his mother was Alice Saunders. He was educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford

St Mary Hall, Oxford

St Mary Hall was an academic hall of the University of Oxford associated with Oriel College since 1326, but which functioned independently from 1545 to 1902.- History :...

. Known as a handsome and accomplished man, especially distinguished for his elegant dancing, he soon attracted the notice of Queen Elizabeth and became one of her gentlemen pensioners in 1564, and the captain of her bodyguard in 1572. He received valuable estates and offices from the Queen, which prompted rumours that he was her lover, a charge that Mary, Queen of Scots definitely made in 1584. Hatton had been made vice-chamberlain of the royal household and a member of the Privy Council

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

in 1578, and had been a member of parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

since 1571, first representing the borough of Higham Ferrers

Higham Ferrers

Higham Ferrers is a market town in the Nene Valley in East Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single urban area with Rushden to the south and has an estimated population of 6,086...

and afterwards the county of Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

. In 1578 he was knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

ed, and became the Queen's spokesman in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

. He was an active agent in the prosecutions of John Stubbs

John Stubbs

John Stubbs was an English pamphleteer or political commentator during the Elizabethan era.He was born in Norfolk, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. After studying law at Lincoln's Inn, he lived at Thelveton, Norfolk...

and William Parry

William Parry

William Parry was a Welsh doctor who considered assassinating Elizabeth I of England.In the household of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke until the Earl's death in 1570, Parry then entered the Queen's service...

, disputing John Jovey's suggestion to execute the "seditious pair." He was also one of those appointed to arrange a marriage between Elizabeth and Francois, Duke of Alençon

François, Duke of Anjou

Francis, Duke of Anjou and Alençon was the youngest son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.-Early years:...

, in 1581.

As a lawyer, he was a member of the court that tried Anthony Babington

Anthony Babington

Anthony Babington was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots...

in 1586, and was one of the commissioners who found Mary, Queen of Scots, guilty of treason. He urged Elizabeth not to marry the French prince, but according to one account he repeatedly assured Mary that he would fetch her to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

if the English queen died. Whether true or not, Hatton's loyalty was unquestioned; and in December 1584, he brought about a memorable incident in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

when he led 400 kneeling members in reciting a prayer for Elizabeth's safety.

Having been the constant recipient of substantial marks of the queen's favour, he vigorously denounced Mary Stuart in parliament and advised William Davison

William Davison

William Davison was secretary to Queen Elizabeth I. He played a key functional role in the 1587 execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was made the scapegoat for this event in British history.-Court official:...

to forward the warrant for her execution to Fotheringhay

Fotheringhay

Fotheringhay is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England, six kilometres north east of Oundle and around west of Peterborough. It is most noted for being the site of Fotheringhay Castle which was razed in 1627...

. In the same year (1587) Hatton was made Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

, the last MP to hold the position (barring the strange case of Charles Yorke

Charles Yorke

Charles Yorke was Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Life:The second son of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, he was born in London, and was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His literary abilities were shown at an early age by his collaboration with his brother Philip in the...

) until Jack Straw

Jack Straw (politician)

John Whitaker Straw is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Blackburn since 1979. He served as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001, Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 and Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons from 2006 to 2007 under Tony Blair...

, some 420 years later. Though he had no great knowledge of the law, he appears to have acted with sound sense and good judgment in his new position. He is said to have been a Roman Catholic in all but name, yet he treated religious questions in a moderate and tolerant way.

Though mention has been made of a secret marriage, Hatton appears to have remained single, and his large and valuable estates descended to his nephew, Sir William Newport, who took the name of Hatton. Sir Christopher was a Knight of the Garter and chancellor of the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. Elizabeth frequently gave her friend generous gifts. She called him her "mouton", and forced the bishop of Ely

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

to give him the freehold of Ely Place, Holborn

Holborn

Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...

, which became his residence, his name being perpetuated in the neighbouring Hatton Garden

Hatton Garden

Hatton Garden is a street and area near Holborn in London, England. It is most famous for being London’s jewellery quarter and centre of the UK diamond trade, but the area is also now home to a diverse range of media and creative businesses....

. Hatton is reported to have been a very mean man, but he patronized men of letters, and among his friends was Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...

. He wrote the fourth act of a tragedy, Tancred and Gismund, and his death occasioned several panegyric

Panegyric

A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...

s in both prose and verse.

When Hatton's nephew, Sir William Hatton, died without sons in 1597, his estates passed to a kinsman, another Sir Christopher Hatton (d. 1619), whose son and successor, Christopher, was created Baron Hatton of Kirby.

Wealth

Hatton became very wealthy as a result of his progressing career and the Queen's fondness of him. So much so that in 1583, Hatton, deciding to further his social status, embarked on the construction of a magnificent house. The house was called Holdenby House

Holdenby House

, in Holdenby, Northamptonshire. It was, at the time, the largest privately owned Elizabethan house in England. It contained 123 huge glass windows, in the days when glass was very expensive (indeed, a good show of wealth was how many windows you could afford in your house). It had 2 great courts and was as large as the palace of Hampton Court. It was 3 storeys high and had 2 large state rooms, one for himself and another for the queen should she ever come and stay, which she never did. William Cecil

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...

, one of Elizabeth's chief ministers visited the house in his old age and commented that he was immensely impressed with the grand staircase leading from the hall to the staterooms and proclaimed the house was so faultless that he forgot the 'infirmity of his legs' whilst he walked around. No expense was spared and Hatton even paid to move an entire small village because it spoiled his view from one of the windows. The cost of the house drained his purse to such an extent that Hatton was permanently short of money for the rest of his life. To maintain his dwindling wealth, Hatton began investing in some of the voyages of Francis Drake

Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...

. He helped fund Drake's acts of piracy in Spanish America. During Drake's subsequent circumnavigation of the globe, when he reached the straits of Magellan, he renamed his ship 'The Golden Hind' in Honour of Hatton's coat of Arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

- which contained a golden hind - and all the Spanish gold on board. Hatton made a profit of £2300 from this particular expedition.

Death

Despite his successes, he died penniless and childless, only a few years after his house at Holdenby was finally completed. All that remains of the original house of Holdenby are old drawings and plans, one room which was later incorporated into a new restoration in the 1870s, part of the pillared doorway and 2 arches with the date 1583 inscribed upon them, which now stand alone in the gardens.

His health went into serious decline in 1591 and the Queen visited him on 11 November. He died at Ely Palace with a State Funeral taking place at the Old St Paul's Cathedral

Old St Paul's Cathedral

Old St Paul's Cathedral is a name used to refer to the medieval cathedral of the City of London which until 1666 stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built between 1087 and 1314 and dedicated to St Paul, the cathedral was the fourth church on the site at Ludgate Hill...

on 16 December. A magnificent monument to him stood at the high alter of Old St Paul's: 'towering above it - an outrage to the susceptibilities of the devout but an object of marvel to London sightseers - until the Great Fire
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...

of 1666 dethroned and destroyed it' .

A school, Sir Christopher Hatton School, known sometimes as 'Hatton School' was opened in 1983 in his memory in Wellingborough

Wellingborough

Wellingborough is a market town and borough in Northamptonshire, England, situated some from the county town of Northampton. The town is situated on the north side of the River Nene, most of the older town is sited on the flanks of the hills above the river's current flood plain...

, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Early days

Wealth

Death

Further reading