The Line

Peter de Compton (1180 - d.)
Birthdate: 1180 Birthplace:
Compton, Wynyates,
Warwickshire Death: Died in , , , England


Robert de Compton (1198 - 1236)
Birthdate: 1198 Birthplace:
Throckmorton, Warwickshire, England Death:
Died 1236 in Throckmorton, Worcestershire, England


Phillip de Compton (1230-d.)
Birthdate: 1230 Birthplace:
Compton, Devon, England
Death: (Date and location unknown)


Edmund Compton
Born: 1440, Northampton, England
Died: 1491

Sir William Compton, Knight
B:  
ABT 1475 / ABT 1492, Compton, Wyngate, Warwickshire, England
D: 
Jun 1528, Compton, Wyngate, Warwickshire, England

Peter Compton
B:
1522
Compton, Wyngate, Warwickshire, England
D:
1538-01-30
PG,,,

Henry Compton
B:
16 Feb 1538
Compton, Wyngate, Warwickshire, England
D:
Abt 1589
Compton Castle, Wyngate, Warwickshire, England


William Compton
B:
1560
Compton, Northamptonshire, England
D:
    24 Jun 1630
    Compton,,Warwickshire,England


Spencer Compton
B:
10 May 1601
Earl, Northamptonshire, England
D:
19 Mar 1643
Queen, London, Greater London,England


William Compton
B:
1622
Gravesend, Long Island, New York
D:
18 Oct 1663
Monmouth, Brunswick, New Jersey

William Compton
B:
1649
Long Island, New York
D:
1709
Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey

Cornelius Compton
B:
1669
Monmouth, New Jersey
D:
14 Jan 1758
Monmouth, New Jersey

Cornelius Compton
B:
1708
Monmouth, New Jersey
D:
29 Jul 1764
Middleton, Monmouth, New Jersey

Richard Compton
B:
Abt 1735
Bluestone, Augusta, Virginia
D:
abt 1822
Bland, Tazewell, Virginia



John Compton
B:
1765
Culpepper, Virginia
D:
Abt 1814


Nelson Compton
B:
27 Feb 1812
Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio
D:
1 Feb 1903
Smith, Whitley, Indiana


Asbury Waugh Compton
B:
25 Dec 1842
Churubusco, Whitley, Indiana
D:
27 Apr 1917
Willis, Brown, Kansas

Albert Vergil Compton
B:
21 FEB 1879
 Con Kansas
D:
NOV 1942
McMinnville, Yamahill, OR


Richard Keith Compton
B:
28 Aug 1928
Rex Oregon
D:
November 8th 1913

Terry Keith Compton
B:
21 March 1956
Portland Oregon
D:


Nicholas Tyler Compton
B:
April 1, 2000
Clackamas Co West Lynn Oregon
D:










































 
Spencer Compton

Compton Wynyates
view across the Best Garden

The Comptons of Compton Wynyates
In 1204, Philip de Compton was living at Compton Wynyates with Basilea his wife. It has been suggested that he is the same person as Philip de Arden, and that he took the name Compton when he became tenant of the manor.

Spencer Compton
2nd Earl of Northampton
William (1482-1528), having been employed around the person of Henry VIII when Duke of York, obtained the confidence of the monarch; he was subsequently his companion in the tournament and battle, and holder of numerous offices and honours.

William (1568-1638) was created 1st Earl of Northampton, and was Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire.
The 2nd Earl, Spencer, was a godson of Queen Elizabeth and during James I reign became a great favourite of Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I. On the latter's accession, the Earl was made master of the Robes. As a Royalist he was one of the most heroic of the Cavalier commanders.
He was appointed Commissioner of Array in the County of Warwick, and found himself in a stronghold of Parliamentarians, who, at the beginning of the Civil Wars, held the strong castles of Banbury, Warwick, Northampton and Broughton. He fought at the Battle of Edgehill, where he commanded 2000 men. Three of his sons were with him and were knighted on that occasion. The King spent most of the remainder of the war at his court in Oxford, and the most severe fighting took place at Banbury and in that neighbourhood, in which fighting the Earl and his young sons took a very prominent and gallant part. Banbury was taken and held by his son till the end of the war. He fell at the battle of Hopton Heath, March 19th, 1643. In that battle, just as it was won, his horse was killed under him; he was surrounded by the enemy and when offered his life "scorned to take quarter from such base rogues and rebels as they were".
Spencer was succeeded by his son James, 3rd Earl of Northampton.

While an MP, he was amongst the "Staffordians" who in 1647 were against the Bill for attainting the Earl of Stafford (ally of the King), and who were subsequently expelled from the House. He was afterwards distinguished, with his father, under the Royal banner. At the restoration and magnificent entry of Charles II into the City of London in 1660, he headed a band of 200 gentlemen attired in grey and blue. He occupied several high positions until his death in 1681.
Spencer Compton
2nd Marquess of Northampton

George, 4th Earl, was Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire and Constable of the Tower of London. He was deprived of the former position for his opposition to James II, but recovered his honours on the accession of William and Mary. He was succeeded by James, 5th Earl, who was called to the House of Lords as Baron Compton in 1711, and at the coronation of George I bore the ivory rod with the dove.
In 1768 came the temporary ruin of the Compton family by gambling and a recklessly expensive Parliamentary election in Northampton.

The contents of Compton Wynyates were sold, and have never been recovered. Spencer, the 8th Earl, living in Switzerland, had actually ordered his steward to demolish the house as he could not afford to keep it up; the steward, ignored the order and bricked up windows, escaping the window tax, instead. The family's fortunes were restored by Spencer's son Charles, 9th Earl and 1st Marquess, who married Maria Smith, an heiress.

Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, Marquess, was a patron of science and the arts. In 1808 he entered Trinity College where he studied mainly mathematics. At Cambridge he acquired and cultivated wide intellectual tastes in science, literature and the fine arts.

Compton Wynyates
view across the Best Garden

In 1812 he succeeded the assassinated prime Minister (and relative) Spencer Percival as MP for Northampton, as a maverick Tory. He lost the seat in 1820, subsequently spending 10 years living in Italy with his wife, until her death following childbirth. After 1830, the rich, aristocratic widower began to transform himself into one of the "good and great" in polite cultural life. From 1849 until his death he was president of the Royal Society of Literature. He was a trustee of the National Gallery, and President of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1838 he was elected President of the Royal Society. Although he was not a leading scientist he had a sustained interest in geology, on which he published three short papers.

In 1835 he had returned to Compton Wynyates to find the rain pouring in through most of the ceilings. He began repairs. His son also made alterations, both conducting their repairs from their residence at Castle Ashby.
William Compton 4th Marquess
with William, 6th
& William, 5th Marquess
Spencer Joshua Alwyne had four sons: Charles, 3rd Marquess, William, 4th Marquess, Spencer Scott, and Alwyne, Bishop of Ely. Of these, William is the most likely to have been father to Joseph Ashby. Charles lived at Castle Ashby in 1858; the youngest.Alwyne was vicar of Castle Ashby by 1858 and lived at Chadstone Rectory. Spencer died in 1854 so the only possibility is William, who became 4th Marquess in 1877. Perhaps William was the son who was involved in making repairs to Compton Wynyates, basing himself at some point at nearby Idlicote.
The 5th Marquess, William George Spencer Scott, associate of Joseph Ashby, was the first after 1770 to reside at Compton. On his marriage in 1884, his father gave him the house, and in 1895 he designed and planted the Best Garden" to the south of the house in the field that had always been known by that name. He became Member of Parliament for the Stratford on Avon division and later Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire.

Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton

For other people named Spencer Compton, see Spencer Compton (disambiguation).
A painting of the Marquess of Northampton made by Henry Raeburn in 1821.
Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton (2 January 1790 – 17 January 1851), known as Lord Compton from 1796 to 1812 and as Earl Compton from 1812 to 1828, was a British nobleman and patron of science and the arts.

The second son of the 9th Earl of Northampton (later the First Marquess), Compton studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, receiving an M.A. in 1810.[1] In 1812, following the assassination of his cousin, the prime minister Spencer Perceval, Compton, by now Earl Compton as heir to the Marquessate, took his seat for Northampton in the House of Commons.

In the Commons, Compton established a reputation as something of a maverick. Despite his family's strong Tory credentials, he often voted against the Tory government of the day. This led to his losing his seat in the general election of 1820.

On 24 July 1815 Compton married Margaret Maclean-Clephane, who was herself a poet admired by Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth, although her poetry was not published. The marriage was a happy one, producing six children. The couple lived in Italy for ten years from 1820 to 1830. Compton succeeded his father as Marquess of Northampton in 1828. Following Lady Northampton's death in the latter year, Northampton returned to England. Among their children were:

Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton in 1844
Charles Compton, 3rd Marquess of Northampton (1816–1877)
Lady Marianne Margaret Compton (1817–1888)
Admiral William Compton, 4th Marquess of Northampton (1818–1897)

Lord Alwyne Compton (1825–1906), successively Dean of Worcester and Bishop of Ely
Following his return to England, Compton became a prominent figure in political and cultural life. He supported the Reform Bill in the House of Lords, but became more engaged in promotion of the arts and sciences.

In 1820–22 he was president of the Geological Society of London. He served as president of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1845–46 and 1850–51), and in 1838 became president of the Royal Society, an office he held for ten years. He took a particular interest in geology, and particularly in fossils, although he was not himself a scientist, but more of an interested amateur. The dinosaur species Regnosaurus northamptoni was named after him. He resigned in 1848, due to his opposition to the Society's increasing professionalization. He held the position of President of the Royal Society of Literature from 1849 until his death.


The Earl of Northampton's Regiment of Foote

Historical background
The original Earl of Northampton's Regiment was really two: a regiment of horse, and a regiment of foot.
The horse regiment was raised in Warwickshire and Oxfordshire in the summer of 1642 by the then Earl Spencer Compton. He had been a lifelong friend of the Royal Family and was a veteran of the Thirty Years War in Europe, fighting at Vlotho and Breda. He commanded the horse regiment with distinction as part of the Oxford field army, until his death in action at Hopton Heath near Stafford on 19th March 1643. After his horse fell among rabbit warrens he was stranded amongst Parliamentarian soldiers. He laid into them with his pole-axe, killing several of them before his helmet was struck from his head by a musket butt. Offered "quarter" by them, he is quoted as saying "I scorn to take quarter from such base rogues and rebells as yourselves!" At that point his head was cleaved by a halberd.

A 19thC engraving of the death of Earl Spencer Compton
The Earl's body was stripped naked and was then held ransom by the Parliament commander Sir John Gell, himself wounded by the Earl before his death. Gell demanded the return of several guns captured in the battle, however Spencer's successor, the 20-year-old James Compton, refused to accede to the demands. Four of Spencer's sons fought in the Oxford field army. They were James, Charles, William and Spencer. The horse are known to have fought in a number of the major battles of the Civil Wars including Hopton Heath, Newbury, Cropredy Bridge, and Naseby.
The foot regiment was raised by, among others, Spencer Compton's 18-year-old son William. He became a commander in the Banbury Garrison after Banbury Castle, in Oxfordshire, was captured by forces of the King following the battle of Edgehill, on 27th October 1642. Once the Earl's forces were established in Banbury, William and other senior field officers set about raising a foot unit for the Earl of Northampton. Banbury also became home to two troops of horse and a number of dragoons. During 1644 Banbury Castle was placed under siege by Parliamentary forces for three months, from 19th July of that year. The Earl of Northampton's Regiment of Foote held out magnificently under the command of William Compton until 25th October, when the siege was lifted by forces commanded by the Earl James Compton, after they had travelled up from the battle of Newbury. Shortly after, William was knighted for his gallant defence of the castle.
The regiment finally gave up Banbury on 9th May 1646, after a second siege was again defended successfully by Sir William Compton. The foot regiment also fought in battles at Leicester and Middleton Cheney. Sir William Compton was to earn the nickname of �that Godly Cavalier� by Oliver Cromwell after the siege of Colchester in 1648, and was one of the founder members of the original Sealed Knot, a covert organisation founded in 1652 with the aim of restoring the Stuart Monarchy. The regiment today is modelled after the Banbury Garrison.
Click here to read a brief chronology of the events involving the Earl of Northampton's Regiment!
The Regiment Today
This regiment was one of the founding regiments of The Sealed Knot Society, which was formed in 1969 by Brigadier Peter Young, a highly renowned WW2 army officer and English Civil War historian. Today the Earl of Northampton's Regiment of the Sealed Knot has more than 100 members and fights with Prince Rupert's Tercio in the Royalist Army, alongside the foot regiments of Prince Rupert (who was the Prince Palatine, a nephew of King Charles and expert cavalry commander), Earl River, and Sir Thomas Glemham. We still retain links with the original regiment, as we are honoured to have as our patron the present Marquis of Northampton, who, along with his son Lord Daniel Compton, maintains a keen interest in our regiment and its activities. We have displayed at the family homes of the Compton family, Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire, west of Banbury, and Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire, just east of Northampton.
Compton Wynyates (or "Compton in the Hole" after the topography) is an impressive Tudor mansion complete with great crenellated towers, like castle battlements. At the time of the Civil Wars it was moated, and was initially garrisoned by Royalist forces, one of a ring of garrisons protecting the Royalist heart at Oxford. However the house was captured by Parliament forces on 9th June 164

4 after a three day siege. Compton Wynyates was to remain in Parliamentary hands until the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 when it was bought back by the family on payment of a fine. By this time the moat had been drained and the outer fortifications demolished so that it was no longer defensible.

We have members all over the country, with social groups found in and around Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leics.), Bodelwyddan (N. Wales), Harpenden (Herts.), Bishops Stortford (Herts.), and Kettering (Northants.). But members of the regiment are spread far and wide, from Essex to Cornwall, Lincolnshire to Manchester, and everywhere in between. If you do not live in one of the major areas above do not worry, feel free to contact us to see if any members are local to you.
The regiment is divided into three main companies (as well as the regimental staff):
-Earl Spencer Compton's Company of Pike;
- Col. Sir Charles Compton's Company of Musket (comprising Cptn. Flamock Colbourne's Squadron, Cptn. John Moore's Squadron, and Cptn John Clark's Squadron);
- Col. Sir William Compton's Company of Artillery.
- We also have a substantial Drum Corps, Baggage Trayne and Living History arm.
As you can see, our regiment has a wide range of roles for its members. As new members you are welcome to try any or all of these to see which you might prefer to do in the long run. There are both combatant roles e.g. the Pike, Shotte and Artillery, or non-combatant activities with the Baggage Trayne. Members from all these companies are also involved in Living History displays and events at musters and other events. The regiment has members from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of interests, and welcomes families and children; we currently have about 25 children in our membership. With a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and such wide range of roles we think that anybody could find a comfortable niche in the Earl of Northamptons Regiment.
God save the King.




Above: Portrait of the 2nd Earl of Northampton Spencer Compton, lifelong friend to King Charles I, who had experience of wars in Europe and Scotland.



Above: Portrait of Spencer Compton's eldest son, the 3rd Earl James Compton, a highly skilled cavalry commander with the Oxford field army.

Above: Portrait of Sir William Compton, an officer of, and later commander of, the Banbury Garrison. He would endure two lengthy sieges at Banbury and the siege of Colchester, before becoming a founder of the Sealed Knot, the secret group that plotted to bring about the Restoration.


Above: The standard of Sir William Compton. The Latin text translates as "The Rebel Rout are hated and despised".



Above: The standard of Sir Charles Compton. The Latin text translates as "Bravely face whatever opposes". The present regiment carries a replica of this standard for the Shotte Company.


Above: The complete coat-of-arms of the Compton
family. The arms design is described as "Sable, a lion passant guardant or, between three esquires' helmets argent." The crest is "On a mount a beacon fired proper, behind it a ribbon inscribed with the words, Nisi Dominus." The supporters are "Dexter, a dragon ermine, ducally gorged and chained or; sinister, an unicorn argent, horned, maned, hoofed, and tufted sable." Below it is a
ribbon inscribed with the words "Je ne cherche qu'un." This is translated as "I seek but One", while Nisi Dominus translates as "Nothing but God". Together these imply a deeply religious family who believe in Divine Rule, which would have been through the King, God's divine representative on Earth. True Royalist
sentiments! Did Cromwell know the family motto when he nicknamed Sir William Compton "that Godly Cavalier"?