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The surname Hamden was first found in Buckinghamshire at Great Hampden, a parish, in the union of Wycombe, hundred of Aylesbury. "This place was anciently the property of the Hampden family, of whom Griffith Hampden entertained Queen Elizabeth here, and, to pay Her Majesty the more honour, cut an avenue through his woods for her more convenient approach to the mansion. A gallery has been erected in the church, and 100 free sittings provided: among the monuments is one to the memory of the celebrated John Hampden (c. 1595-1643), ornamented with a medallion, on which is a tree with the arms of the family and of their alliances; and having at the foot, in bas-relief, a representation of the action of Chalgrove, in which he received a wound, causing his death about three weeks afterwards." 1
We need to take a moment to discuss more John Hampden. Born in London, he was the eldest son of William Hampden, (1570-1597), and Elizabeth Cromwell, (1574-1664.) John rose to become an important English landowner and politician, whose opposition to arbitrary taxes imposed by Charles I made him a national figure. To complicate things, he was a cousin to Oliver Cromwell on his mother's side. In January 1642, an arrest warrant was issued for John and four others. This sparked the First English Civil War.
Little Hampden is not far away. Both parishes collectively date back to the Domesday Book of 1086 where they were known as Hamdena. 2
At that time, the lands of Hampden, were held by William FitzAnsculf of Picquigni in Picardy near Amiens who held a Castle there dating back to the 8th century. 3
By the time of the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, a listing of the family was found in Oxfordshire: Alexander de Hamden; and the family continued to hold lands in Buckinghamshire: Alexander de Hampeden. 4
The Feet of Fines for Oxfordshire listed Alexander de Hamden, de Hampeden in 1274 and later Simon de Hamden was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Kent in 1334-1335. 5
From this Oxfordshire branch the Amsden variant arose. They descended from Ambrosden in Oxfordshire (Ambrose's valley.) 6
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hamden research. Another 163 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1102, 1510, 1581, 1591, 1595, 1600, 1631, 1643, 1653, 1679, 1681, 1685, 1689, 1690, 1695, 1696, 1754 and 1776 are included under the topic Early Hamden History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Hampden, Hamden and others.
Outstanding amongst the family at this time was John Hampden (c.1595-1643), English politician and Roundhead in the English Civil War; John Hampden (1653-1696), English politician, Member for Buckinghamshire (1679-1681), Wendover (1681-1685) and (1689-1690), pamphleteer, and opponent of Charles II and James II, convicted of treason after the Monmouth Rebellion; and Richard Hampden (1631-1695), English Whig politician, Privy Counsellor, and Chancellor of the Exchequer for William III of England. The...
Another 68 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hamden Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.