William Hakewill
Encyclopedia
Life
Born in ExeterExeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, son of John Hakewill and his wife Thomasine (née Periam). Educated, according to Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood or Anthony à Wood was an English antiquary.-Early life:Anthony Wood was the fourth son of Thomas Wood , BCL of Oxford, where Anthony was born...
at Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
(though he did not take a degree), he later studied law at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
.
Hakewill became 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,...
for Bossiney
Bossiney (UK Parliament constituency)
Bossiney was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall, one of a number of Cornish rotten boroughs, and returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1552 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...
in Cornwall in 1601, probably nominated for the seat by its patron, his maternal uncle Sir William Peryam
Sir William Peryam
Sir William Peryam was an English judge who, in 1593, rose to the top position of Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.-Life:...
, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" of the English Exchequer of pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who presided in the equity court and answered the bar i.e...
. Though a tyro MP Hakewill was active and spoke out against the excessive granting of monopolies. He also delivered speeches against allowing the export of ordnance to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and in favour of keeping a strong navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
Hakewill was called to the bar in 1606, was a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn by 1616 and Lent Reader in 1625. Described by the antiquarian Anthony Wood as "a grave and judicious counsellor" but "always a puritan", Hakewill was a friend of William Prynne
William Prynne
William Prynne was an English lawyer, author, polemicist, and political figure. He was a prominent Puritan opponent of the church policy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. Although his views on church polity were presbyterian, he became known in the 1640s as an Erastian, arguing for...
and an associate of John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
whose critical views on the royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
he shared.
Despite his puritan connections Hakewill was appointed Solicitor General to Queen Anne, the wife of James I in 1617. Unfortunately she died in 1619 and his benefactor Sir Francis Bacon was disgraced in 1621.
Hakewill was also an early member of the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, a friend of Sir Robert Cotton
Robert Bruce Cotton
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Baronet was an English antiquarian and Member of Parliament, founder of the important Cotton library....
, a kinsman and executor of Sir Thomas Bodley
Thomas Bodley
Sir Thomas Bodley was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.-Biography:...
and the elder brother of the author and divine George Hakewill
George Hakewill
George Hakewill was an English clergyman and author.-Early life:Born in Exeter, he studied at Alban Hall, Oxford, where he was a noted disputant and orator and in June 1596, only a year after his matriculation and at the unusually early age of 18, he was elected a fellow of Exeter College. There...
. In 1617 he married Elizabeth Woodhouse, a daughter of Sir Henry Woodhouse of Waxham, Norfolk, by his second wife Cecily Gresham. Her elder half-sister Ann was the third wife of Sir Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (judge)
Sir Julius Caesar was an English judge and politician. He was born near Tottenham in Middlesex. His father was Giulio Cesare Adelmare, an Italian physician to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, descended by the female line from the dukes of Cesarini.Caesar was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford,...
, Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
, to whom Hakewill addressed gratulatory Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
verses (now in the British Library).
Although originally elected to parliament for Cornish seats he sat in the parliaments of 1624 and 1628/9 for Amersham
Amersham (UK Parliament constituency)
Amersham, often spelt as Agmondesham, was a constituency of the House of Commons of England until 1707, then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...
in Bucks. As a result of his researches three Buckinghamshire boroughs were re-enfranchised in 1624 (Wendover, Amersham and Marlow). Hakewill was elected as one of Amersham's two MP's and his distant relative the famous John Hampden
John Hampden
John Hampden was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643) was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, John Hampden (ca. 15951643)...
was elected for Wendover.
He leased Chequers (now the country home of British Prime Ministers) near Ellesborough in 1619. In the latter part of his life Hakewill lived at The Hale in Wendover
Wendover
Wendover is a market town that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district...
, Buckinghamshire and was survived by at least two sons, William and Robert. His will left instructions that expenditure on his funeral was not to exceed £40. He is buried in the Church at Wendover under a commemorative stone that still survives.