Baptist Hicks, 1st Viscount Campden was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1628. King James I knighted Hicks in 1603 and in 1620 he was created a baronet. He was MP for Tavistock in the House of Commons of 1621 and for Tewkesbury in the parliaments of 1624, 1625, 1626 and 1628. In 1628 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Hicks, of Ilmington in the County of Warwick, and Viscount Campden, of Campden in the County of Gloucester, with remainder to his son-in-law Edward Noel, husband of his daughter Juliana.
Early life
Hicks was the youngest of six sons born to Robert and Juliana Hicks, and the grandson of John Hicks of Tortworth. His father died while Baptist was only a child. His mother was a moneylender and he was one of three sons who survived childhood. The others were Clement and Michael Hickes. Baptist Hicks matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1568 and was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1573.
Career
Hicks was brought up in his father's business and took over the business from his mother, who died in 1592. He imported rich silks from Italy and other foreign places. Through the influence of his brother Michael he contracted a large amount of business with the court and amassed a large fortune. By 1596 he was appointed Mercer to Queen Elizabeth I regarding the purchase of fabrics. Hicks employed Humphrey Dethick as his factor in Florence buying fabrics, until he left in 1602. Having made large loans to the Crown and prominent courtiers, he was knighted on 23 July 1603, soon after the accession of James I. He was one of the first citizens who kept a shop to continue in trade once knighted. He was in dispute with the Court of Aldermen of the City of London because he was unwilling to serve as an alderman; however the king directed that he be excused as a "king's servant". Hicks supplied King James Court with silks and "rich mercery ware". He purchased the manor of Campden soon after 1608 and built a large manor house there near the church, around 1612. The property included gardens, a canal, water gardens and terraces. The house was burned to the ground down by Royalists in the Civil War. Also in 1612 he founded and endowed an almshouse for 12 pensioners in Chipping Campden; the Grade I listed Almshouses on Church Street still remains in use for that purpose. In 1627, he built a market hall at the centre of town as a shelter for the vendors; the Grade I listed building is still in use. He performed many other charitable acts, in his life-giving £100,000 for charity. He was created a baronet on 1 July 1620. Hicks also built a large mansion in Kensington as well as a Sessions House for the Middlesex Magistrates which was called Hicks Hall.
Personal life, death, and legacy
Hicks married Elizabeth May in 1585. She was the daughter of Richard May of London and Sussex, and sister of Sir Humphrey May, Alderman of London. His elder daughter Juliana married Edward Lord Noel, who became 2nd Viscount Campden. His younger daughter Mary married:
Hicks died at the age of 78 and is buried under a classical monument in Chipping Campden St James church. His will left £10,000 for charitable purposes; the funds helped to establish Campden Charities, a non-profit organization to alleviate poverty in Kensington. All that now remains of Sir Baptist Hicks' once imposing estate are a gatehouse and two Jacobean banqueting houses; the latter of which were restored by the Landmark Trust. Afterwards, Lady Juliana Noel, Sir Baptist's daughter, her husband Edward Noel, 2nd Viscount Campden, and family lived at the converted stables near the site in Calf Lane, now called the Court House. Her descendant still lives in that Grade II listed building.
