Family and Education

b. c.1596, 1st s. of John Button of Upavon, Wilts. and Helen, da. of Sir Bernard Drake of Mount Drake, Devon.2 educ. Exeter Coll. Oxf. 1611, aged 15; M. Temple 1613.3 m. (1) lic. 18 Sept. 1622,4 Elinor, da. of Thomas South of Northlegh, Hants, 1s. d.v.p., 1 da.;5 (2) c.1631, Amy (d.1666),6 da. of Sir William Oglander of Nunwell, I.o.W., wid. of William Thorne, dean of Chichester 1601-30, s.p.7 suc. fa. 1601, uncle Henry at Buckland 1624.8 bur. 7 Mar. 1665.9

Offices Held

J.p. Hants 1625-6, 1628-c.42, 1660;10 commr. disarming recusants, Hants 1625;11 maj. militia ft. Hants 1626-at least 1637;12 freeman, Lymington 1627,13 Yarmouth I.o.W. 1631;14 commr. sewers, Hants and Wilts. 1629-30, Hants and Suss. 1638;15 sheriff, Hants 1636-7;16 surveyor of the dock, Portsmouth, Hants 1637;17 dep. lt. Hants 1640;18 commr. assessment, Hants 1643-8, 1660-d., sequestration 1643, levying money 1643, defence 1643-4;19 capt. of Hurst Castle 1643-5;20 commr. execution of ordinances, Hants 1645, militia 1648, 1660.21

Biography

Button’s grandfather acquired the manor of Buckland, just outside Lymington, in the early sixteenth century, and settled it on his younger sons.22 Button’s first wife brought him more property in the neighbourhood, and his brother-in-law Thomas South*, as recorder, was in a position to assist his return for the borough in 1625.23 He took the first seat unanimously by 18 votes, but he left no trace on the records of the first Caroline Parliament, and did not stand again in this period.24 He registered his disapproval of the Forced Loan by asking to be excused from subscribing, instead ‘voluntarily’ offering the £15 demanded.25 As a result he was dismissed from the county bench, but procured a general pardon and was restored two years later.26 He helped to secure the return of his close friend and fellow protester Richard Whithed* for Lymington in 1628. He compounded at £25 for knighthood in 1630, and as sheriff revised the Ship Money assessment to include mercantile wealth.27 He supported Parliament in the Civil War, but did not sit after Pride’s Purge; in 1659 he arranged for his son to represent Lymington in his stead. He resumed his seat with the return of the secluded Members, and sat in the Restoration Convention, but was disarmed by the deputy lieutenants in 1661.28 He drew up his will in 1663, without religious preamble, and was buried at Lymington on 7 Mar. 1665.29 His grandson John, the last of the family, was successful in both elections of 1679, but died before the year was out.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Authors: Virginia C.D. Moseley / Rosemary Sgroi

Notes

• 1. Did not sit after Pride’s Purge, 6 Dec. 1648, readmitted 21 Feb. 1660.
• 2. Vis. Wilts. (Harl. Soc. cv), 33.
• 3. Al. Ox.; M. Temple Admiss.
• 4. Hants Mar. Lics. 1607-40 ed. A.J. Willis, 29.
• 5. W. Berry, Hants Gen. 35; PROB 11/144, f. 24.
• 6. PROB 11/324, f. 170.
• 7. C.H. Aspinall-Oglander, Nunwell Symphony, 69, 79.
• 8. PROB 6/6, f. 78v; PROB 11/143, f. 230.
• 9. Berry, 35.
• 10. C231/4, ff. 176, 249; 231/5, p. 528; Anon, A Perfect List of JPs (1660), p. 49.
• 11. Add. 21922, f. 38.
• 12. Ibid. ff. 62, 110, 151v, 188, 201.
• 13. C. St. Barbe, Recs. New Lymington, 7.
• 14. Add. 5669, f. 88.
• 15. C181/4, ff. 17v, 49v; 181/5, f. 115v.
• 16. List of Sheriffs comp. A. Hughes (PRO, L. and I. ix), 56.
• 17. Portsmouth Recs. ed. R. East, 352.
• 18. Add. 21922, f. 220.
• 19. A. and O. i. 91, 113, 148, 230, 335, 450, 540, 1092; SR, v. 219, 338, 540.
• 20. A. and O. i. 142.
• 21. Ibid. i. 696, 1242, ii. 1442.
• 22. VCH Hants, iv. 647.
• 23. PROB 11/125, f. 353v.
• 24. Hants RO, 27M74A/DBC1, p. 137.
• 25. Add. 21922, f. 16v.
• 26. C231/4, f. 202.
• 27. Add. 21922, f. 176v; CSP Dom. 1636-7, pp. 436, 469, 1637-8, p. 166; P. Haskell, ‘Ship Money in Hants’, Hants Studies ed. J. Webb et al. 82, 91, 104.
• 28. M.F. Keeler, Long Parl. 123; Add. 21922, f. 243v.
• 29. Hants RO, 1666A/016.