Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton

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Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton (1613 – February 4, 1696) was an English peer.

A Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, he served in various offices including soldier, politician and diplomat. He was appointed as the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire by Parliament in July 1642. ^[1] He was a Puritan and a favourite of Oliver Cromwell, which is why, from 1660 onwards he often ran into difficulty with the Crown. In 1676 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and later (in 1685) fled the country when King James II came to the throne.

He spent time while abroad in the Court of the Prince of Orange and subsequently his family line was back in Royal favour when the latter came to the throne of England in 1688.

He had two daughters by his first lady Elizabeth. Their names were Philadelphia and Elizabeth. Anthony Van Dyck completed a painting of the two in 1640 called "Philadelphia and Elizabeth Whartons".

In his will he left land near York to support a Bible charity, which was devoted to the distribution of bibles to children for use outside of the church or school. The terms of the will require the recipient to learn by rote the 1st, 15th, 25th, 37th, 101st, 113th, 145th psalms. The will also requires the Shorter Catechism also be included. Many thousands of Bibles have been distributed and the Trust still distributes Bibles to under eighteen year-olds.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ 'House of Lords Journal Volume 5: 2 July 1642', Journal of the House of Lords: volume 5: 1642-1643 (1802), pp. 175-76. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=34839&strquery="Lord%20Wharton". Date accessed: 13 April 2007.
2. ^ http://gmb.orpheusweb.co.uk/lowrow/bible.html Date accessed: 4 May 2008.

Honorary titles
Preceded by The Lord Paget	Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (Parliamentarian) 1642	Succeeded by Vacant
Peerage of England
Preceded by Philip Wharton	Baron Wharton 1625–1695	Succeeded by Thomas Wharton