James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton

Who was James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton?

James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton, known as Lord Compton from 1687 to 1727, was a British peer and politician.

Northampton was the eldest son of George Compton, 4th Earl of Northampton, and his wife Jane. He was elected to the House of Commons for Warwickshire in 1710, a seat he held until the following year, when he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Compton. Lord Northampton married Elizabeth, 14th Baroness Ferrers of Chartley, in 1716. He had no sons and was succeeded in the barony of Compton, which could be passed on through female lines, by his daughter Lady Charlotte, who also succeeded her mother in the barony of Ferrers of Chartley. The earldom was passed on to his younger brother George.