Giles Mompesson (1583/1584 – 1663) was an English office holder and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1621 when he was sentenced for corruption. He was officially a "notorious criminal" whose career was one based on speculation and graft. His name came to be regarded as a synonym for graft and official corruption because he used nepotism to gain positions for licensing businesses by which he pocketed the fees. In the reaction against Charles I, Mompesson's name was invoked as a symbol of all that was wrong with aristocracy. Sir Giles Overreach, the anti-hero of Philip Massinger's 1625 play A New Way to Pay Old Debts, is based on Mompesson.
Read more about Giles Mompesson: Licensing Monopoly and Graft, Backlash, Trial, and Banishment
Famous quotes containing the word giles:
“I still feel just as I told you, that I shall come safely out of this war. I felt so the other day when danger was near. I certainly enjoyed the excitement of fighting our way out of Giles to the Narrows as much as any excitement I ever experienced. I had a good deal of anxiety the first hour or two on account of my command, but not a particle on my own account. After that, and after I saw that we were getting on well, it was really jolly. We all joked and laughed and cheered constantly.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)