The Selden family has a long history both in the United States and in England. The name originated from the ancient location of Selkeden in Eccleston, Sussex, England. The first known Selden in this family was John, born about 1210.
A subsequent John Selden, born in 1584, was a famous English jurist and member of the Long Parliament. John Milton referred to him as "the chief of learned men reputed in this Land." [1] He was confined by the Sheriff of London due to his involvement with the Protestation of 1621, which resulted in the dissolution of Parliament. [2] Several years later, because he helped draft and present the Petition of Right to the House of Lords in 1628, a document that objected to the overreach of authority by King Charles I of England and protested his infringement on the civil liberties of the people of England, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. [2] Selden published a number of scholarly works. His book "History of Tithes" [3] was an important and influential account of the history of English law, leading some to call him the "father of Legal History." [4] He also wrote "Mare Clausum," a significant treatise regarding the law of the sea. [5]
Seldens were numbered among the early settlers of the original American colonies. Dorothy Selden married Stephen Hosmer; their son settled in Connecticut, another son James lived in Concord, Massachusetts. The Selden name in America was carried by Thomas Selden (b. 1616/17; d. aft Aug 1655) and by Samuel Selden (b. 1662; d. 1720). The Selden family is among the First Families of Virginia.
Oliver Cromwell was an English general and statesman who led the Parliament of England's armies against King Charles I during the English Civil War and ruled the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He acted simultaneously as head of state and head of government of the new republican commonwealth.
John Selden was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned men reputed in this land."
Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. It was an assembly entirely nominated by Oliver Cromwell and the Army's Council of Officers. It acquired its name from the nominee for the City of London, Praise-God Barebone. The Speaker of the House was Francis Rous. The total number of nominees was 140, 129 from England, five from Scotland and six from Ireland.
Sir Oliver St John, was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1653. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.
Henry Alexander Wise was an American lawyer and politician from Virginia. He was a U.S. Representative and Governor of Virginia, and US Minister to Brazil. During the American Civil War, he was a general in the Confederate States Army. He was the father of Richard Alsop Wise and John Sergeant Wise, who both served as U.S. Representatives.
John Milton was governor of Florida through most of the American Civil War.
Sir Robert Heath was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1625.
John Bramhall was an Archbishop of Armagh, and an Anglican theologian and apologist. He was a noted controversialist who doggedly defended the English Church from both Puritan and Roman Catholic accusations, as well as the materialism of Thomas Hobbes.
St. John's Church is an Episcopal church located at 2401 East Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Formed from several earlier parishes, St. John's is the oldest church in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1741 by William Randolph's son, Colonel Richard Randolph; the Church Hill district was named for it. It was the site of two important conventions in the period leading to the American Revolutionary War, and is famous as the location where Patrick Henry gave his memorable speech at the Second Virginia Convention, closing with the often-quoted demand, "give me liberty, or give me death!" The church is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Thomas Chaucer was an English courtier and politician. The son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and his wife Philippa Roet, Thomas was linked socially and by family to senior members of the English nobility, though he was himself a commoner. Elected fifteen times to the Parliament of England, he was Speaker of the House of Commons for five parliaments in the early 15th century.
Mare clausum is a term used in international law to mention a sea, ocean or other navigable body of water under the jurisdiction of a state that is closed or not accessible to other states. Mare clausum is an exception to mare liberum, meaning a sea that is open to navigation to ships of all nations. In the generally accepted principle of international waters, oceans, seas, and waters outside national jurisdiction are open to navigation by all and referred to as "high seas" or mare liberum. Portugal and Spain defended a Mare clausum policy during the age of discovery. This was soon challenged by other European nations.
Henry Rogers Selden was an American lawyer and politician. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1857 to 1858. He defended Susan B. Anthony in her 1873 trial for unlawfully voting as a woman.
Philip Doddridge was a lawyer and sectional leader of western Virginia. He served in the United States House of Representatives representing the "Wheeling District" in the Upper Ohio River Valley.
Sir John Vaughan SL, of Trawsgoed, was a British justice.
Richard Tillesley (1582–1624) was an English churchman, known for his book defending tithes.
Dr. Calybute Downing (1606–1643) was an English clergyman, a member of the Westminster Assembly. Also a civil lawyer, he is now remembered for political views, which moved from an absolutist position in the 1630s to a justification of resistance to authority by 1640, within a contractarian setting.
Samuel Gott was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England between 1645 and 1648 and between 1660 and 1661.
Sir Samuel Sandys was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1586 and 1622.
John Baker White was a 19th-century American military officer, lawyer, court clerk, and civil servant in the U.S. state of Virginia.
Sir Philip Meadows was an English diplomat and official, an ambassador for Oliver Cromwell.