Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hartopp, John
HARTOPP, Sir JOHN (1637?–1722), nonconformist, born about 1637, was the only son of Sir Edward Hartopp, bart., of Freeby, Leicestershire, by Mary, daughter of Sir John Coke, knt., of Melbourne, Derbyshire. He succeeded as third baronet in 1658. By his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Fleetwood [q. v.], he inherited the latter's house at Stoke Newington, Middlesex. When in London, of which he became an alderman, he attended the independent meeting-house in Leadenhall Street, over which Dr. John Owen presided, and continued a member under successive ministers until his death. In early life he used to take down in shorthand the discourses of famous preachers, that he might read them to his family. Thirteen sermons of John Owen, preserved in this way, were published by Hartopp's grand-daughter, Mrs. Cooke, in 1756. Hartopp represented Leicestershire in the parliaments of 1678–9, 1679, and 1680–1. He zealously supported the bill of exclusion in 1681. In the next reign he was heavily fined for nonconformity. He died on 1 April 1722, aged 85, and was buried on the 11th in Stoke Newington Church beside his wife, who had died on 9 Nov. 1711. Isaac Watts, who resided with the Hartopps for five years at Stoke Newington, preached their funeral sermons. By will Hartopp left 10,000l. for the instruction of youth for the dissenting ministry; but his heirs, taking advantage of a defect in the conveyance, appropriated the bequest to themselves. Nearly one half of the legacy, however, was eventually restored, and applied to the use for which it was originally designed. Hartopp appears to have had a family of four sons and nine daughters. His son and successor, John (1680?–1762), in whom the title became extinct, assisted Lady Mary Abney in erecting a monument over Watts's remains in Bunhill Fields.
[Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, No. ix. p. 28; William Robinson's Stoke Newington, pp. 78–81, 195–6; Walter Wilson's Dissenting Churches, i. 295, 314, ii. 310; Bogue and Bennett's Hist. of Dissenters, ii. 241, 382, 407–9; Watts's Funeral Sermons; Preface to J. A. Jones's reprint of J. Owen's Use of Faith, 1851; Burke's Extinct Baronetcies, 247.]