Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hobart, Miles
HOBART, Sir MILES (d. 1632), politician, was the son of Miles Hobart of London, by his third wife, Elizabeth, and was descended from William, brother of Sir James Hobart [q. v.] He appears to have been knighted at Salisbury on 8 Aug. 1623 (Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 181). In the parliament of 1627–8 he was returned for Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire. During the memorable debate of 2 March 1628–9 Hobart, to prevent the more timid members from leaving the house, locked the door and pocketed the key. For this he was arrested and examined before the council. He refused to give an account of his actions in parliament as being contrary to precedent, but did not deny having locked the door. On 2 April 1629 he was sent, probably from the Gatehouse, close prisoner to the King's Bench, with four other members. Each sued out a writ of habeas corpus (6 May). On 5 June application for bail was made to the court of king's bench, and the judges, who were willing to grant the request in spite of the king's opposition, were ready to give judgment on 23 June. But on 22 June Hobart, like other of the prisoners, had been suddenly removed, under a warrant signed by the king, from the King's Bench to the Tower. The keeper of the former prison was therefore unable to produce his prisoners on the 23rd, and on the 24th Sir Allen Apsley [q. v.], the lieutenant of the Tower, was directed by the crown not to produce them on any account. On 26 June the term ended, and the case was postponed till after the long vacation. In the following term it was agreed that the prisoners might be discharged upon bail, provided they also found sureties for good behaviour. This they unanimously refused to do. In the meantime the king proceeded against them in the Star-chamber, but eventually took no further action. In Michaelmas term 1629 Hobart vainly applied to the court of king's bench for some alleviation of the harshness of his imprisonment. Two years afterwards, in a time of plague, Hobart, having at length consented to give the required sureties, was discharged. He was killed on 29 June 1632 by the overturning of his coach, and was buried on 4 July at Great Marlow. On 18 Jan. 1646–7 parliament voted 500l. to erect a monument to his memory there (Commons' Journals, v. 56). He was apparently a bachelor.
[Gardiner's History, vii. 70, 90, 94; Gent. Mag. 1849 pt. i. 372–3, 1851 pt. ii. 227–34, 377–383; Burke's Peerage, s. v. ‘Buckinghamshire,’ wrongly makes Sir Miles Hobart a son of Sir Henry Hobart [q. v.]]