Pym

pim, John (1584-1643), an English Puritan. He was a native of Somersetshire, and was educated at Oxford. He entered Parliament in 1621. He pressed the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham, and when the Parliament of 1640 met he was one of the leading spirits. He was one of the committee that impeached Strafford. Charles I tried to win him over, it is said, by an offer of the lord chancellorship, but in vain. Pym was one of five members of the House of Commons whom Charles endeavored to arrest by force. He died before the arrest and execution of Charles. His remains were laid at rest in Westminster Abbey. Six of his fellow members carried his body. Both houses followed in procession. Pym was for twenty years the leader of the House, and is by some writers regarded as the founder of party government in Parliament. See Puritans