John Harington, 2nd Baron Harington of Exton

John Harington
John Harington, 1620 engraving by Magdalena and Willem de Passe
Born	1592
Died	14 February 1614(1614-02-14)
Title	Baron Harington of Exton
Tenure	1613-1614
Nationality	British

John Harington, 2nd Baron Harington of Exton (1592 – 27 February 1614), was a young English peer and politician. He was the Lord Lieutenant of Rutland and Baron Harington of Exton. He was educated with the Prince of Wales and they remained close friends until the prince's death. He was admitted to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1607. He succeeded his father as Baron in August 1613.

He was the surviving son of Sir John Harington (later created Baron Harington of Exton in 1603) and his wife, Anne Keilway, daughter of Robert Keilway, Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and was born at Combe Abbey, near Coventry, Warwickshire, in April 1592. He was reputed a scholar at the University of Cambridge; he entered Sidney Sussex College for a time, which had been founded by Frances Sidney, his father's aunt, and to which he and his father were benefactors.

Friend and companion of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, on 5 January 1604 he was created, along with The Duke of York and others, a Knight of the Bath. In September he went a foreign tour with John Tovey, a master of the free school at Guildford. While abroad he corresponded in French and Latin with Prince Henry. After seven weeks in the Low Countries, where he visited the universities, courts of three princes, and military fortifications, Harington went to Italy in 1608. He wrote from Venice (28 May 1609) announcing his intention of returning through France to spend the rest of his life with his royal friend. Henry's death (6 November 1612) greatly grieved him.