Edward Barkham

Sir Edward Barkham (c. 1552 - 15 January 1633/34) was an English merchant who was Lord Mayor of London in 1621. He derived from the Barkham family of South Acre, Norfolk. Origins and young life Edward Barkham, the future lord mayor, was the son of Edward Barkham (died 1599/1600) of South Acre, Norfolk, and his second wife, Elizabeth Rolfe. He had an elder half-brother, Thomas, by his father's first marriage, and a full brother named Robert, and also two sisters, Margaret (died 1625), who married Henry Gallard (died 1614) of Norwich, and Mary, who married Edmond Hudson of Castle Acre. Edward was born in about 1552. Barkham married Jane, daughter of John Crouch (died 1605, aged 86) of Corneybury, Layston, Hertfordshire, and his wife Joan, daughter and heir of John Scott of London. John Crouch, or Crowch, and his wife have a monument with a lengthy and informative inscription reciting the names and marriages of their surviving children, which was set up in the (now deconsecrated) church of St Bartholomew, Layston. The chapel of Alswick in Layston was, before the Dissolution of the monasteries, a possession of Holy Trinity Priory in Aldgate, London, and was held together with the manor of Corneybury and the church of St Bartholomew at Layston. This connection is probably significant in the light of Barkham's later role in rebuilding a church at the site of the former Aldgate priory (see below). He and his wife had many children: his eldest son, Edward, was born c. 1591. Civic career Barkham was a city of London merchant belonging to the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers. He was Master of the Leathersellers Company from 1605 to 1606, and from 1608 to 1609. On 28 February 1611, he was elected an alderman of the City of London for Farringdon Within ward. He was Sheriff of London from 1611 to 1612, a service which paved the way for his future election as lord mayor.