John Popham

Sir John Popham (1531 – 10 June 1607) of Wellington, Somerset, was Speaker of the House of Commons (1580 to 1583), Attorney General (1581 to 1592) and Lord Chief Justice of England (1592 to 1607). Origins Popham was born in 1531 at Huntworth in the parish of North Petherton, near Bridgwater, in Somerset, the second son of Alexander Popham (c. 1504 – 1556) of Huntworth, twice MP for Bridgwater in 1545 and 1547, by his wife Jane Stradling, a daughter of Sir Edward Stradling (died 1535) of St Donat's Castle, Glamorgan; one of Jane's brothers is Thomas Stradling. St Donat's Castle situated on the south coast of Glamorgan was a short sail across the Bristol Channel into the inland port of Bridgwater on the River Parret. The Popham family had held the manor of Huntworth since the 13th century when Sir Hugh de Popham (tempore Edward I) (a younger son of the Popham family of the manor of Popham, Hampshire) married Joan de Kentisbury, daughter and heiress of Sir Stephen de Kentisbury of Huntworth. His nephews included George Popham, founder of Popham Colony (of which Sir John was one of the principal financial backers) and Sir William Pole (1561–1635), the historian of Devon. Education He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he read classics and divinity, and entered the Middle Temple as a law student.