Alexander Popham

Alexander Popham, of Littlecote, Wiltshire (1605–1669) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1669. He was patron of the philosopher John Locke.

Popham was born at Littlecote House in Wiltshire, the son of Sir Francis Popham and Anne Gardiner Dudley, and grandson of Sir John Popham and wife Amy Games. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and admitted to the Middle Temple in 1622.

Popham was a prominent figure and Justice of the Peace in Somerset. In April 1640 he was elected Member of Parliament for Bath in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Bath for Long Parliament in November 1640.

Popham came from a Presbyterian family and was himself an elder in the church. He supported the Parliamentary cause and fought in the Parliamentary army with the rank of colonel and had a garrison stationed at Littlecote House. Despite his Presbyterianism, his sympathies lay with the Army during the Second Civil War, so he survived Pride's Purge in late 1648 and — after the execution of King Charles I and the founding of the Commonwealth — he served on the Council of State.

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