Francis Popham (1573–1644)

Sir Francis Popham (1573–1644) of Wellington, Somerset and Littlecote, Berkshire (now Wiltshire), was an English soldier and landowner who was elected a Member of Parliament nine times, namely for Somerset (1597), Wiltshire (1604), Marlborough (1614), Great Bedwin (1621), Chippenham 1624, 1625, 1626, 1628-9), and for Minehead (1640-4).

Popham was the only son of Sir John Popham (1531–1607), of Wellington, Somerset and Littlecote, Berkshire (now Wiltshire), Speaker of the House of Commons, Attorney General and Lord Chief Justice of England, by his wife Amy Adams, daughter of Hugh Adams of Castleton, St Athan, Glamorgan.

He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 17 May 1588 at the age of 15, and entered the Middle Temple in 1589. As a soldier he served under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1566–1601) in Spain and was knighted by him at Cadiz in June 1596.