John Denham (judge)

Sir John Denham (1559–1639) was an English-born judge who spent much of his career in Ireland; he is chiefly remembered now as one of the "Ship-money judges" who decided the Ship Money test case, and as the father of the poet Sir John Denham.

He was born in 1559 to William Denham (died 1583) and his wife Joan (died 1589); his father was a goldsmith in London and then of Thorpe, Surrey. He entered Lincoln's Inn in August 1579. He was called to the Bar in 1587 and became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1603. In 1604, he purchased land in Egham, Surrey, which was to become his permanent home. He became serjeant-at-law in 1609. He was steward of Eton College, and also acted as counsel to the college.

In 1609 he was knighted and sent to Ireland as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer; in 1612 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland, and he was made also a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. He was clearly regarded as a leading agent of the policy of extending English common law to the whole of Ireland; despite his frequent complaints of ill-health he regularly travelled on assize. He was also a Commissioner for the Plantation of Ulster. He was credited with greatly increasing the Irish revenues and was praised by Francis Bacon for his hard work and prudence as a judge in Ireland. Even after his return to England he advised the Crown on Irish affairs.

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