John Popham (judge)

Sir John Popham
Sir John Popham (1531–1607), Lord Chief Justice. 1602 portrait by unknown artist, collection of Harvard Law School
Born	1531 Huntworth, North Petherton, Somerset
Died	10 October 1607 (aged 75–76) Wellington, Somerset
Occupation	Speaker of the House of Commons, Attorney General, Lord Chief Justice
Spouse(s)	Amy Adams (alias Games)
Parent(s)	Alexander Popham, Jane Stradling
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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).

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, daughter of Sir Edward Stradling (died 1535) of St Donat's Castle, Glamorgan. 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 nephew was Sir William Pole (1561–1635), the historian of Devon.

He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he read classics and divinity, and entered the Middle Temple as a law student.

He served as an MP for Lyme Regis in 1558 and for Bristol in 1571 and 1572 and was a Justice of the Peace in Somerset. He served in the honourable position of Recorder of Bridgwater and of Bristol. He was promoted to serjeant-at-law in 1578 and appointed Solicitor-General in 1579. In 1581 he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons and later that year was appointed Attorney-General. In 1592 following the death of Sir Christopher Wray, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, which position he retained until his death.