Benedict Barnham (c. 1559 – 1598) was a London merchant, the fourth son of the merchant Francis Barnham.
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Barnham was alderman of the City of London, and served as Sheriff of the City of London from 1591 to 1592. He was married to Dorothy Smith. They had several children, of whom Elizabeth married Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, and Alice married Sir Francis Bacon.
Benedict Barnham (also appears as Benet Barnham) was a London Alderman and merchant, and Member of Parliament for Yarmouth. He was also a sheriff of London during the 33rd year of the reign of Elizabeth I (1591-2); his father had been Sheriff before him. Benedict was elected at the premature age of 32 because thirteen men more senior than he declined to serve in 1591 due to the financial demands of the office.
A note in the Genealogical Record of the Barnum Family refers to Saint Clement's Church in connection with Benedict. He was christened at Saint Clement, Eastcheap. The church is located on Clement's Lane, near Eastcheap in the City of London.
In 1592 Robert, earl of Sussex had mortgaged the manor of Drayton, in County Hampshire, to Alice and Benedict Barneham for the sum of £1,054, but three months later the enrollment was canceled and the earl redeemed the manor for £1,024. He conveyed it to Richard Garth later that same year, in whose family it remained for about forty years.
Benedict's elaborate and pious will is still to be read in Somerset House. He left his money, plate and jewels to his wife and four daughters, so they had no lack of this world's goods. One paragraph in the will says: "Item: I give to my daughter, Alice Barneham [sic], my lease of certain lands at Moulsham and Chelmsford in the County of Essex. And if it happen that the same Alice doe die and unmarried then I give the same lease to Elizabeth my eldest daughter, etc."
Alderman Benedict Barnham died in 1598, seized of a house called Westbourne and 70 acres (280,000 m2) in Paddington, Kensington, and Chelsea detached, held of the Crown by 1/40 knight's fee, and a further 66 acres (270,000 m2) there, of unknown tenure, including 40 acres (160,000 m2) occupied by William Lisle. Of Barnham's five daughters Alice married Francis Bacon, Viscount Saint Alban, and in 1626 John, later Sir John, Underhill; and Bridget married Sir William Soame of Thurlow, Suffolk.
The following entry appears in Oxford Alumni, 1500-1886, 1500-1714, Volume I: Barnham, Benedict, of St. Alban Hall in or before 1572 (s. Francis, of London, merchant and alderman), M.P. Minehead 1588-9, and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, 1597-8, alderman of Breadstreet Ward 1591, sheriff of London and Middlesex 1591, F.S.A. 1592, died 3 April 1598, aged 39. See Remembrancia of London, 80; Foster's Parliamentary Dictionary; & D.N.B.
According to Boyd's Inhabitants of London, Benedict Barnham, citizen, draper, alderman and sheriff, freed two apprentices: 1) Abraham Cartright, citizen & draper, 16 Sep 1590 and 2) Edmond Hill, citizen and draper, 15 Jul 1603. Since Benedict died in 1598, the second entry is suspect. Perhaps Edmond Hill completed the full term of his apprenticeship under Benedict's heirs.