Lot Essay
Sir John Popham (?1531-1607) was educated at Balliol and entered the Middle Temple in 1568. He acquired a considerable reputation as a lawyer and was given the post of Solicitor-General in 1578-9. The following year he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons and in 1581 he was created Master of the Rolls and an Attorney-General. He succeeded Sir Christopher Wray as Lord Chief Justice on 2 June 1592, and was knighted at the same time. He was instrumental in procuring patents for the colonisation of Virginia as a penal colony.
Fort Popham was in Phippsburg, and formed the southern point of Sagadahoe County at the mouth of the Kennebec River. In 1606 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Popham, Raleigh Gilbert and other well-known figures of the day chartered two companies - the London Company and the Plymouth Company - to colonise the North and the South of Virginia. An expedition set out from Plymouth to found the new colony in June 1607, with George Popham, Sir John's kinsman, aboard the ship 'Gift of God', and arrived at the coast on 1st August. They made their way inland and finally chose the spot, claiming it in the name of the King, on 19th August. The Colony, however, suffered several setbacks, including the death of George Popham, together with a very severe Winter, and was finally abandoned in 1608. A plan of the colony was later made and sent by Don Pedro de Zuniga to King Philip III of Spain.
A similar portrait to the present painting was at Littlecote, once the Popham family seat, which does not have the coat-of-arms and inscription (see R. Strong, Tudor & Jacobean Portraits, 1969, plates, no.500.
Fort Popham was in Phippsburg, and formed the southern point of Sagadahoe County at the mouth of the Kennebec River. In 1606 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Popham, Raleigh Gilbert and other well-known figures of the day chartered two companies - the London Company and the Plymouth Company - to colonise the North and the South of Virginia. An expedition set out from Plymouth to found the new colony in June 1607, with George Popham, Sir John's kinsman, aboard the ship 'Gift of God', and arrived at the coast on 1st August. They made their way inland and finally chose the spot, claiming it in the name of the King, on 19th August. The Colony, however, suffered several setbacks, including the death of George Popham, together with a very severe Winter, and was finally abandoned in 1608. A plan of the colony was later made and sent by Don Pedro de Zuniga to King Philip III of Spain.
A similar portrait to the present painting was at Littlecote, once the Popham family seat, which does not have the coat-of-arms and inscription (see R. Strong, Tudor & Jacobean Portraits, 1969, plates, no.500.