Portrait of Sir John Needham, full-length, in half-armour with a grey doublet and hose, a sword on his left and a lance in his right hand, with a plumed helmet beside him, beside an open tent in a mountainous landscape

Sir John Needham (d.1618), of Lichborough, Northamptonshire, was a Gentleman Pensioner to Queen Elizabeth I and was knighted in 1603 before the coronation of King James I. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Watson, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, and sister of Sir Lewis Watson of Rockingham Castle, Northamptonshire, who was later created Baron Rockingham. After his death his wife erected an altar tomb to his memory in Lichborough Church and she later married Sir Edward Tyrell, of Thornton. A variant of the present portrait was sold in these rooms on 28 February 1986 as lot 165.