James Altham
Sir James Altham (about 1554[1] - 1617), of Oxhey, Hertfordshire,[2] was an English judge, briefly a member of the Parliament of England, and (from 1607) a Baron of the Exchequer.
[3][4] A friend of Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon, Altham opposed Edward Coke but advanced the laws of equity behind the fastness of the Exchequer courts, so long considered almost inferior.
[12] Edward, who requested burial at St Martin Outwich, in Bishopsgate, left his properties in Dagenham and Barking to his son James and to the heirs of his body.
[15] The elder Blanke had built for himself the mansion of "Abbottes Inne", on the historic site of the Abbot of Waltham's house in the London parish of St Mary-at-Hill.
[19] As a consequence of this marriage, James Altham junior became the step-brother of Mary Langton, wife of Admiral Sir William Wynter.
[14] James Altham followed his elder brothers to the University of Cambridge (where they had matriculated as fellow-commoners from Clare College in 1567, before being admitted together to Lincoln's Inn in 1570).
In 1595, when the resignation of Thomas Fleming as Recorder of London (1594–1595) was contemplated in preparation for his appointment as Solicitor General, the Queen invited the city to propose names to be considered for his successor.
The citizens, fearing that it might be intended to curtail certain of their traditional liberties, decided to propose one name only, that of James Altham, as one who might be expected to uphold their interests.
"[28] Altham was one of the judges whose opinion was taken in 1611 by Lord Chancellor Ellesmere on the case of the heretics Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman, whom Archbishop Abbot wanted burned.
The judges gave orders to the clerk of the assizes, Thomas Potts, to write a full account of the proceedings, which was published in London in 1613 as The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster.
[30] Altham's signature, together with those of the other twelve judges, is appended to the letter to the king relative to his action in the commendam case of 1616, in which the power of the crown to stay proceedings in the courts of justice in matters affecting its prerogative is denied.
[35] The estate of Oxhey, near Watford, Hertfordshire was imparked during the Middle Ages, and disparked in 1598, with licence granted to Francis Heydon to fell the timber and turn the land to tillage.
Altham thereupon built a very large house called St Clowes, or Cleer's, or Oxhey Place Hall, at a cost of £3000, and with its orchard and garden enclosed some five to seven acres with a brick wall.
Take Heede, To Thy Foote, When Thou Entrest Into The Hovse Of God And Bee More Neere To Heare Then To Give The Sacrifice Of Fooles.
[41] Altham died on 21 February 1617, and the Lord Keeper, Sir Francis Bacon, in appointing his successor, characterised the late baron as "one of the gravest and most reverend of the judges of this kingdom.
In making his bequests he did not follow the London custom, observing: "Although I was born free of London yet in respect I never was tradesman nor have lived as a Citizen and freeman I hope neither my wife nor any of my children will be so contentious or unkinde as to quarrell aboute any customarie division of my goodes...", and so making his own division of a considerable quantity of plate, property and goods between them.
A portrait dated 1617, showing a bearded gentleman aged 78, held by the National Trust at Kingston Lacy, Dorset, is suggested to be of Sir James Altham.
