Background
Barham was the eldest son of Martin Barnham, of London and Hollingbourne, Kent and his second wife Judith Calthorpe, daughter of Sir Martin Calthorpe of London, and was a nephew of Benedict Barnham. His father was sheriff of Kent in 1598.
Barham was the eldest son of Martin Barnham, of London and Hollingbourne, Kent and his second wife Judith Calthorpe, daughter of Sir Martin Calthorpe of London, and was a nephew of Benedict Barnham. His father was sheriff of Kent in 1598.
He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. He was baptised at Hollingbourne on 20 October 1576. Barnham matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1592, and was admitted at Gray"s Inn on 8 November 1594.
He was knighted in 1603 at Whitehall Palace on James I"s accession shortly after his father.
In 1613 he inherited from Belknap Rudston, the brother of his father"s first wife, the estate of Boughton Monchelsea. He was elected Member of Parliament for Grampound in 1614.
In 1621 Barnham was elected Member of Parliament for Maidstone. He was elected Member of Parliament for Maidstone again in 1626 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliamment for eleven years.
In April 1640, Barnham was elected Member of Parliament for Maidstone in the Short Parliament.
He was re-elected Member of Parliament for Maidstone in the Long Parliament in November 1640. He supported the parliamentarians during the First English Civil War. Barnham married Elizabeth Lennard, daughter of Sampson Lennard, of Chevening, Kent, and was the father of fifteen children, of whom the fifth son, William, was mayor of Norwich in 1652, and died in 1676.
Short Parliament; Addled Parliament. 2nd Parliament of King Charles I]
In 1604, he was elected Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Grampound. With his father-in-law, Sampson Lennard, an antiquary of some eminence, he was nominated a member of the Academy of Literature projected with the approval of the court in 1617, but subsequently abandoned.
