Sir James Altham (about 1554Date of birth estimated as third of five children born 1549-1558. - 1617), of Oxhey, Hertfordshire,So identified to distinguish him from Sir James Altham the younger of Latton, who died in 1610. was an English judge, briefly a member of the Parliament of England, and (from 1607) a Baron of the Exchequer.'Altham, James. B.E. 1607', in E. Foss, The Judges of England, Vol. VI: 1603-1660 (Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, London 1857), pp. 49-51 (Internet Archive).D. Ibbetson, 'Altham, Sir James (c. 1555–1617), judge', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004). 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. Through advanced Jacobean royalism he helped to prosecute the King's enemies and centralise royal power of taxation. With Sir Edward Bromley, he presided at the Lancashire witch trials in 1612.
Early life James Altham was descended from Christopher Altham of Girlington, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.'Altham of Acton', in G.J. Armytage (ed.), Middlesex Pedigrees as collected by Richard Mundy in Harleian MS No. 1551, Harleian Society LXV (London 1914), pp. 157-58 (Internet Archive). He was the third son (of five) of citizen and Clothworker James Altham (died 1583)A.B. Beavan, The Aldermen of the City of London Temp. Henry III to 1912 (Corporation of the City of London, 1913), II, p. 35 (Internet Archive). of Mark Hall, Latton, in Essex,'Parishes: Latton', in W.R. Powell, B.A. Board, N. Briggs, J.L. Fisher, V.A. Harding, J. Hasler, N. Knight and M. Parsons (eds), A History of the County of Essex, Vol. 8 (V.C.H., London 1983), pp. 186-95 (British History Online, accessed 16 August 2023). Sheriff of London in 1557–58, and sheriff of Essex in 1570, by his first wife. Alderman Altham was himself the son of Edward Altham (died 1548),Will of Edwarde Altham, Clothworker of London (P.C.C. 1548, Populwell quire). a Master of the Fullers' Company, which had merged with the Shearmen in c. 1528–1530 to form the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers:The Charters and Letters Patent of the Kings and Queens of England to The Clothworkers' Company (Clothworkers' Hall, London 1881), pp. 8–15.W. Herbert, The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, 2 vols, (Author, Guildhall, London, 1834–1837), II, pp. 643–64.J. Oldland, 'The London Fullers and Shearmen, and their Merger to Become the Clothworkers' Company', Textile History Vol. 39 Part 2 (Maney Publishing, November 2008), pp. 172-92. Edward, although never an alderman, served a term as Sheriff of London in 1531-32 together with Richard Gresham, in the mayoralty of Sir Nicholas Lambert.J. Stowe, ed. A. Munday et al., The Survey of London: Containing, the Originall, Increase, Moderne Estate and Governance of that City, Methodically set downe, New edition (Elizabeth Purslow for Nicholas Bourne, London 1633), pp. 580-81 (Internet Archive). 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.
James Altham's mother was the alderman's first wife Elizabeth Blancke (married January 1548/49),Register of St Leonard Eastcheap, 1538-1572, sub anno. Microfilm image 51/133. daughter of Thomas Blancke of London, Haberdasher (died 1562),Shown in 'Inquisitions: 1589 - Thomas Blanke, knight', in E.A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitiones Post Mortem For the City of London, Part 3 (British Record Society, London 1908), pp. 129-43 (British History Online, accessed 5 September 2023). See Will of Thomas Blancke, Haberdasher of London (P.C.C. 1563, Chayre quire); Chancery Inquisitions post mortem (London), C 142/139/108 (1563) and C 142/222/40 (1589) (The National Archives, UK, Discovery Catalogue). and sister of Sir Thomas Blanke, Lord Mayor of London in 1583.J.C.H., 'Altham, James (d.1617), of London and Oxhey, Herts.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer 1981), History of Parliament online. 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.G.R. Corner, 'XXXV. On the Abbot of Waltham's House, in the parish of Saint Mary-at-Hill, London. In a Letter to Sir Henry Ellis,' Archaeologia, XXXVI (1855), pp. 400-417. Elizabeth Altham died in childbirth in 1558 and received a public funeral at St Martin's church.J.G. Nichols (ed.), The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, Camden Society (London 1848), Original Series Vol. XLII, pp. 175-76 (Internet Archive). After this alderman Altham became the fourth husband of Mary Matthew,'Wynter. Pedigree No. 1', in J. Macleane and W.C. Heane (eds), The Visitation of the County of Gloucester taken in the year 1623, (&c.), Harleian Society XXI (1885), pp. 271-74, at p. 273 (Internet Archive). successively the wife of one Woolley, of the citizen and Skinner Thomas Langton (died c. 1550), and of Sir Andrew Judde (died 1558).Will of James Altham of Latton, Essex (P.C.C. 1586, Rowe quire).
As a consequence of this marriage, James Altham junior became the step-brother of Mary Langton, wife of Admiral Sir William Wynter. His stepmother, Dame Mary Judd, was, together with James and his brothers Thomas and Edward, the alderman's executor in March 1582/83: she lived down to 1602.Will of Dame Mary Judd or Judde, Widow of Latton, Essex (P.C.C. 1602/03, Montague quire). See Nina Green's transcript and notes at oxford-shakespeare.com. The eldest brother becoming Roman Catholic, Mark Hall at Latton was inherited by the second brother Edward (died 1605), and descended to his heirs.'Some Althams of Mark Hall in the Seventeenth Century. Contributed by a Descendant', The Essex Review: A Quarterly Journal for the County, XVII no. 66 (April 1908), pp. 74-87, and XVII no. 67 (July 1908), pp. 134-46 (Internet Archive). On 16 June 1584, James Altham married his first wife Margaret Skynner at St Dunstan-in-the-East.Register of St Dunstan-in-the-East, 1558-1653, Weddings, sub anno. Microfilm image 45/104. With the death of Sir Thomas Blancke in 1588, the Blancke properties in London devolved in remainder upon Thomas Altham (then of Oxford, aged 38) or Edward Altham, subject to a lifetime occupancy for the widow Dame Margaret Blancke.
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). "Specially admitted" a fellow-commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1571, he entered Gray's Inn in 1575 and was called to the bar in 1581.'Altham, Edward', 'Altham, James', and 'Altham, Thomas', in J. Venn and J.A Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part I, vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press 1922), pp. 25-26 (Internet Archive). Following his marriage, he is mentioned in Croke's reports for the first time as arguing a case in the Queen's Bench in 1587. Shortly before he entered the Commons, he was made an Ancient of Gray's Inn, granting superior status over juniors at the all-important dinners. In 1589, he was elected M.P. for Bramber in Sussex. For some unknown reason there are no surviving records of Altham's activities during the sessions. All that has come down is his drafting of seven bills for the Parliament of 1601, during which Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury passed some of the most significant social laws of the period.
Legal career Recommended for Recorder of London (1595) 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. Sir John Spencer, Lord Mayor (1594–1595) wrote of him in a letter to the Lord Treasurer:"And, for mine own opinion, my good Lord, as also of many others, we have one born and dwelling among us,This comment establishes Altham's birthplace as London. whom we have great experience of, and think very able to do us service in this behalfe. His name is Mr. James Altham, son of Mr. Altham, late of Essex, Esq., he is a Bencher of Gray's Inn, and one of our ordinary Sworn Counsellors of the City, well acquainted with our customes, and very well thought of for his honestie and skill in law, both throughout the whole City, and elsewhere, and being in election last time, did very narrowly miss it: in which respects, and for the good hope we have of him, myself and many others do, only for the good of the City, earnestly wish him the place, if her Majesty shall please to remove the other; nothing doubting, but that her most excellent Majesty, and your good Lordship, and my other Lords, will take very good liking of him..."J. Nichols, The Progresses, Processions and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First (J.B. Nichols, London 1828), I, p. 333-34 (Google), note. Altham, however, was passed over a second time, in favour of John Croke.
Serjeant-at-law (1603), Baron of the Exchequer (1607) He was appointed reader at Gray's Inn in 1600, and in 1603 double reader (duplex lector): in the latter year he was made serjeant-at-law.R.J. Fletcher (ed.), The Pension Book of Gray's Inn (Records of the Honourable Society) 1569-1669, by order of the Masters of the Bench (The Chiswick Press/Stevens & Haynes, and Stevens & Sons, Limited, London 1901), at p. 149 (1600) and pp. 161, 163 (1602/03) (Internet Archive). He was one of eleven called to that degree at that time by writ of Queen Elizabeth, which on occasion of the monarch's death almost immediately afterwards was renewed by writ of James I, so that they and three others were sworn on 17 May 1603.J. Nichols, The Progresses, Processions and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First (J.B. Nichols, London 1828), I, p. 157 (Google). On 1 February 1607 he was appointed one of the barons of the exchequer, in succession to Sir John Savile, and knighted.
Case of Proclamations (1610) In 1610, a question having arisen concerning the power of the crown to impose restrictions on trade and industry by proclamation, the two chief justices, the chief baron, and Baron Altham were appointed to consider the matter. The result of their consultation was that they unanimously resolved "that the king by his proclamation cannot create any offence which was not an offence before ... That the king hath no prerogative but that which the law of the land allows him ... and lastly, that if an offence be not punishable in the Star Chamber, the prohibition of it by proclamation cannot make it punishable there."W.E. Hearn, The Government of England: Its Structure and Its Development (Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, London/George Robertson, Melbourne 1867), pp. 38-40 (Google).
Heretics (1611)
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. Altham was reputed hostile to Edward Coke, who was deliberately not consulted. The two men were burned, one at Smithfield, the other at Burton-upon-Trent.
Lancashire witch trials (1612)