Early Life

Altham was descended from Christopher Altham of Girlington, in the West Riding of Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

. He was the third son of James Altham of Mark Hall, Latton, in Essex, Sheriff of London in 1557, and sheriff of Essex

High Sheriff of Essex

The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years...

 in 1570, by Elizabeth Blancke, daughter of Thomas Blancke of London, haberdasher, and sister of Sir Thomas Blancke, who was Lord Mayor of London

Lord Mayor of London

The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

 in 1583. Altham was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, entered Grays Inn in 1575 and was called to the bar in 1581.

He is mentioned in Croke's reports for the first time as arguing a case in the Queen's Bench in 1587. In 1589 he was elected M.P. for Bramber

Bramber (UK Parliament constituency)

Bramber was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, one of the most notorious of all the rotten boroughs. It elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in 1295, and again from 1472 until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:The borough consisted of...

 in Sussex. He was knighted in 1605.

Legal career

He was appointed reader at Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 in 1600, and in 1603 double reader (duplex lector). In the same year he was made serjeant-at-law

Serjeant-at-law

The Serjeants-at-Law was an order of barristers at the English bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law , or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writs dating to 1300 which identify them as descended from figures in France prior to the Norman Conquest...

. In 1606 he was appointed one of the barons of the exchequer, in succession to Sir J. Savile, and knighted. 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

Star Chamber

The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...

, the prohibition of it by proclamation cannot make it punishable there.’

Altham was one of the judges whose opinion was taken in 1611 by Lord Chancellor Ellesmere on the case of the heretics Bartholomew Legate

Bartholomew Legate

Bartholomew Legate was an English anti-Trinitarian martyr.Legate was born in Essex and became a dealer in cloth. In the 1590s, Bartholomew and his two brothers, Walter and Thomas, began preaching around the London area. Their unorthodox message rejected the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of...

 and Edward Wightman

Edward Wightman

Edward Wightman was an English radical Anabaptist, executed at Lichfield for his activities promoting himself as the divine Paraclete and Savior of the world...

, whom Archbishop Abbot wanted burned. Altham was reputed hostile to Edward Coke

Edward Coke

Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...

, who was deliberately not consulted. The two men were burned, one at Smithfield

Smithfield, London

Smithfield is an area of the City of London, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It is located in the north-west part of the City, and is mostly known for its centuries-old meat market, today the last surviving historical wholesale market in Central London...

, the other at Burton-upon-Trent.

Altham's signature, together with those of the other twelve judges, is appended to the letter to the king

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

 relative to his action in the commendam case, in which the power of the crown to stay proceedings in the courts of justice in matters affecting its prerogative is denied. A serjeant-at-law, in arguing a case involving the right of the crown to grant commendams, i.e., licenses to hold benefices which otherwise would be vacated, had in the performance of his duty disputed, first, the existence of any such prerogative except in cases of necessity; secondly, the possibility of any such case arising. The thereupon wrote by his attorney-general, Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...

, a letter addressed to Lord Coke requiring that all proceedings in the cause should be stayed. This letter having been communicated to the judges, they assembled, and after consultation the letter already mentioned was sent to the king. The king replied by convening a council and summoning the judges to attend thereat. They attended, and, having been admonished by the king and the attorney-general, all, with the exception of Coke, fell upon their knees, acknowledged their error, and promised amendment.

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.’ He was buried in Oxhey Chapel

Oxhey Chapel

Oxhey Chapel is a redundant Anglican chapel in Oxhey, a suburb of Watford, Hertfordshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust...

, built by himself on his estate at Oxhey in Hertfordshire, where a monument still preserves his memory and that of his third wife, who died on 21 April 1638.

Family life

By his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Oliver Skinner, Altham had issue one child only, a son James, afterwards Sir James Altham of Oxhey, knight. This Sir James Altham married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Sutton of London, and had issue a boy, who died in infancy, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Frances.

Elizabeth Altham married Arthur Annesley, second Viscount Valentia

Viscount Valentia

Viscount Valentia is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It has been created twice. The first creation came in 1621 for Henry Power. A year later, his kinsman Sir Francis Annesley, 1st Baronet, was given a "reversionary grant" of the viscountcy, which stated that on Power's death Annesley would be...

 and first Earl of Anglesey

Earl of Anglesey

The title of Earl of Anglesey was created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1623 when Christopher Villiers was created Earl of Anglesey, in Wales, as well as Baron Villiers. He was the younger brother of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and the elder brother of John...

, whose second son, Altham Annesley, was created in 1680 Baron Altham

Baron Altham

Baron Altham was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1681 for the Hon. Altham Annesley, younger son of Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey. See the Viscount Valentia for the history of the title until its extinction in 1844....

 of Altham, with limitation in default of male issue to his younger brothers. His only son dying in infancy, the title devolved upon the younger branch of the Annesley family, who subsequently succeeded to the earldom of Anglesey. The earldom lapsed in 1771, when the English House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 decided against the legitimacy of the last claimant.

Frances, the second daughter of Sir James Altham of Oxhey, married Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery

Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery

Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery KB, PC , styled The Honourable from 1621 until 1628 and then Lord Vaughan until 1634, was a Welsh soldier, peer and politician...

. The title lapsed in 1713.

By his second wife, Mary, daughter of Richard Stapers, Esq., Altham had three children, a son Richard, who died without issue; two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth married first Sir Francis Astley of Hill Morton and Melton, knight, then Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby

Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby

Robert Digby, 1st Baron Digby was an Anglo-Irish peer.Digby was the son of Sir Robert Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire and Lettice FitzGerald, of Geashill, Ireland, granddaughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare. John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol, was his uncle, and Essex Digby, Bishop of...

(c. 1599–1642) (Irish peerage), and lastly Sir John Bernard, knight and baronet, serjeant-at-law.

By his third wife Altham had no children.