William Foster Barham was an English poet.

Barham was the third son of Thomas Barham Foster

Thomas Foster Barham (musician)

-Life:Barham was the third son of Joseph Foster of Jamaica, who in 1750 took the name of Barham by authority of a private act of parliament, and in accordance with the will of Henry Barham. He was born in Bedford, 8 October 1766, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where mariculated in...

. He was born at Marazion

Marazion

Marazion is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the shore of Mount's Bay, two miles east of Penzance and one mile east of Long Rock.St Michael's Mount is half-a-mile offshore from Marazion...

, in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, 22 October 1802. He was educated in the grammar schools of Bodmin

Bodmin

Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of the county southwest of Bodmin Moor.The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character...

 and Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, and then proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. He won the Porson Prize in 1821 and 1822, and graduated B.A. in 1824 as twenty-second senior optime, second in the first class of the classical tripos, and second chancellor's medallist. He went out M.A. in 1827. His death occurred in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 on 28 January 1845.

He was the author of an unpublished poem on Moskow. His Greek versions of portions of Othello

Othello

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...

and Julius Cæsar

Julius Caesar (play)

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...

are printed in a volume of Translations which have obtained the Porson Prize from 1817 to 1856, 2nd edit., Camb. 1857, pp. 16–23.