Walter Barnham (abt. 1350 - aft. 1399)

Born about 1350 in Kent, England

Died after 1399 after about age 49 in England

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Biography

This profile is part of the Barnum Name Study.

Caution: Entries may be found listing Sir Walter as the father of Sir (Unknown) Barnham and the grandfather of his son Sir Nicholas Barnham. This is an obvious error since their respective dates show that several generations certainly intervened between them.

Sir Walter was probably born during the reign of Edward III (reigned 1327-1377), since he flourished in 1377 and was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the reign of Richard II (reigned 1377-1399). His term of office extended from ca. June 1377 to ca. September 1399.

Sir Walter is mentioned in A Treatise enumerating the most Illustrious Families of England (1686), as follows: "Sir Robert Barnham of Boughton-Monchensey (sic) in the County of Kent, Baronet, a Family of Signal Esteem, great Antiquity, and an ample Estate, is descended from Sir Walter Barnham, Knight, Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer in the Reign of King Richard the Second".

It was long thought that Sir Walter Barnham was among the first bearers of that surname, since the adoption of surnames in England dates from only about 1200 to 1300 C.E. However, according to Burke, J. (1847). A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the arms of Bernham or de Bernham (Norfolk) are blazoned, Sa. a cross betw. four crescents ar. Since that blazoning is identical to the arms later granted to Sir Walter and several of his descendants, it seems logical to assume that he and his family are descendants of the de Bernham family, whose surname dates from 1070. (SEE: the profile of Walter de Bernham (abt. 1264-aft. 1327), where the relationship between the two families is further discussed).

Sir Walter lived at Barnham Rysks (today Barnham Broom), England, a village and civil parish in the Saint Edmundsbury district of Suffolk, about three miles south of Thetford.

Sir Francis Barnham, M.P. (1576-1646) discussed in his journal Sir Walter and the origin of the surname Barnham. He stated, "Our Name as we have it by tradition, strengthened with probable circumstances, and some good records (which I have heard some of my friends say they have seene) was first gentilized, or at least advanced, by Sir Walter Barnham, a Baron of the Exchequer in the time of Richard II, and soe continued in a flowrishinge estate (at a place called Barnham in Suffolke not far from Thetford, where divers descents of them lye now buried) till the time of Henry VII, all which I have received from my grandmother, father, and uncles, whoe spake it with much confidence, as being delivered to them, by theire friends of the former age, and the truth of it assured by divers records, however it is not that which I will binde on as an infallible truth, because I my self have not seene that which may soe absolutly assure it, and because I for myne owne parte care not to fetch a pedegree farther then from the certaine memory of a grandfather that was rich and honest, and a father that was vertuous and wise;...."

The patent of nobility granted to Sir Walter Barnham (date not known) is the second oldest of five such patents known to have been granted by the Crown to members of the Barnham family in England. According to Burke, Extinct and Dormant Peerages of Great Britain, all have lapsed in default of male heirs. Noah G. Barnum, in The Barnum Family, states that Sir Walter was probably the father or grandfather of Sir Nicholas Barnham (born 1455) who died, together with his father, at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. The dates involved make such a close connection unlikely, but the information above indicates a relationship by descent.

Knights returning from the Crusades introduced the crescent, the badge of Islam, into the language of heraldry. Since the laurel wreath surrounding the crescent in the crest of Sir Walter's blazoning of arms signifies victory, it has been surmised that Sir Walter or one of his ancestors may have participated in one of the Crusades.

Surname Origin and Significance

The origin and significance of the surname Barnum may be found on the Barnum surname free-space page [[1]].

Sources

• Barnum, Eben Lewis, and Fr. Francis Barnum, SJ, Genealogical Record of the Barnum Family, Presenting a Conspectus of the Male Descendants of Thomas Barnum 1625-1695 (Gardner, MA: Meals Printing Co., 1912)
• Barnum, Noah G, The Barnum Family, 1350-1907 (Albion, NY: Privately Printed, 1907)
• Savage, Mary Tisdale, Savage, Tisdale and Allied Families, Genealogical and Biographical (New York, NY: American Historical Society, 1926)
• Savage, James A., A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register, 4 volumes (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc., 1890-1892)
• The History of County Kent, England. Quoted in 'The Barnum Family,' (both editions). No complete citation was given.
• WikiTree profile Barnham-44 created through the import of WikiTree input from Ancestry.ged on Jun 23, 2011, by Cynthia Nicholson. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Cynthia and others.
• Article: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer
• Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. Page: Ancestry Family Trees Note: Data: Text: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/17247291/family