John Denham (poet)

Sir John Denham FRS (1614 or 1615 – 19 March 1669) was an Anglo-Irish poet and courtier. He served as Surveyor of the King's Works and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Early life

Denham was born in Dublin to Sir John Denham, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and his second wife Eleanor Moore, daughter of Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford and at Lincoln's Inn in London.

In his earlier years Denham suffered for his Royalism; during the English Civil War, he was appointed High Sheriff of Surrey (for 1642) and governor of Farnham Castle.

After 1660

Denham became a Member of Parliament for Old Sarum in 1661, became a Fellow of the Royal Society on 20 May 1663, and became a Knight of the Bath. He built or commissioned the original Burlington House in Piccadilly in about 1665.

After the Restoration Denham became Surveyor of the King's Works, probably for reasons of his earlier political services rather than for any aptitude as an architect. John Webb, who, as Inigo Jones's deputy had the competence to have served in the post, and complained "though Mr. Denham may, as most gentry, have some knowledge of the theory of architecture, he can have none of the practice and must employ another." There is no evidence that he personally designed any buildings, although he seems to have been a competent administrator; he may however have played some part in the design of his own home, Burlington House. John Webb was appointed Denham's deputy by 1664 and did Denham's work at Greenwich (from 1666) and elsewhere.

John Denham

John Denham may refer to:

Politicians

Others

See also

John Denham (politician)

John Yorke Denham FRSA (born 15 July 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southampton Itchen from 1992 to 2015. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills from 2007 to 2009 and as the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2009 to 2010.

He was the Shadow Business Secretary in Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet from 2010 to 2011, when he announced that he would be standing down as an MP at the next election, and retired from the front-bench in order to become Miliband's Parliamentary Private Secretary.

Early life

John Denham was born in Seaton, Devon and attended the Woodroffe Comprehensive School on Uplyme Road in Lyme Regis, Dorset, and the University of Southampton, where he took a BSc in Chemistry, and was President of the Students' Union in the academic year 1976-77.

After leaving education in 1977 he became an advice worker at the Energy Advice Agency in Durham, before becoming a transport campaigner with Friends of the Earth in 1978. He was Head of Youth Affairs at the British Council from 1979 until 1983, and was responsible for public education and advocacy for War on Want from 1984 to 1988. He subsequently worked for Christian Aid, Oxfam and other development agencies until his election to Westminster.

John Denham (judge)

Sir John Denham (1559–1639) was an English-born judge who spent much of his career in Ireland; he is chiefly remembered now as one of the "Ship-money judges" who decided the Ship Money test case, and as the father of the poet Sir John Denham.

Background

He was born in 1559 to William Denham (died 1583) and Joan (died 1589); his father was a goldsmith in London and then of Thorpe, Surrey. He entered Lincoln's Inn in August 1579. He was called to the Bar in 1587 and became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1603. In 1604, he purchased land in Egham, Surrey, which was to become his permanent home. He became serjeant-at-law in 1609. He was steward of Eton College, and also acted as counsel to the college.

Career in Ireland

In 1609 he was knighted and sent to Ireland as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer; in 1612 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland, and he was made also a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. He was clearly regarded as a leading agent of the policy of extending English common law to the whole of Ireland; despite his frequent complaints of ill-health he regularly travelled on assize. He was also a Commissioner for the Plantation of Ulster. He was credited with greatly increasing the Irish revenues and was praised by Francis Bacon for his hard work and prudence as a judge in Ireland. Even after his return to England he advised the Crown on Irish affairs.