Sir John Isham, 1st Baronet

Sir John Isham (1582-1651) was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire and created the 1st hereditary Baronet of Lamport by King Charles I.

John Isham was born 27 July 1582 to Thomas Isham, being the only son. He was named after his grandfather, John Isham of Lamport Hall (1525-1595), who had made enough of a fortune as a London wool merchant to acquire an extensive estate near Lamport, Northamptonshire where in 1568 he built a manor house. The younger John Isham succeeded to this estate in 1605 with the death of his father and in 1607 married Judith Lewin, the daughter of William Lewin (d.1598), a Doctor of Laws and Judge of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Soon after, Isham was knighted on 29 March 1608 by James I, and appointed in 1611 to High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, a post that his grandfather, the elder John Isham, had held 30 years before. Wealthy and successful, Isham became a member of the aristocracy when Charles I on May 30, 1627 created him first hereditary Baronet of Lamport. However, the title was probably purchased as both Charles I and his father James I before him had used baronetcies as a means of raising funds, first for the settlement and pacification of Northern Ireland and later for the settlement of Nova Scotia in the Colonies. Sir John Isham, 1st baronet died on 8 July 1651 in Lamport and was buried there with his wife, who predeceased him. The title of baronet subsequently passed down to his only son Justinian Isham I, who became the second baronet. Sir John's daughter Elizabeth Isham is known for her diary, which is one of the earliest known examples of an autobiography written by a woman.