WHITHAM, John, of Tavistock, Devon.

The MP’s family name is associated with Whitham, a hamlet on the south-east of the Tavy about one mile from Tavistock parish church. An ancestor of John’s, William Whitham, who was outlawed for a felony in 1338, had held lands of Tavistock abbey, and another John Whitham had been portreeve of Tavistock in 1342-3.1Trans. Devon Assoc. lxxi. 157; lxxix. 149; CIMisc. ii. 1608; Devon RO, Bedford mss D2/39, D32/3, 4. Two years before his only election to Parliament John himself occupied a house in Tavistock next door to that of his kinsman William Whitham, and in 1407 a messuage, tenement and garden of his were leased by Richard Secheville.2Devon RO, 482A/PF 30; Bedford mss D2/210, S21, f. 130.