Editing Alice Barnham (section)

==Family==
She was born 14 May 1592, to [[Benedict Barnham]] and his wife, [[Dorothy Smith (Lady Pakington)|Dorothy]], née Smith. Benedict Barnham (1559–1598) was a London merchant, who held the positions of [[Alderman]], [[Sheriff of London]] (1591–1592), and Member of the [[English Parliament]] for Yarmouth. His father had been Sheriff before him. Her mother, Dorothy, or Dorothea (d. 1639), was the daughter of Humphrey Ambrose Smith, an important [[Cheapside]] [[Mercery|mercer]] and the official purveyor of silks and velvets to [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth]]. Alice was the second of a family of daughters, her sisters being Elizabeth, Dorothy, and Bridget; a fifth, Benedicta, died at the age of 16 days. Her father died 4 April 1598, when Alice was not even six, but Alice was apparently a favourite, as his will said:
<blockquote>I give to my daughter, Alice Barneham, my lease of certain lands at [[Moulsham]] and [[Chelmsford]] in the [[County of Essex]]. And if it happen that the same Alice doe die and unmarried then I give the same lease to Elizabeth my eldest daughter, etc.</blockquote>
Her mother was also left well off, with legacies of land and plate, and quickly remarried, to [[John Pakington (died 1625)|Sir John Pakington]] of [[Worcestershire]], 22 November 1598. After John died in 1625, she would remarry again, two more times, to [[Robert Needham, 1st Viscount Kilmorey|Robert Needham]], earlier that year made [[Earl of Kilmorey|1st Viscount Kilmorey]], and when he died in 1631, [[Earl of Kellie|Thomas Erskine, Earl of Kellie]].

Her older sister Elizabeth Barnham (1591–1623) married [[Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven]], who would become infamous for his depravity. The third sister married Sir John Constable, a friend of Bacon's, and the fourth married Sir William Soames.