John Wadham (d.1578)

Nicholas Wadham (/ˈwɒdəm/; 1531/1532 – 20 October, 1609), Esquire, of Merryfield, Ilton in Somerset and Edge, Branscombe in Devon, was a posthumous co-founder, with his widow Dorothy Petre, of Wadham College, Oxford.

Wadham was probably born at Merryfield in the parish of Ilton, near Ilminster, Somerset. He was the only son of John Wadham (d.1578) of Merryfield, Ilton Somerset and of Edge, Branscombe Devon, by his wife Joan Tregarthin (d.1583), daughter and co-heiress of John Tregarthin of Cornwall and widow of John Kelloway of Cullompton, Devon. Wadham's paternal grandfather, Sir Nicholas Wadham, was a Member of Parliament and sheriff of various counties.

A biography written before 1637 states that Wadham attended Corpus Christi College, Oxford as a commoner, but did not take a degree. He may have lodged with John Kennall, the civil lawyer, later canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Wadham was briefly at court, as the text relates: vitam aulicam aliquantisper ingressus est ("he entered the courtly life for a moderately long time"). A certain "Nicholas Wadham of Brimpton, Somerset", was admitted to the Inner Temple on 9 March 1553 on the pledge of Richard Baker, who was married to Catherine Tyrell, a stepdaughter of Sir William Petre (Wadham's father-in-law), principal secretary to King Henry VIII. Due to the Petre connection, it is likely that the record refers to the Nicholas Wadham who is the subject of this article.

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