Edward Popham Edward Popham ( 1610 – 1651 ) was a General at Sea during the English Civil War . Edward Popham was son of Sir Francis Popham and supported parliament in the English Civil War . He was elected M . P . for Minehead in 1644 . He commanded a force in Somerset and Dorset . He was appointed a commissioner for the immediate ordering of the navy in 1648 and commanded in the Downs and North Sea during 1649 . In 1650 he joined Robert Blake at Lisbon in blockading Prince Rupert . Biography . Edward Popham , the fifth and youngest son of Sir Francis Popham , and his wife Anne ( née Dudley ) , was probably born about 1610 , his brother Alexander , the second son , having been born in 1605 . In 1627 Edward and Alexander Popham were outlawed for debt , their property being assigned to their creditors ; but the age of even the elder of the brothers suggests that the debtors must have been other men of the same name , the Edward being possibly his cousin , the man who represented Bridgwater in parliament from 1620 to 1626 . In 1636 Edward Popham was serving as lieutenant of the HMS " Henrietta Maria " in the fleet under the Algernon , Earl of Northumberland , and in March 1637 was promoted to be captain of the " Fifth Whelp " . The Whelps were by this time old and barely seaworthy ; most of them had already disappeared , and in a fresh breeze off the coast of Holland , on 28 June 1637 , this one , having sprung a leak , went down in the open sea , giving Popham with the ship ' s company barely time to save themselves in the boat . Seventeen men went down in her . After rowing for about fifty miles , they got on board an English ship which landed them at Rotterdam ; thence they found their way to Helvoetsluys , where an English squadron of ships of war was lying . In 1639 Popham commanded a ship , possibly the Rainbow , in the fleet with Sir John Penington in the Downs , and was one of those who signed the narrative of occurrences sent to the Earl of Northumberland . In the English Civil War he joined the Parliamentary cause , of which his father and brother Alexander were members . On the death of his father he succeeded him as member for Minehead . In 1642 Edward and his brother Hugh were with Alexander , then a deputy - lieutenant of Somerset , raising men for the parliament . In May 1643 Colonel Popham commanded " a good strength of horse and foot " in Dorset , and relieved Dorchester , then threatened by Prince Maurice This was probably Edward , as Alexander appears to have been then in Bristol . In June 1644 both Pophams were , with Ludlow and some others , detached by Sir William Waller into Somersetshire , in order to raise recruits . It proved a service of some danger , as , with a body of about two hundred horse , they had to pass through a country held by the enemy . On 11 June 1645 Edward was desired to repair to Romsey , take command of the troops assembling there for the relief of Taunton , and follow the orders of Colonel Sir Edward Massey ; and on 17 June Alexander was directed to command a party of horse to Romsey , there to receive orders from Edward . It would seem that at this time Edward was considered the superior officer . It is thus certain that he was not at the Battle of Naseby , but probable that he took part in the western campaign of July , and fought at Ilminster , Langport , and Bridgewater . It is , however , curious that as a colonel , second in command to Massey , his name is not mentioned . On 17 July 1648 he had instructions to accompany , Robert , Earl of Warwick , the lord admiral to sea , the Charles , Prince of Wales having a squadron on the coast ; but three days later they were countermanded , and Sir Walter Strickland was sent in his stead . On 24 February 1649 an act of parliament appointed Popham , Blake , and Deane commissioners for the immediate ordering of the fleet , and on the 26th their relative precedence was settled as here given , the seniority being assigned to Popham on account , it may be presumed , of his rank and experience in the navy , independent of the fact that his brother Alexander was a member of the Council of State . Blake , too , had already served under one of the Pophams , apparently Edward , as lieutenant - colonel of his regiment , and it would seem not improbable that he was now appointed one of the commissioners for the fleet on Popham ' s suggestion . During 1649 Popham commanded in the Downs and North Sea , where privateers of all nations , with letters of marque from the Prince of Wales , were preying on the east - coast merchant ships . On 23 August the corporation of Yarmouth ordered three good sheep to be sent on board his ship then in the roads as a present from the town in recognition of his good service in convoying Yarmouth ships . Early in 1650 he was under orders to join Blake at Lisbon with a strong reinforcement . An intercepted royalist letter of date 20 February has " Blake has gone to sea with fourteen sail . … A second fleet is preparing under Ned Popham . His brother Alexander undertakes to raise one regiment of horse , one of dragoons , and two of foot in the west ; but good conditions , authentically offered , might persuade them both to do righteous things " . With eight ships Popham put to sea in the last days of April , and having joined Blake , the two were together on board the " Resolution " when , on 26 July , Rupert tried to escape out of the Tagus . The close watch kept by the parliamentary squadron compelled him to anchor under the guns of the castle , where , by reason of a strong easterly wind , the others could not come ; and two days later , finding the attempt hopeless , he went back off Lisbon . In November Popham returned to England , and shortly afterwards resumed his station in the Downs in command of the ships in the North Sea . He died of fever at Dover , and in actual command if not on board his ship , on 19 August 1651 . The news reached London on the 22nd , and was reported to the house by Whitelocke , and at the same time Sir Henry Vane the younger was ordered " to go to Mrs . Popham from the council and condole with her on the loss of her husband , and to let her know what a memory they have of his services , and that they will upon all occasions be ready to show respect to his relations " . A year ' s salary was granted to his widow Anne . Popham was buried at the expense of the state in Westminster Abbey in Henry VII ' s chapel , where a monument in black and white marble was erected to his memory . At the Restoration the body and the monument were removed , but , as Alexander Popham was still living and a member of parliament , the body was allowed to be taken away privately , and the monument to be placed in the chapel of St . John the Baptist , the inscription being , however , effaced and never being restored . His monument remains in the Abbey but the inscription was removed . Family . In 1645 Edward Popham married Anne ( b . about 1623 ) , daughter of William Carr who had been a Groom of the Bedchamber to James I . They had two children : a daughter , Letitia ( b . about 1648 ) , and a son , Alexander ( born deaf in about 1649 ) , whose daughter Anne married her second cousin Francis , a grandson of Popham ' s brother Alexander . About ten years after Popham ' s death , his wife married secondly Philip Wharton , 4th Baron Wharton on 26 August 1661 . The household had eight children from Lord Wharton ' s first two marriages as well as the two Popham children . Within a year , Lord Wharton and Anne had a son , William . At this time , Lady Wharton approached Dr . John Wallis in Oxford to teach her son Alexander Popham to speak . The success of this work is one of the first documented cases of a deaf person learning to speak . Alexander later married and had four children , none of whom were born deaf .