John Ford was born in Ilsington, Devon, the second son of the moderately wealthy Thomas Ford and his wife Elizabeth Popham. Elizabeth was the niece of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Popham, who presided over the trial of Sir Walter Ralegh and was taken prisoner during the Essex Rebellion; through her Ford was also related to the important South Welsh family of the Stradlings, who were major patrons of learning with connections of family and friendship to the Sidneys. Ford went first to Exeter College, Oxford, and then, like many other young men of his age and class, proceeded to the Middle Temple in London. Unlike the vast majority of his contemporaries, however, he seems to have remained there for all of his adult life, although he

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First published 28 October 2000

Citation: Hopkins, Lisa. "John Ford". The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 October 2000.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1585, accessed 9 February 2010.]