The Pophams
Sir: In his account of the legend of the Littlecote Ghost (One just man) on 5 March, Auberon Waugh said no one had ever suggested that Sir John Popham 'might be troubled in his repose' by the corrupt way he acquired Littlecote from Wild Darell. Quite so, but Mr Waugh may be interested to know that in a new privately published his tory, A West Country Family: The !Whams from 1150, the author, Frederick W. Popham writes: 'According to a LeybornePopham legend, Darell on surrendering Littlecote, laid a curse on Sir John with effect that his family should perish in the male line. It may be found by some significant that, so far as can be ascertained, after 400 years no male Popham remains in this line or among the Leyborne-Pophams (of Littlecote) or the Buller-LeybornePophams.'
This could explain why I am only a distant descendant !
Michael Popham 39 Queens Road, Thames Ditton, Surrey
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