Alice Bradbridge

Alice Bradbridge was the wealthy 16th century businesswoman who commissioned family portrait which is considered as one of the earliest private portraits of a woman outside the aristocratic class in England.

Alice was born in Chichester, Sussex in a family of a prosperous mercer and mayor of Chichester. Around 1546 she married to Francis Barnham, a draper and alderman of London with whom he jointly led the business. She worked as silk woman and through combination of her importing and his exporting, land speculations and moneylending at high interest, they accumulated considerable wealth.

According to sources, these couple was worth £1,000 at their marriage, and had incomes of over £1,000 a year at the time of Francis death in 1576. In the first year of Alice’s widowhood these incomes rose to £3,000. During her husband’s absence, and later during her widowhood, she independently ran a business which continued to flourish.

The family was granted a coat of arms in 1561 and their two oldest sons became country gentlemen.