Sir Griffin Markham was an English soldier, the son of Thomas Markham and Mary Griffin.

On 29 May 1592, he married Anne Roos. He was knighted in 1594 after serving under the Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...

 at the siege of Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

.

During the Nine Years War he commanded the cavalry under Sir Conyers Clifford

Conyers Clifford

-Life:He was the eldest son of George Clifford, esq., of Bobbing Court in Kent, by his wife Ursula, daughter of Roger Finch. He served in the army sent under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex to the siege of Rouen in 1591, being then a captain...

, and his opportune arrival and counter-charge after the defeat of the infantry at the Battle of Curlew Pass

Battle of Curlew Pass

The Battle of Curlew Pass was fought on the 15th of August 1599, during the campaign of the Earl of Essex in the Nine Years' War, between an English force under Sir Conyers Clifford and a rebel Irish force led by Hugh Roe O'Donnell. The English were ambushed and routed while marching through a pass...

 (1599) saved the army from complete disaster. His right arm was broken during the affray.

Markham was banished from court for unknown reasons around 1593. He later took part in the Bye Plot

Bye Plot

The Bye Plot was a conspiracy by a Roman Catholic priest, William Watson, to kidnap James I of England and to force him to repeal anti-Catholic legislation.-Background:...

 and subsequently the Main Plot

Main Plot

The Main Plot was an alleged conspiracy of July 1603 by English courtiers, to remove King James I from the English throne, replacing him with his cousin Arabella Stuart. The plot was supposedly led by Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, and funded by Spain...

, for which he was convicted (1603) and sentenced to death. However, he was reprieved from execution and exiled (1605). His properties were given to his cousin, Sir John Harington.

He spent the rest of his life in exile in Europe, acting as a spy for Robert Cecil

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...

. He joined the English regiment in the Low Countries

Low Countries

The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....

; there he fell out with Sir Edmund Baynham, a conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...

, and fought a bloody duel with him.