John Say

Sir John Say
Speaker of the House of Commons of England
In office 1449–1449
Preceded by	Sir William Tresham
Succeeded by	Sir John Popham
Speaker of the House of Commons of England
In office 1463–1468
Preceded by	Sir James Strangeways
Succeeded by	Unknown
Personal details
Born	1415 Elizabeth Cheney, Lady Say

Sir John Say (1415 – 12 April 1478) was an English courtier, MP and Speaker of the House of Commons.

Life

He was the son of John Say (born before 1445) and his wife Maud. His brother, [Master] William Say, was Dean of the Chapel Royal, Master of the Hospital of St Anthony, London and Dean of St Paul's.^[1] Sir John owned land at Baas, Broxbourne, Little Berkhamsted and Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, and Lawford, Essex

Sir John Say trained as a lawyer and became a

.

In 1447 he entered Parliament as MP for

. By 1450, he was out of favor and in 1451 the Commons demanded his banishment from the court. However, he was pardoned in 1452.

From 1453 to 1478 he represented

.

He was made

in 1465.

He died on 12 April 1478.

Marriage

He married (1st) about 11 Nov. 1446 (grant of the king)

of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, and daughter of Sir Laurence or Lawrence Cheney (or Cheyne), Esq. (c. 1396 - 1461), of Fen Ditton, Fen Drayton, and Long Stanton, Cambridgeshire, Eaton (in Eaton Socon) and Pavenham, Bedfordshire, Irchester, Northamptonshire, etc., Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, 1429–30, 1435–6, Knight of the Shire for Cambridgeshire, 1431, 1432, 1435, 1442, by Elizabeth, daughter of John Cokayne, of Berwardecote, Brunaldeston, and Hatton, Derbyshire, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1401, Justice of the Common Pleas, 1405–29, Chief Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster (Northern parts). His wife, Elizabeth, died 2 September 1473. The couple had issue, including:

• Anne Say, who married Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, de jure 4th Baron Despenser.
• Mary Say
• Elizabeth Saye

Say married (2nd) before 9 Oct. 1474 Agnes Danvers, widow successively of John Fray, Knt., Chief Baron of Exchequer, and John Wenlock, K.G., Lord Wenlock, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chief Butler of England, Chamberlain of the Duchy of Lancaster, joint Treasurer of Ireland, Lieutenant of Calais, and daughter of John Danvers, Knt., Ipswell and Colthorpe, Oxfordshire.

Death

Sir John and Lady Elizabeth Say are buried together at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. Say had contracted the mason Robert Stowell to extend the south aisle of St Augustine's Church and prepare a tomb in June 1476.^[3]

They were survived by seven of their eight children (three sons and four daughters). Sir John Say was an ancestor of

. He was succeeded by his son William, who also became an MP and Sheriff for Hertfordshire.

References

• "The Visitation of Suffolk 1561", part 1, made by William Hervey, Clarenceux King of Arms, and edited by Joan Corder, FSA (Harleian Society, London; 1981), p. 166
• "The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215" by Frederick Lewis Weis, et al., 5th edition, Baltimore, Maryland (2002), p. 47
• "Plantagenet Ancestry" by Douglas Richardson, Baltimore, Maryland (2004), pp. 207, 381
• Parliament and politics in late medieval England, Volume 2 pp 153–174 By John Smith Roskell

Political offices
Preceded by Sir William Tresham	Speaker of the House of Commons 1449	Succeeded by Sir John Popham
Preceded by Sir James Strangeways	Speaker of the House of Commons 1463-1468	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by William Tresham	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1449–1462	Succeeded by Richard Fowler
Preceded by Richard Fowler	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1477–1478	Succeeded by Thomas Thwaites