Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sawyer, Edmund

603916Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 50 — Sawyer, Edmund1897William Arthur Shaw

SAWYER, EDMUND (d. 1759), master of chancery, born shortly after 1687, was probably younger son of Edmund Sawyer of White Waltham, Berkshire, by his wife Mary, second daughter of John Finch of Fiennes, Berkshire (Berry, Berkshire Genealogies, pp. 88, 104). He was of the Inner Temple, but on 28 April 1718 was admitted member of Lincoln's Inn, and in 1738 was made a master in chancery (Gent. Mag. 1738, viii. 277). In 1750 he and Richard Edwards were nominated commissioners to examine the claims of the creditors of the African Company (ib. 1750, xx. 237). He died in possession of the dignity of master in chancery on 9 Oct. 1759 (ib. 1759, xxix. 497). Sawyer compiled the valuable ‘Memorials of Affairs of State in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James, collected chiefly from the Original Papers of … Sir R. Winwood, comprehending likewise the Negotiations of Sir H. Neville,’ London, 3 vols. fol. 1725.

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W. A. S.