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  that, tried to induce him to submit to the decision of the church. Sawtrey refused, save with the proviso ‘where such decision be not contrary to the divine will.’ For his bearing we have only the testimony of his enemies, who describe it variously as vacillating, derisive, fanatical, and defiant. On 23 Feb. documents purporting to be his previous abjuration were produced, and, according to the official record, Sawtrey could not object to them. The final promulgation of the sentence was still deferred until 26 Feb., when Sawtrey was condemned as a relapsed heretic. Through seven successive stages he was degraded from priest to doorkeeper, then stripped of every clerical function, attribute, and vestment, even his tonsure being clipped away. Finally he was delivered up—a layman—to the secular arm (Concilia, iii. 257–9). His appeal to king and parliament did not avail, and on the same day the king's writ was signed at Westminster (Rot. Parl. iii. 459). Sawtrey was burnt in chains at Smithfield amid a crowd of spectators.



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 (, 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.



SAWYER, HERBERT (1731?–1798), admiral, born about 1731, entered the navy in 1747, and having served for six years, more than half the time in the Gloucester with Commodore [q. v.], on the Jamaica station, passed his examination on 30 Aug. 1753, when he was certified to be ‘more than 22.’ On 4 March 1756 he was promoted to be lieutenant. In 1757 he was serving in the Grafton, one of the fleet off Louisbourg, under Vice-admiral [q. v.] On 19 May 1758 he was promoted to the command of the Happy sloop, from which, in October, he was moved to the Swallow, one of the squadron on the coast of France, under the orders of Lord Howe. On 26 Dec. he was posted to the Chesterfield, and in February 1759 was appointed to the Active, of 28 guns, in which he continued during the war, and in which off Cadiz on 21 May 1762, in company with the Favourite sloop, he captured the Spanish treasure-ship Hermione, homeward bound from Lima in ignorance of the declaration of war. Her cargo consisted of 530,000l. in cash and bullion, and altogether was of the value of 544,648, of which Sawyer's share amounted to 65,053l. 13s. 9d., probably the largest amount ever realised at one haul.

In 1777 Sawyer was appointed to the Boyne, in which next year he joined Rear-admiral Samuel Barrington [q. v.] in the West Indies, and took part in the defeat of D'Estaing at St. Lucia on 15 Dec., and in the action off Grenada, under Vice-admiral [q. v.], on 6 July 1779. In the autumn of 1779 he returned to England, and in 1780–1 commanded the Namur in the Channel, and at the relief of Gibraltar in April 1781, but quitted her when she was ordered to the West Indies in December. From 1783 to 1785 he commanded the Bombay Castle, guardship at Plymouth; was afterwards commodore and commander-in-chief at Halifax, and on 24 Sept. 1788 was promoted to be rear-admiral. He became vice-admiral on 1 Feb. 1793, and admiral on 1 June 1795, but his failing health did not permit him to accept any command. He died at Bath on 4 June 1798. He was married and left issue (, Roy. Nav. Biogr. i. 337). His eldest son, Sir Herbert Sawyer, died an admiral and K.C.B. in 1833.



SAWYER, ROBERT (1633–1692), attorney-general, born in 1633, was a younger son of Sir Edmund Sawyer (1579–1670),