Sir Clement Higham MP JP PC (also Heigham; before 1495 – 9 March 1571) of Barrow, Suffolk, was an English lawyer and politician, a Speaker of the House of Commons in 1554,'Sir Clement Heigham, Kt.', in J.A. Manning, The Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons (G. Willis, London 1851), pp. 208-14 (Google). and Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1558–1559.'Heigham, Clement', in E. Foss, The Judges of England, Vol. V: 1485-1603 (Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, London 1857), pp. 511-13 (Internet Archive). A loyal Roman Catholic, he held various offices and commissions under Queen Mary I, and was knighted in 1555 by King Philip, but withdrew from politics after the succession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558.M.K. Dale, 'Heigham, Clement (by 1495-1571), of Barrow, Suff.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online.J.H. Baker, 'Heigham, Sir Clement (b. in or before 1500, d. 1571)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP 2004)
Background and early career Clement Heigham was the son and heir of Clement Heigham of Lavenham, Suffolk, the fourth son of Thomas Heigham of Heigham (died 1492). His mother was Matilda (Maud), daughter of Lawrence Cooke of Lavenham. His exact birth date is not known, but (if we follow Metcalfe's edition) he was the first of five sons, also Thomas, John, William and Edmond.'The Visitation of Suffolk, 1561: Higham of Barrow', in W.C. Metcalfe (ed.), The Visitations of Suffolk, made in 1561, 1577 and 1612 (Metcalfe, Exeter 1882), pp. 40-41 (Internet Archive). They are not to be confused with the Heighams of Giffords Hall at Wickhambrook in Suffolk. His father died on 29 August 1500, and was buried under a marble slab in the Braunches chapel on the north side of the chancel of Lavenham church, with a brass figure in full armour, a brief Latin inscription, and above it a single shield for Heigham displaying Sable a fess componée or and azure, between 3 horses' heads erased argent. (The brasses are long since lost.)Described in Richard Reyce's Breviary of Suffolk (Harleian MSS), recited in J.J. Howard (ed), The Visitation of the County of Suffolke, 2 vols (Whittaker & Co., London/Samuel Tymms, Lowestoft 1868), II, p. 228 (Internet Archive).
It is suggested that Clement may have received early education from the monks of Bury St Edmunds. He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn in July 1517,Register of Admissions, Lincoln's Inn, Vol. I: From A.D. 1420 to A.D. 1799 (Lincoln's Inn, 1896), p. 38 (Internet Archive). but, being appointed an officer for the Inn's celebration of Christmas in 1519, failed to turn up, and was fined.The Records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn: The Black Books, Vol. I: A.D. 1422 to A.D. 1586 (Lincoln's Inn, 1897), p. 189 (Internet Archive). He was called to the bar in 1525.The Black Books, I, p. 212 (Internet Archive). In around 1520 he married Anne Monnynge, of a mid-Suffolk family, and over the next years she had five daughters, and one son (who died in infancy). In 1521 Clement Heigham, Roger Reve (brother of John Reve, Abbot of Bury St Edmunds 1513–1539) and Thomas Munning were among the feoffees for 2nd Duke of Norfolk and others in lands at Stow Bardolph and Wimbotsham, Norfolk.Norfolk Record Office, Hare MSS: Charter - feoffment, ref Hare 4710/5 214x6 (Discovery catalogue).
By 1528, however, his first wife was dead, and he remarried to the widow Anne Bures, daughter of George Waldegrave of Smallbridge, Suffolk and Anne Drury,Howard (ed.), The Visitation of the County of Suffolke, II, p. 216 (Internet Archive). with whom he had a further three sons and two daughters. Anne had previously been the wife of Sir Henry Bures (died 1528),Will of Henry Bures of Acton, Suffolk (P.C.C. 1528, Porche quire). of Acton Hall, Suffolk, and by him had four daughters, Joan, Bridget, Anne and another, who were small children at the time of the second marriage. They were therefore the step-sisters of Heigham's elder daughters, and of similar ages to them,Howard, Visitation of Suffolk, II, at p. 250, note (Internet Archive). and were to become the half-sisters of the Heigham children by the second marriage. Estimates of the birthdate of John Higham, his first son by Anne, range between c. 1530 and c. 1540.In his will of 1626 John Higham gave his age as 96 (sc. birth 1530); if so, his admission to Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1555 was extremely late. See J.P. Ferris, Heigham (Higham), Sir John (c.1540-1626), of Barrow and Bury St. Edmunds, Suff.', in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (from Cambridge University Press 2010), History of Parliament Online.
His attainments as a lawyer, and perhaps the example of the Abbot's bailiff Thomas Heigham during the 1470s,'The corporation of Bury St. Edmunds: Miscellaneous records - II: 1477. Ordinances for the reformation of abuses in the craft of the weavers', in The Manuscripts of Lincoln, Bury St. Edmunds Etc, Fourteenth Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Appendix; Part VIII (London 1895), pp, 123-44 (British History Online). had by 1528 recommended Clement Heigham to the office of Bailiff to the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds.Hamilton, 'Heigham, Clement', Dictionary of National Biography, citing Arundel MS Brit. Mus. i. fol 54. In 1529 he first received commission as justice of the peace for Suffolk, and remained in the Suffolk magistracy for the rest of his life. He became Pensioner at Lincoln's Inn in 1531 and was called to the Bench in 1534.The Black Books, I, p. 232-33, 237 (Internet Archive). On the east side of the county of Suffolk, farm of the site of the manor of Semer was leased to him in 1532 under the Convent seal for 30 years.L.J. Redstone, '"First Ministers' Account" of the possessions of the Abbey of St Edmund', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, XIII Part 3 (1909), pp. 311-66, at p. 343 (Society's pdf).W.A. Copinger, The Manors of Suffolk. Notes on their History and Devolution, Vol. III: Hundreds of Carlford and Colneis, Cosford and Hartismere (Taylor, Garnett, Evans, & Co., Ltd., Manchester 1909), p. 198, and p. 202 (Internet Archive). On the west side he developed tenures around the Abbey's manor and park of Chevington, not far from Gazeley and the hamlet of Heigham from which his family took its name.S.H.A. Hervey, Denham Parish Registers, 1539-1850. With Historical Notes and Notices (Paul & Mathew, Bury St. Edmund's, 1904), pp. 187-91 (Internet Archive). In his chambers at Lincoln's Inn Heigham was presented as Autumn Reader in 1537/38 (when he was also appointed Marshall, but fined £7 for not acting), and Keeper of the Black Book in 1538/39.The Black Books, I, pp. 250-52, and p. 253 (Internet Archive). Through this time the monastic closures occurred, and Bury Abbey was dissolved in 1539.
Dissolution and Edwardian period Following the death in 1539 of Roger Reve,Will of Roger Reve, Clothmaker of Bury St Edmunds (P.C.C. 1539, Dyngeley quire). the Court of Augmentations instructed Clement Heigham of Chevington to pay £220 to Abbot John Reve (Roger's executor), and in March 1540, shortly before his death, John Reve made his own testament appointing Heigham his executor and disposing of the sum in many small legacies, not forgetting his sister Elizabeth Munning and her daughter. Reve gave to Heigham his valuable hangings in his great chamber at Horningsheath,Horningsheath was granted to John Reve in January 1540: 'Augmentation Book 212, fol. 61 b', in J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. XV: 1540 (London 1896), p. 562, no. 1032 (British History Online). and to Anne Heigham his best ring set with turkey stones.Will of John Reve, clerk (P.C.C. 1540, Cromwell Register). The manor and park of Chevington were among those granted to Sir Thomas Kytson in March 1540.'436. Grants in March 1540, no. 74' in J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. XV: 1540 (London 1896), p. 177 (British History Online).
Serving as Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in 1540–41,The Black Books, I, pp. 256-258 (Internet Archive). in December 1540 Heigham completed the purchase of the manor of Barrow, near Chevington, from Sir Thomas Wentworth (died 1551) of Nettlestead,W.A. Copinger, The Manors of Suffolk. Notes on their History and Devolution, Vol. VII: Hundreds of Thingoe, Thredling, Wangford and Wilford (Taylor, Garnett, Evans, & Co., Ltd., Manchester 1911), at pp. 5-8 (Internet Archive). by deed of Sir William Waldegrave of Smallbridge Hall (Anne Heigham's brother),M.K. Dale, 'Waldegrave, Sir William (1507-54), of Smallbridge, Suff.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online. Sir William Drury of Hawstead (her uncle)M.K. Dale, 'Drury, Sir William (by 1499-1558), of Hawstead, Suff.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online. and Sir Thomas Jermyn of Rushbrooke HallS.H.A. Hervey, Rushbrook Parish Registers 1567-1850 (George Booth, Woodbridge 1903), pp. 185-98 (Internet Archive). (her stepfather).Will of Sir Clement Heigham of Barrow, Suffolk (P.C.C. 1571, Holney quire). Full transcript in J.J. Howard (ed), the Visitation of the County of Suffolke, 2 vols (Whittaker & Co., London/Samuel Tymms, Lowestoft 1868), II, pp. 248-51 (Internet Archive). Here he built his residence of Barrow Hall, which remained in the family of his descendants for more than two centuries. An illustration of the Hall, copied in 1779 from a 1597 original, survives.It is re-drawn in E. Martin, 'Two exceptional Tudor houses in Hitcham', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, XXXVII Part 3 (1991), pp. 186-207, at pp. 203-04, citing Suffolk Record Office (Bury), ref. 862/2. John Gage wrote of it, "Barrow Hall... stood on the south side of the church, and was a large brick building, moated. In the summer of 1775, the ground plan of the building was traceable. It was evident that the front had been broken by a central gatehouse, and several bay windows."J. Gage, The History and Antiquities of Suffolk. Thingoe Hundred (Samuel Bentley, London/John Deck, Bury St Edmunds 1838), p. 16 (Google), citing "Ashby's notes, Cole's MSS. vol. xlvi, No. 5847. Brit. Mus." The full chart of 1597 is represented in the Plate facing p. 16. The rectory of Barrow was then newly occupied as the benefice of a notable academic in the University of Cambridge, Dr Thomas Bacon, presented by the King in 1539.C.H. Cooper and T. Cooper, Athenae Cantabrigienses, I: 1500-1585 (Deighton, Bell & Co., Cambridge 1858), p. 191 (Google). Heigham purchased the manor of Semer from the King for £426 in 1543.'Grants in August, 1543: 34. Clement Heigham', in J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. XVIII Part 2: August–December 1543 (London 1902), p. 56 (British History Online).