SAWYER, SIR ROBERT, sixth son of Sir Edmund Sawyer, Kt, Heywood, Maidenhead, Berks., Auditor of the Exchequer, and his second wife Anne, dau. of Sir William Whitmore, Kt, Apley, Shropshire; bapt. 20 Sep 1633; adm.; Min. Can. (aged 15) 1648 (Chapter Muniments 43054); Magdalene Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 20 Jun 1648, matr. Mich. 1648; “chamber fellow” of Samuel Pepys (Pepys, Diary, ed. Wheatley, vi, 81, vii, 229, viii, 30); Craven Scholar 16 May 1649; BA 1651/2; MA 1655 (incorp. Oxford 10 Jul 1655); Goche Fellow, Magdalene Coll. 1652, Dennis Fellow 1654; adm. Inner Temple Nov 1653, called to bar 26 May 1661, Bencher 28 Oct 1677, Treasurer Oct 1683 – Oct 1688; practised in Court of Exchequer and on Oxford Circuit; KC (query date); MP Chipping Wycombe Nov 1673 – Jan 1678/9, Cambridge Univ. Jan 1688/9 – 20 Jan 1689/90 (when expelled for his conduct in the case of Sir Thomas Armstrong in 1684) and from Feb 1689/90; knighted 17 Oct 1677; Speaker, House of Commons 11 Apr – 6 May 1678, resigning on grounds of health; assisted in drafting the Exclusion Bill of 1678; Attorney-Gen., 14 Feb 1681 – Dec 1687; represented the Crown when the case against the Charter of the City of London was argued Apr 1682; conducted Rye House Plot prosecutions 1683-4; appeared against Algernon Sidney Nov 1683 and against Titus Oates May 1685; senior counsel for the Seven Bishops Jun 1688; for a summary of his character and career see Macaulay, History of England, 1855, iii, 524-8; lic. to m. 1 Jul 1665 Margaret, dau. of Ralph Suckling, Canonbury House, Islington, Middlesex; d. 28 Jul 1692. DNB.