Family and Education

b. c.1564, 1st s. of Henry Jay, Draper, of Budge Row, London and Holverston and 1st w. Alice, da. of one Baylie of London. educ. fell. comm. Peterhouse, Camb. 1581; Barnard’s Inn; G. Inn 1583. m. (1) 20 Jan. 1588, Frances, da. of one L’Estrange of Earsham, Norf. 1s. d.v.p. 3da. (1 d.v.p.); (2) settlement 18 Aug. 1596, Lucy (d.1647), da. of Edward Johnston, mercer and alderman of Norwich, Norf. 4s. (1 d.v.p.) 1da. suc. fa. 1602. d. 7 Apr. 1619.1

Offices Held

J.p. Norf. 1602-3, 1610-12, 1614-d.2

Biography

Jay’s father, of Norfolk origin, made a substantial fortune in the City. Jay himself leased Holverston from (Sir) Henry Gawdy† and settled down as a country gentleman, leaving the London business to be carried on by his brother Henry, who became master of the Drapers’ Company and alderman of Farringdon Without.3 In 1610 Jay purchased Irish lands from a Norfolk neighbour and former kinsman by marriage, Sir Thomas L’Estrange, for £1,600.4

Jay probably owed his return for Stamford in 1614 to his brother-in-law, Richard Burrell, a London Grocer, who acquired an estate at Ryhall only three miles from the borough and seems to have had business dealings with Henry Hall*, the 1604 Member. He played no recorded part in the Addled Parliament. He died intestate in April 1619, in his 56th year, and was buried in the church of St. Andrew’s, Norwich. A younger son, Christopher, represented Norwich in the Cavalier Parliament as a Court supporter.5

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. E. Cust, Recs. Cust Fam. i. 180-1, 211-12; Blomefield, Norf. iv. 315; St. Antholin (Harl. Soc. Reg. viii), 32-3, 43; C142/770/88; Al. Cant.; GI Admiss.; Freemen of Norwich, 101.
• 2. A. Hassell Smith, Court and Country, 359.
• 3. Freemen of Norwich, 229; Cust, i. 152, 164, 202; A.B. Beaven, Aldermen of London, ii. 53; Norf. Archaeology, xxvii. 56n.1.
• 4. CPR Ire. Jas. I, 249, 252.
• 5. Cust, i. 164, 178-9, 197.