Strangways, Sir James (c.1410–1480), administrator and speaker of the House of Commons, was the son of James Strangways (d. 1443) of West Harlsey in the North Riding of Yorkshire, a lawyer who became a puisne justice of common pleas, and his wife, Joan Orell. The younger Strangways had by 1431 made an advantageous marriage to Elizabeth (1417– c.1460), daughter of Philip Darcy and his wife, Eleanor, daughter of Henry Fitzhugh, third Baron Fitzhugh; she was the granddaughter of John, Lord Darcy of Knaith, and was connected with a number of the leading families of north-east England. As well as lands in several counties she brought her husband antiquated financial claims upon the crown, which her husband would devote much time to attempting to realize. It is unlikely that the younger James was the Strangways who entered Lincoln's Inn in 1444. Instead he appears to have depended for advancement upon the patronage of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury (d. 1460), by whom he was retained and whom he served as an executor. Following a number of local posts Strangways became sheriff of Yorkshire in 1445–6; by now he had been knighted. In 1449 he was elected to parliament as a knight of the shire for Yorkshire. Through his marriage he acquired substantial properties in Northumberland, which doubtless explains why later in the same year he was among the commissioners appointed to treat for a truce with Scotland, and was then made a conservator of that truce—many similar commissions were to follow. His being at Westminster enabled Strangways to pursue the Darcy claims against the crown in the exchequer, though with little success. Although he retained close links with the Nevilles, he was also employed by the crown. In the early 1450s he served on a number of commissions, national and local, to assess or receive taxes and loans, while in November 1451 he became a JP for the North Riding. In 1452 he became sheriff of Yorkshire for a second time. In 1454, during the duke of York's first protectorate, Strangways was appointed to a commission to act against disorder in the North Riding. In the following year, despite his Neville affiliations, he probably avoided involvement in the first battle of St Albans. But although he escaped attainder by the Coventry parliament of November 1459, he was suspect enough to Queen Margaret's regime to be removed as a JP in June 1460. After the Yorkist victory at Northampton on 10 July 1460 Strangways was quickly reappointed to the commission of the peace for the North Riding, and was also elected to parliament. After surviving active involvement in the battle of Wakefield (30 December) he seems to have participated in Edward IV's Towton campaign of March 1461. Returned to parliament later that year Strangways was elected speaker, though his allegiance remained Neville rather than Yorkist. He made a lengthy speech advocating Henry VI's deposition and Edward IV's coronation, and was rewarded with a grant of 200 marks. Though possibly returned to the parliament of 1463 he also took part between 1462 and 1464 in operations directed by John Neville, Lord Montagu (d. 1471), against rebels in the north. Edward IV still trusted Strangways sufficiently for him to become sheriff of Yorkshire again in November 1468. The following twelve months saw growing disorder and finally outright rebellion in that county. Strangways managed to avoid giving offence to either the Nevilles or the king, and in spite of his connections with the former he prudently left involvement in their revolts of 1469 to his younger son, Robert. Indeed, he was dismissed from the county bench by the readeption government of 1470–71, and reappointed in 1472 by Edward IV, who also added a special exemption in Strangways's favour to the Act of Resumption of 1473. In 1474 he took part for the last time in negotiations for a truce with Scotland.
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Strangways died shortly before 20 August 1480. His first wife had died about 1460, and between 1463 and 1468 he had married Elizabeth Bulmer, née Eure, who died in March 1482. His eldest son and heir, Sir Richard Strangways, who died in 1488, married Elizabeth, daughter of William Neville, earl of Kent (d. 1463); their son James Strangways, who was sheriff of Yorkshire in 1492–3 and 1508–9, has sometimes been confused with his grandfather. Julian Lock Sources J. S. Roskell, ‘Sir James Strangeways of West Harlsey and Whorlton’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 39 (1956–8), 455–82; repr. in Parliament and politics in late medieval England, 2 (1981) · J. S. Roskell, The Commons and their speakers in English parliaments, 1376–1523 (1965) · R. A. Griffiths, The reign of King Henry VI: the exercise of royal authority, 1422–1461 (1981) · CPR, 1232–1509 · A. J. Pollard, ‘The northern retainers of Richard Nevill, earl of Salisbury’, Northern History, 11 (1976), 52–69 · Sainty, Judges · W. P. Baildon, ed., The records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn: admissions, 1 (1896) © Oxford University Press 2004–8 All rights reserved: see legal notice
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