{{short description|English judge; founder of Highgate School}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} '''Sir Roger Cholmeley''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|tʃ|ʌ|m|l|i}} {{respell|CHUM|lee}}; sometimes spelled '''Cholmley''' or '''Cholmondeley'''; {{c.|1485}} – 21 June 1565) was Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench from 1552 to 1553. From 1535 to 1545 he was Recorder of London and served in the House of Commons. He is possibly best remembered for his endowment to found a free grammar school, Highgate School, at London.
==Background and early life== Cholmeley was the illegitimate son of Sir Richard Cholmeley of Yorkshire (c. 1460 – 1521), who served as Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1513 to 1520. Cholmeley's family can be traced back to the 12th-century Robert de Chelmundelegh, second son of William le Belward, who inherited parts of the Barony of Malpas (for which Malpas, Cheshire, is named), including Cholmondeley, Cheshire, previously held by Robert Fitzhugh. Over the centuries, the family name was spelt in many variants as Middle English developed away from French influences. Different branches of the family still spell the name differently, and Cholmeley's most famous cousins, of Cholmondeley, Cheshire, spell it "Cholmondeley".<ref>[http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/cholmond.html Cholmondeley family history]</ref><ref name=Genea>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stirnet.com/html/genie/british/cc4aq/cholmondeley04.htm |title=Genealogy of this branch of Cholmeley family |access-date=14 May 2012 |archive-date=17 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017100715/http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/cc4aq/cholmondeley04.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The pronunciation and spelling are neither counterintuitive nor phonetic, but as used down the ages.
Roger Cholmeley was educated to the law at Lincoln's Inn from 1506. Despite thrice being expelled from the Inn,<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr Dabby's 'Loyal to the Crown' lecture|url=http://www.highgateschool.org.uk/news/34-summer-2015/1475-dr-dabby-s-loyal-to-the-crown-lecture|accessdate=29 June 2015}}</ref> he entered the legal profession.<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB|id=5342|title=Cholmley, Sir Roger (c. 1485–1565), judge|first=Baker|last=J. H.}}</ref><ref name=RichardWill>Will and probate for Sir Richard Cholmeley, National Archives Records: Consistory Court of Canterbury, Wills and Probates 1383-1558 vol. 1 & 2 (J. G. Challenor Smith) December 1521 and March 1522, available online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk</ref>
==Career== Most of Cholmeley's career as a lawyer was spent in the City of London, but he lived at Highgate in Middlesex. In 1520 he was called as a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, in 1531 became a serjeant-at-law, and in November 1534 was knighted. From 1535 to 1545 he was Recorder of London, during which time he was one of the city's Members of Parliament in four Parliaments.
In November 1545 Cholmeley became Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and in May 1552 was appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He was Lord Chief Justice for only a year as Queen Mary I would not reappoint him. The same year, he was imprisoned for a month and fined for signing Lady Jane Grey's instrument of succession as Queen. He returned to work as a barrister and was a Member of Parliament for Middlesex from 1554 to 1559.<ref name=ODNB/>
Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth I stayed the night of 15 Feb 1555 at Cholmeley's residence in Highgate.
==Highgate School== Cholmeley founded Highgate School, which was established by royal charter in 1565. Former pupils of the school are known as ''Old Cholmeleians'' in his memory. The school has gone on to become a leading independent school (sometimes referred to as a public school). Old Cholmeleians include John Venn, the creator of Venn diagrams, poets Gerard Manley Hopkins and John Betjeman, and musicians John Tavener and John Rutter.<ref name=ODNB/>
==Death== Cholmeley died in London on 21 June 1565.<ref name=ODNB/> He was buried at St Martin, Ludgate.<ref name="machyn">{{cite web |title=Notes to the diary: 1558 Pages 362-369 The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550-1563. O |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol42/pp362-369 |website=British History Online |publisher=Camden Society, 1848 |access-date=11 December 2022}}</ref>
He willed property to nephew Jasper.
==Family== He married Christine Hurst, who died in 1558.<ref name=machyn /> They had two daughters: *Elizabeth, married first to Sir Leonard Beckwith of Selby, Yorkshire, and secondly (1559) to Christopher Kern of Kern, Somersetshire;<ref name=machyn /> *Frances, the other daughter, was married to Sir Thomas Russell of Strensham, Worcestershire.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Cholmley, Roger |first=George Fisher Russell|last= Barker|volume=10}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|last1=Dabby|first1=Benjamin|title=Loyal to the Crown: The Extraordinary Life of Sir Roger Cholmeley|date=2015|publisher=Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate|location=London|isbn=978-0-9932982-0-2}} * {{cite journal|last1=Dabby|first1=Benjamin|title=From thenceforth for ever|journal=The Cholmeleian|issue=450th Anniversary Issue Summer 2015|pages=38–41|url=http://www.highgateschool.org.uk/images/news/cholmeleian_summer15.pdf}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box | title=Lord Chief Justice | before = Richard Lyster | after = Thomas Bromley | years = 1552–1553}} |- {{succession box | before=Sir Richard Lyster | title=Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer | years=1545–1552 | after=Henry Bradshaw}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cholmeley, Roger}} Category:1480s births Category:1565 deaths Category:People from Highgate Category:Founders of English schools and colleges Category:Lord chief justices of England and Wales Category:Chief Barons of the Exchequer Category:16th-century English judges Category:Recorders of London Category:16th-century English knights Roger Category:Serjeants-at-law (England) Category:English MPs 1529–1536 Category:English MPs 1536 Category:English MPs 1539–1540 Category:English MPs 1542–1544 Category:English MPs 1554–1555 Category:English MPs 1555 Category:English MPs 1558