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,[1] and Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1558–1559.

[6] 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.

[19][20] 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.

[21] 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.

"[34] 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.

The Solicitor-General (Edward Griffith) called an immediate council which appointed Heigham Lent Reader next coming if willing, or to pay a fine of 20 nobles, and wrote at once for his decision.

They interviewed the late priors of Woodbridge and Eye, the abbot of Leiston and the prioress of Redlingfield, the Master and three fellows of Wingfield College, and many priests, former monks and lay annuitants.

[3] It was then in November 1554, following solemnization of the marriage of Philip and Mary, that, being returned for West Looe (Cornwall), Heigham was elected Speaker of the House of Commons.

Almost forty members of the Commons rose and left the house when they saw that the majority were minded to capitulate: Heigham's colleague Edward Griffith, since May 1552 Attorney-General, was ordered to indict them.

[53] In a legal notice issued in July 1555, in which he legitimizes the heir of a priest of Mildenhall who had married in the time of King Edward, it is expressed that Philip and Mary "per Clementum Heigham militem Senescallum suum concesserunt...",[54] Senescallus or steward presumably referring to his position in the Privy Council.

John Rogers (Prebendary of St Paul's), Dr. Rowland Taylor and Laurence Saunders (brother of Sir Edward) were condemned in the same session: Hooper was burned on 9 February 1554/55.

[59] On 5 March 1555, Queen Mary rewarded Heigham for his loyalty to her at Framlingham, and for his services as Speaker, by the grant in chief of the reversion of the manor and rectory of Nedging, Suffolk, with its lands in Semer, Bildeston, Whatfield and Chelsworth.

[60] Heigham was also on the Cambridge Castle Bench with Sir Robert Broke, Edward Griffith and others when Thomas Mountain, the troubled minister of Whittington College[61] was brought into the August sessions of 1555, after a long imprisonment, and was found to have no accusers.

However without a writ or an accuser Broke and his fellow-justices were obliged in all equity to release Mountain on bail, which was immediately put up by his acquaintances, and he was later able to make an escape.

[65] Heigham was present at the examination of John Fortune alias Cutler, a blacksmith of Hintlesham who had influenced Roger Bernard (a man burned at Bury St Edmunds on 30 June 1556).

[66] Foxe also mentions John Cooper of Wattisham, who was arraigned at a Bury Lent Assize in 1557 before Sir Clement Heigham for allegedly having said that he should pray "if God would not take away Queen Mary, that then the devil would take her away."

[67] In July 1558 the outspoken country wife Alice Driver of Grundisburgh, near Woodbridge, who had been pursued for her Protestant views into hiding in the countryside, appeared before Sir Clement at the Bury Assizes.

He then committed her to be interrogated by Dr Spenser, Chancellor of Norwich, at Ipswich, where her spirited defence led to her condemnation and death at the stake in November 1558.

[69] In the parliament beginning 20 January 1557/58, in which William Cordell was chosen Speaker, Sir Clement Heigham sat for Lancaster.

[71] The Queen ordered Heigham and Sir John Sulyard to take inventories of the goods of the accused, and an account of their revenues since the loss of Calais, on 15 July 1558.

[72] Heigham received a new patent as Chief Baron of the Exchequer upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth, but he resigned it on 22 January 1559, and so served only 10 months in the office in all, making way for Sir Edward Saunders to succeed him.

[78][79] Heigham retained until his death the office of Chief Bailiff to the town of Bury St Edmunds, as he had held it since the time of Sir Robert Drury.

[80][81] In 1562 Bacon was recruited by Heigham, Ambrose Jermyn, John Holt and others, to assist in their attempts to obtain a charter for Bury St Edmunds.

[85] A letter of 1569 survives in which the Lord Keeper instructs his son to send a brace of bucks from Redgrave to Sir Clement Heigham.

"[87] John Crosyer, rector of Barrow, died in December 1569 leaving a charitable request to the poor of the village and to its church, arising from the rents of 13 acres of land in Bury St Edmunds.

He was buried in front of the altar at Barrow under a stone with his effigy in brass, and a long English verse inscription referring (in the third person) to his education, his teaching, his example and his benefaction.

[32] It opens with a lengthy prayer of repentance for his many sins, hoping for and trusting in forgiveness, so that he may have Grace to receive the body and blood in the form of bread, "the whiche after the consecracion thereof I steadfastly belive to be the verie bodie and bludd of our Saviour Jhu Christe, the whiche was crucified for me uppon the Crosse for the redempcon of me and all sinners", etc., thus professing his continued adherence to the mysteries of the Old English Religion.

The will, making his widow Anne and son John his executors, amply describes the family relationships, settling Barrow with all its appurtenances and other lands upon his widow Anne for life: they are to remain thereafter to his son John, who in his own right is to have the manor of Semer, or in default of issue it is to pass by entail through Sir Clement's heirs, all of whom are in other ways provided for.

[99] In the lower part are two large brass rectangular plates set adjacent, containing an epitaph to Sir Clement Heigham in 44 lines of English rhymed heptameter couplets,[58] engraved in very controlled gothic lettering.

Sir Clement, in full plate armour and with sword, appears centrally: he kneels in prayer at a desk with an open book upon it, his helmet beside it and his gauntlets hanging in front of it.