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Sir

Edmund Shaa
Sir; Edmund Shaa
Died	20 April 1488
Spouse(s)	Julian, Lady Shaa (maiden name unknown)
Issue	Hugh Shaa; Margaret Shaa; Katherine Shaa
Father	John Shaa
Mother	unknown

Blue Plaque to Sir Edmund Shaa, by Mottram Church

Sir Edmund Shaa or Shaw (died 20 April 1488) was a London goldsmith, Sheriff of London in 1475 and Lord Mayor of London in 1482. Shaa lent money to Edward IV and, as mayor (at least), was extensively involved in the coronation of Edward IV's brother Richard III. He was later knighted and made a member of the Privy Council.

Family

Edmund Shaa, the son of John Shaa of Dukinfield, Cheshire, is said to have been born in the district of Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire.^[1] He was the brother of Ralph Shaa, and the uncle of Sir John Shaa (died c. 1503), Lord Mayor of London in 1501. Lord Mayor of London.^[2] His granddaughter, Julian Browne, was the second wife of Sir John Mundy, Lord Mayor of London.

Career

In 1450 Shaa was apprenticed to a London goldsmith, probably Robert Butler. He completed his apprenticeship in 1458, and in 1462 was appointed engraver to the Royal Mint at the Tower of London and Calais. He held the office for the next twenty years.^[2]

Shaa was mayor in interesting times. It is sometimes stated^[2] that Shaa's brother, Ralph Shaa, preached against the legitimacy of Edward IV's marriage and that Shaa (as mayor) offered the crown to Richard III.^[1] Shaa is a character in William Shakespeare's play Richard III. Sir John Shaa, the first 16th century Lord Mayor, was his nephew, while Sir William Browne (d. 3 June 1514), Lord Mayor in 1513, was his son-in-law. He was knighted in 1483.

Shaa made his will on 20 March 1488,^[3] and died 20 April 1488. He was buried in the Mercers' chapel in the church of St Thomas of Acon.^[2] In 1506 his son-in-law, Thomas Rich, was his surviving executor.^[4]

Amongst numerous legacies at his death was a sum to found a grammar school at Stockport, where his parents had been buried.^[2] He is commemorated by a Blue Plaque on Church Brow, Mottram.^[1]

Marriage and issue

Shaa married, by 1471, a wife named Julian (d. July 1494), whose surname is unknown, by whom he had a son and two daughters:^[3]^[5]^[6]

Hugh Shaa, who died without issue.
Margaret Shaa, who married a London mercer, Thomas Rich, the son of John Rich (d. 29 July 1458) by his wife Isabel, and grandson and heir of Richard Rich (d.1463-4), Sheriff of London in 1441.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] Margaret Shaa's husband, Thomas Rich, was alive in 1506,^[4] but had died by 1513; in the will of Margaret's brother-in-law, Sir William Browne, dated 29 May 1513, she is described as 'Margaret Riche, widow'.^[6]
Katherine Shaa, who after her father's death married Sir William Browne (d. 3 June 1514), Lord Mayor of London in 1513, son and heir of Sir John Browne, Lord Mayor of London in 1480, and cousin of Sir William Browne, Lord Mayor of London in 1507. By Sir William Browne, Katherine had a son, William. After the death of Katherine (née Shaa), Sir William Browne married Alice Keble, the daughter of Henry Keble, Lord Mayor of London in 1510, by whom he had two sons, John and Matthew, and two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth.^[11]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c "Sir Edmund Shaa – Blue Plaque". Tameside MBC webpages. Tameside MBC. Archived from the original on 30 August 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Tucker 2004.
^ ^a ^b Middleton 1906, p. 53.
^ ^a ^b 'St. Mary le Bow 104/21-2', Historical gazetteer of London before the Great Fire: Cheapside; parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane, St Martin Pomary, St Mary le Bow, St Mary Colechurch and St Pancras Soper Lane (1987), pp. 294–298 Retrieved 29 June 2013.
^ Fretton 1890, pp. 611–12, 617, 639–41.
^ ^a ^b Brown 1888, pp. 151–3.
^ Metcalfe 1878, p. 276.
^ Collins 1756, p. 234.
^ Nicolas 1826, pp. 299, 339.
^ Weever 1767, p. 188.
^ Brown 1888, p. 152.

References

Brown, James Roberts (1888). "Jno. and Wm. Browne, Sheriffs and Lord Mayors of London". Notes and Queries. 7th. V. London: John C. Francis: 151–3. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
Collins, Arthur (1756). The Peerage of England. Vol. II (3rd ed.). London: W. Innys and J. Richardson. pp. 233–4. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
Condon, M.M. (2004). "Bray, Sir Reynold (c.1440–1503)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3295. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Metcalfe, Walter C., ed. (1878). The Visitations of Essex. Vol. XIII. London: Harleian Society. pp. 276–7. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
Middleton, Thomas (1906). "Sir Edmund Shaa". Legends of Longdendale. Hyde: Fred Higham. pp. 49–54. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1826). Testamenta Vetusta. Vol. I. London: Nichols and Son. pp. 299, 339. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
Fretton, William George (1890). Sharpe, Reginald R. (ed.). Calendar of Wills Proved and Enrolled in the Court of Husting, London, A.D. 1258 – A.D. 1688, Part II. London: John Francis. pp. 611–12, 617, 639–41. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
Tucker, P. (2004). "Shaw, Sir Edmund (d. 1488)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25248. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Weever, John (1767). Antient Funeral Monuments. London: W. Tooke. p. 188. Retrieved 30 June 2013.