James Fiennes, 2nd Viscount Saye and Sele

James Fiennes, 2nd Viscount Saye and Sele (c 1602 – 15 March 1674) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1625 and 1660.

Biography

Fiennes was the son of William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, 8th Baron Saye and Sele and his wife Elizabeth Temple, daughter of John Temple of Stowe.

In 1625, Fiennes was elected Member of Parliament for Banbury. He was elected MP for Oxfordshire in 1626 and in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In April 1640 he was re-elected MP for Oxfordshire in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Oxfordshire in November 1640 for the Long Parliament and sat until 1648.

In 1660, Fiennes was elected Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire in the Convention Parliament. He succeeded to the viscountcy on the death of his father in 1662. He was Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire from 1668 until his death.

Fiennes died at the age of 72. He had no surviving male children and the viscountcy passed to his nephew William, son of his brother Nathaniel Fiennes.

Family

Fiennes married Frances Cecil, daughter of Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon. They had two daughters:

• Frances, who married Andrew Ellis, of Alrey, county Flint. They had one child, Cicely, who died without issue in 1715.
• Elisabeth (died 1674), who married John Twisleton. They had a daughter, Cecil, (who married twice, first George Twisleton, of Wormesly in Yorkshire, and second Robert Mignon) through whom the Baron Saye and Sele is descended.