Jacques Sanxay was born in the 1650s in Taillebourg, France. He was the Huguenot pastor at St. Jean D'Angele, 1677, and Tonnay-Boutonne (Saintonge), France, 1683.
In 1685 the French King Louis XIV revoked the "irrevocable" Edict of Nantes in 1685 and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. After this, huge numbers of Huguenots fled to surrounding Protestant countries
Jacques Sanxay became a refugee to England in 1685, where he became the pastor of St. Olave's Church, Exeter, England in 1686 until his death in 1693. He is buried in Exeter.
His son Daniel Sanxay was born in 1679.
Daniel Sanxay became Headmaster of Cheam School in 1708 and kept the school until his death in 1739. Rev Daniel Sanxay had a new building constructed for the school in 1719 on what is now the site of Tabor Court at the top of the High Street, beside Dallas Road, Cheam.
James Sanxay was a graduate of Oxford University
"Sanxay, James, s. Daniel, of Cheam, Surrey, cler. Trinity College, matric. 13 April 1728, aged 15; B.A. from St John's Coll. 1731, M.A. 1734, Rector of Sutton, Surrey 1746 until his death 23 July 1766 "James Sanxay inherited Cheam school from his father.
James Sanxay became Rector of Sutton in 1745.
James Sanxay married Catherine Firmin? 28th May 1750 in Beddington. His wealthy wife refused to have anything to do with the school and disliked the idea of her husband being a schoolmaster.
James Sanxay passed the school in 1752 to his Usher, Rev William Gilpin who was a distant relation of the Sanxay family.
James Sanxay was a good greek scholar and in 1754 published his Lexicon Aristophanicum, Græco-Anglicum.
The following Sanxay baptisms are recorded in the Sutton Parish register
07 Nov 1761 [sic] Caroline a daughter
03 Feb 1757 William a son
James Sanxay died July 1766
Sources:
The Sanxay Family, and Descendants of Rev.Jacques Sanxay, Hugeunot Refugee to England in Sixteen Hundred and Eighty-five Preface and compilation by Theodore F. Sanxay,A.M., LLB, Member of New York Bar.
Cheam School by Maud Roberts-West published in 1930, The Genealogist's Magazine London
The Environs of London: volume 1: County of Surrey (1792), pp. 492-496.
Foster, Joseph. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886 and
Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714. Oxford: Parker and Co., 1888-1892.
