The details in this biography come from the History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons.

Born 1554, second but first surv. son of Sir John Savage, by his first wife Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland; and brother of Edward. Educ. L. Inn 1571. Married ABT 1576, Mary, dau. and coh. of Richard Allington. Suc. family 1597. Kntd. ?28 Jun 1599; cr. Bt. 28 Jun 1611. Bailiff of manor and forest and keeper of the gaol of Macclesfield from 1597; steward, Macclesfield from 1598, of manor of Halton from 1598; j.p.q. and commr. musters, Cheshire from c.1598, sheriff 1606-7, dep. Lt. from c. 1608; mayor, Chester 1607-8.

Savage first comes to notice in 1576 for refusing to make adequate arrangements for his mistress (one of his stepmother's relatives, before his marriage). After his marriage he lived in or near London, perhaps at court, but, finding the cost too great, in 1579 he accompanied Sir William Norreys to Ireland. From Chester he wrote to his cousin Edward Manners, Earl of Rutland, asking him to provide him with a good horse, as the other gentlemen in the company were well mounted, and he ‘would be loath to be inferior’. He was back in England by 30 Jul 1585, when he was again writing to Rutland, this time in an effort to prevent his father from disposing of certain entailed estates, an issue on which father and son had reached agreement within a year. Savage twice sat for the county before becoming head of the family in 1597. He did not gain possession of all the family estates, however, until after the death of his stepmother in 1612, and he appears to have been in financial difficulties, perhaps a result of his father's debts, though the father was listed as of ‘great possessions’ in 1588. Even after coming into all the Savage lands, the heir complained of poverty, still, however, being among the first to purchase a baronetcy. He died at Rock Savage 7 Jul 1615, having made his will the previous 20 Jun. To his overseer, his worthy friend the Bishop of Chester, he bequeathed a piece of plate worth £5, and to the city of Chester a pair of silver gilt flagons, valued at £20. His wife received his houses in Holborn and Chester; his coach and horses. He was buried at Macclesfield on 14 Jul 1615, leaving as heir his eldest son Thomas. The will was not proved until 1618.

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