John Sayer is a Berkhamsted parishioner who went into exile with the royals during Cromwell’s Protectorate. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, he returns to Berkhamsted and, like many Royalists, is rewarded for his loyalty and appointed chief cook to King Charles II. Sayer becomes acquainted with the diarist Samuel Pepys, and is mentioned briefly in an entry in the Diary of Samuel Pepys from September 1661, which records a hearty drinking session in Sayer’s wine cellar:
“By my troth, we were very merry, and I drank so much wine that I was not fit for business.”
