Sir Ralph Cheyne (c. 1337 – 1400) (alias Cheney), of Brooke, in the parish of Westbury in Wiltshire, was three times a Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and was Deputy Justiciar of Ireland in 1373 and Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1383–4. He was Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. Origins He was the second son and eventual heir of Sir William Cheyne (died 1345) lord of the manor of Poyntington in Somerset by his second wife Joan Gorges, a daughter of Ralph Gorges of Bradpole in Dorset. His elder half-brother was Sir Edmund Cheyne (died 1374/83), Warden of the Channel Islands, who married a certain Katherine (died 1422) but died without children and whose estates Ralph eventually inherited. Katherine remarried to Sir John Strecch (died 1391) of Wambrook in Somerset. Her ledger stone, with a much-worn black-letter Gothic inscription describing her as "Lady of Poyntington" ("Kath[er]ina St[re]cchi d[omi]na de Pountyngton") survives in Poyntington Church, reset in the south-west wall. It was in 1401 that her penultimate husband's half-nephew Sir William Cheney (died 1420) married the heiress of Stretch of Pinho. Ancient origins Wilhelmina, Duchess of Cleveland (1819–1901) in her 1889 work The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages made some attempt at identifying the ancient origin of this family, called Chaunduit in the lists of Leland. Concerning the armorials of Cheney of Brook, according to the Survey of Cornwall by Richard Carew (died 1620): "The arms of the Cheneys of Bodanon (in Cornwall) were Gules, on a fesse of four lozenges argent as many escallops sable, in memory (as tradition says) that one of this family going into the Holy Land with Richard or Edward carried such shells for taking up water in the hotter climate of Asia". Career He spent part of his official career in Ireland, having apparently been recommended for service there by Robert de Ashton, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, who was his mother's cousin. He served as Deputy Justiciar of Ireland in 1373, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1383–4. Despite only serving a year in the latter role he was handsomely remunerated. He was three times a Member of Parliament for Wiltshire in 1378, 1386 and September 1388 and High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1376-77 and 1388-89. He served on numerous official commissions throughout his career. He was Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. Marriage and children In 1368 he married