Family and Education

b. by 1501, s. of William Gascoigne of Lasingcroft by Margaret, da. of Richard Kighley of Newhall near Otley. m. by 1522, Anne, da. of John Vavasour of Hazlewood, 6s. inc. John II 7da. suc. fa. 1520.1

Offices Held

J.p. Yorks. (W. Riding) 1540-d.; commr. relief 1550.2

Biography

Although in the mid 16th century there were several John Gascoignes of Yorkshire, only one of them seems to have been named to commissions, and he may therefore reasonably be taken to have sat in Parliament for Thirsk. Yet John Gascoigne of Lasingcroft remains an obscure figure. Descended from a brother of Sir William Gascoigne the chief justice, he obtained the Parlington estate from Sir Thomas Wentworth I, 1st Baron Wentworth, and his wife in 1546. He was probably a Catholic: family tradition has it that one of his sons, William, was a monk at Brussels, and his descendants were to remain Catholic until 1780, when the 8th baronet conformed and was promptly returned for Thirsk. It is therefore in the highest degree unlikely that Gascoigne was one of the Members of the first Marian Parliament who ‘stood for the true religion’, that is, for Protestantism. Like his fellow-Member Thomas Eynns, Gascoigne probably owed his return to the council in the north, to which his kinsman Sir William Vavasour had just been appointed: Vavasour was himself knight of the shire in this Parliament.3

Gascoigne died on 20 Nov. 1557, apparently intestate. His eldest son Thomas was 35 in January 1558 when the inquisition was taken.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Davidson

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from marriage. Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Clay, iii. 99-100.
• 2. LP Hen. VIII, xv-xvii, xx; CPR, 1547-8, p. 92; 1553, p. 353; 1553-4, p. 26.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, xxi; Leeds Phil. and Lit. Soc. Procs. x(6), 225-6. The terminal ‘n’ of Gascoign’s name, as written on the copy of the Crown Office list concerned, could be mistaken for the cross set against the names of those who ‘stood for the true religion’, Bodl. e Museo 17.
• 4. C142/111/30.