Family and Education

1st s. of William Layton of Dalemain. m. Clara, da. and h. of Giles Burgh of Marton, Yorks., at least 3s.

Offices Held

J.p. Cumb. from c.1569.

Biography

Of the two lists for the 1571 Parliament, that known as de Tabley has Thomas as this Member’s first name, while Browne Willis’s has John. Thomas has been preferred as it leads to an at least conjectural identification of the Thirsk MP as the man whose particulars appear above. He remained loyal during the 1569 rebellion, his main seat was in Cumberland, and he owned the manor of Marton, and possibly other Yorkshire property, in right of his wife. Perhaps he knew influential members of the council in the north, including the 3rd Earl of Sussex, to whom the Privy Council wrote before the election of 1571 asking him to see that suitable Members were returned for Yorkshire boroughs. Possibly, therefore, he owed his sole appearance in Parliament to Sussex or another member of the council. About Layton himself little information survives. In June 1566 he was appointed a commissioner, with Lord Scrope and others, to survey the possessions of the dean and chapter of Carlisle cathedral, and his name appears as one of those responsible for taking the spring musters of 1581 in Leith ward, Cumberland.

He died 3 Sept. 1593, leaving as heir his second but eldest surviving son Thomas, who was, in fact, old enough to have been the 1571 MP. Still, it is more likely that a man of some social standing, who had supported the government in 1569, would have been chosen.

VCH Yorks. N. Riding, ii. 265; CPR, 1563-6, p. 488; 1569-2, p. 223; Sharp, Memorials of the Rebellion, passim; Add. 48018. f. 294; Border Pprs. i. 43; C142/239/98.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes