GASCOIGNE, Sir Thomas, 8th Bt. (1745-1810), of Parlington, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1780 - 1784
1784 - July 1784
11 Feb. 1795 - 1796

Family and Education

b. at Cambrai, 7 Mar. 1745, 3rd s. of Sir Edward Gascoigne, 6th Bt., by Mary, h. of Sir Francis Hungate, 4th Bt., of Hudleston.1  educ. Grand Tour with George Damer 1765.2  m. (1) 1772, Miss Montgomery s.p.; (2) 4 Nov. 1784, Mary, da. of James Shuttleworth of Gawthorp, wid. of Sir Charles Turner, 1st Bt., of Kirkleatham, 1s. d.v.p.  suc. bro. as 8th Bt. 10 Jan. 1762.

Offices Held

Biography

Bred a Catholic, Gascoigne became an Anglican in the summer of 1780. At the general election he was returned for Thirsk by Sir Thomas Frankland, probably by arrangement with Rockingham.3 He voted regularly against North’s Government until its fall; was regarded as a probable opponent by Shelburne, but did not vote on the peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783. He voted for Pitt’s proposals for parliamentary reform, 7 May 1783, and for Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783. After the dismissal of the Coalition in December 1783, he went into opposition. In 1784 Frankland returned an Administration supporter, and Gascoigne was returned for Lord Fitzwilliam’s borough of Malton, but vacated his seat to make way for another old Rockinghamite, William Weddell. Gascoigne’s only reported speech was on a motion for licensing horse dealers, 20 July 1784.4 He remained one of the leading supporters of Fitzwilliam and the Opposition in Yorkshire, and in 1788 became chairman of a committee to organize this interest for the next general election.

Gascoigne died 11 Feb. 1810.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: I. R. Christie

Notes

  • 1. Genealogist, n. s. xxv. 188.
  • 2. See DAMER, Hon. George.
  • 3. Annual Reg. 1780, p. 215; Rockingham to Portland, 28 July 1780, Portland mss.
  • 4. Debrett, xvi. 139.