GASCOIGNE, Edmund (d.1572), of Barnham-near-Thetford, Norf.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

s. of Laurence Gascoigne by his w. Katherine. m. Alice, at least 4s. 1da.

Offices Held

Mayor, Thetford 1558-9, 1568-9.

Biography

Gascoigne inherited Barnham from his father in February 1559, and also had property within the borough of Thetford, some of it held from Edward Clere. The Thetford manuscripts record several purchases of land by him: two acres ‘near the claypits’ in November 1562, and a ‘water and fishery called the King’s Pool in Thetford’, for which he paid £19 during his second mayoralty. Some years later he acquired property in Barnham formerly belonging to the priory there. On 12 Jan. 1559, as mayor, he conducted the parliamentary election. The ‘mayor, burgesses and other men of the common council, assembled ... at Thetford ... in the common hall ... with one voice’ elected Gascoigne himself and Thomas Poley. He left Westminster before the end of the Parliament, receiving a licence of absence for sickness 28 Feb. After this, only scattered references to him have been found.

He died 23 June 1572, leaving his estate in the custody of his widow until the heir, his eldest son Edward, aged 13, came of age. In addition to the lands at Thetford and Barnham, his will mentions property at Brettenham, Kilnerston and Shadwell, Norfolk, and at Saxtead, Suffolk. His daughter Susan was to receive £60 on her 18th birthday. Apart from a bequest of 20d. to the poor of Barnham, there were no charitable legacies. Any residue of property was to go to the widow, the sole executrix.

C142/165/164; Wards 7/14/13; PCC 41 Welles; Norwich prob. reg. consist. ct. bks. 470 Brygge; H. Le Strange, Norf. Official Lists, 229; Thetford mss, bk. anc. deeds, passim; CPR, 1566-9, p. 150; CJ, i. 56.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes