Family and Education

bap. 23 Aug. 1612. 1st s. of William Lascelles alias Jackson (d.1624) of Stank Hall by Elizabeth, da. of Robert Wadeson of Yafforth; bro. of Thomas Lascelles. educ. G. Inn 1629. m. 1626, Frances (d.1658), da. of Sir William St. Quintin, 1st Bt., of Harpham, 5s. (2 d.v.p.) 10da. suc. gdfa. 1628.1

Offices Held

J.p. Yorks (N. Riding) 1640-July 1660, commr. of array 1642, sequestrations 1643, assessment 1643-9, 1657, Jan. 1660, Yorks, 1650, 1652, northern assoc. (N. Riding) 1645, scandalous ministers 1654, security, Yorks. 1655-6, subscriptions, Durham college 1656, militia, Yorks. 1659, Mar. 1660.2

Capt. of ft. (parliamentary) 1642-4; colt 1644-5, 1648, 1651; capt. of horse 1644-5.3

Member, high court of justice 1649.

Biography

Lascelles is a name of great antiquity in Yorkshire, and the senior branch already held estates in the North Riding in the 12th century. But Lascelles’s grandfather, who bought the Stank estate in 1608, was not able to connect up his pedigree with the medieval family. Lascelles served in the parliamentary army in both wars, but by his own account ‘exercised his command with moderation’, and became the first of his family to sit when he was returned for Thirsk as a recruiter, ‘in order, as he supposed, to a better settlement under his Majesty’. He served as one of Charles I’s judges, but refused to sign the death warrant. Nevertheless he continued to sit in the Rump and represented the North Riding under the Protectorate. He had presumably become a Royalist, for in February 1660 he urged the readmission of the secluded Members.4

At the general election of 1660 Lascelles was returned with his brother for Northallerton, two miles from his home. But he was under no illusions about the future, and immediately crossed over to the Low Countries to lodge a petition for a pardon, which he delivered on 8 Apr. at Breda, claiming (inaccurately) that he had held no command during the Interregnum nor purchased any crown lands. He was still abroad when Lord Wharton drew up his list of the Convention, but he was granted his pardon on 5 June. According to Edmund Ludlow he owed his life to his son’s marriage to a Popish lady, one of the Irish Talbots high in favour at Court; but in any case he was not a regicide. On 9 June he was disabled from sitting without having taken any known part in the proceedings of the House. Under the Act of Indemnity he was fined one year’s income and incapacitated from office, and he remained under suspicion. In November 1661 his letters were opened in the post on the Duke of Buckingham’s instructions. The Anabaptist conspirators met at Stank Hall in 1663, but found him ‘not to be dealt with’. Nevertheless he was taken into custody for a time. He was buried at Kirby Sigston On 28 Nov. 1667. His son Daniel sat for Northallerton in 1702.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / P. A. Bolton

Notes

• 1. T. D. Whitaker, Loidis and Elmete, 168-9; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xvii. 167.
• 2. N. Riding Recs. iv. 177; Thurloe, iii. 402; CSP Dom. 1655-6, p. 262.
• 3. Parl. Rep. Yorks. (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. xcvi), 58-59; SP18/71/55/8.
• 4. VCH Yorks. N. Riding, i. 407; Parl. Rep. Yorks. 59-60; Ludlow Mems. ii. 217.
• 5. CSP Dom. 1659-60, pp. 408-9; 1660-1, p. 38; 1663-4, pp. 16, 18; CJ, viii. 60; Voyce from the Watch Tower, 175; HMC Var. ii. 117; SP29/86/68, 99/110.