George Gascoigne was born abt 1531 in Kirkby Yorkshire. His parents were John Gascoigne and Anne Vavasour.
On 7 Sep 1566 he married Mary Stokesley (Baptised in Shenfield on 27 Oct 1549) daughter of John Stokesley from Brentwood Essex. They had 11 children.
- Nicholas 19 May 1571 - 26 Jan 1617
- Elizabeth 1572 -
- George 1574 - 1637
- Nightingale 1575 -
- John 1576 -
- Katherine 1578 -
- Richard 1579 -1663
- Matthew 1580 -
- Christopher 1582 -1652
- Joan 1584 -
- Mary 1586 - 1652
- Prothesia 1588 - 1634
George died on 18 Sep 1620 in Huntingdonshire.
George Gascoyne eldest son Nicholas died before his father, and so the family line split into two between Nicholas's son John, and his uncle also John .
Nicholas's son John became the founder of our line, whilst his uncle John founded the Chiswick/London line leading to Sir Crisp Gascoigne and the Gascoyne-Cecils.
George died at Great Gransden or St Ives and his son John also had a son called John who has been very, very difficult to research. It would appear that whilst Nicholas's son John held Old Hurst,his uncle John's son was at Great Gransden. He appears to have been quite a romeo. He appears to be at Great Gransden until the 1640;s, then goes to Chiswick/London, marries again and dies there aged 82.
George Gascoigne was the Founder of the “Fen Gascoyne’s”.
According to Joseph Foster’s “Yorkshire County Families”, he was “of Kirkby, Yorkshire and of Old Hurst, Co. Hunts. He married Mary, daughter of John Stokesley, of Brentwood, Co. Essex, by Elisabeth his wife, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Nightingale, Mary died in 19th July 1588”. Appended in a note on the Shenfield church marriage register are the words ‘father and mother of the five former Gascoigne’s, were born and christened at Lasingcroft in Yorkshire’.
It would appear that George and Mary in their early married life lived at Lasingcroft and that their children Christopher, Nicholas, Elizabeth, George and another were born at Lasingcroft. It would then appear that George and Mary went back to live at Shenfield, nr Brentwood in Essex. There are no Gascoigne burials recorded at Shenfield from 1566-1605. Persecution of Roman Catholics was in full swing in 1575, which probably explains why they left Lasingcroft, and why George wanted a record of his older children having received Anglican baptism, noted in Shenfield parish register.
The following entries appear in the parish register of Shenfield, the next parish to Brentwood. (Entries as spelt):-
- Nightingall Gascoygne, dau, of George, gentleman, 31 July 1575
- John Gascoygne, son of George, gentleman 12 Sep 1576
- Katherin Gascoygne, dg, of George 3 Apr 1578
- Richard Gascoygne 16 May 1579
- Mathew Gascoygne 31 Jul 1580
It is about 1580-85 that George and Family moved for a while to Little Oakley in Northants. After he acquired Old Hurst, he built Manor Farm for himself leaving the house at Little Oakley for Christopher, his wife Susan and their family to live in.
The Victoria County History of Hunts (vol. 2, p 181-2) records that George was granted the reversion of the manor of Old Hurst in fee in 1590, and that he and his son Nicholas obtained the lease also in June 1605. A picture emerges of a barrister turned property speculator, who bought the freehold reversion of the Old Hurst property shortly before the lease fell in and Manor Farm was built by George as a family home in 1605, which replaced an earlier monastic manor house within the moated site, a little to the north east. Following a successful career as a London Lawyer he probably chose the site with it being close to the Great North Road, and midway between the Temple in London and his family in Yorkshire. He could not associate too closely with his Catholic relatives in Yorkshire, as Roman Catholics were forbidden from practising law from the time of Elizabeth I up to 1778, but his Will shows that he remained in contact
George Gascoigne was admitted to Middle Temple on 6th February 1559, becoming Master of the Bench in 1587. His coat of arms, “Argent, on a pale sable, a conger’s head, erect, couped, or” form part of a stained glass window (V5) in the hall of Middle Temple. In modern language, that is a yellow conger eel’s head, with its mouth pointing upwards, on a vertical black stripe against a white background. The arms of George Gascoigne, as displayed in the hall of Middle Temple have six quartering’s, which denote that he had inherited arms from five of his female ancestors. The above blazon is taken from the Heralds Visitation of Yorkshire in 1563. The descendants of George’s elder brother John who lived at Parlington Hall interpreted the fish as a demy Lucy or fore part of a pike. All Saints Church in Barwick in Elmet displays Gascoigne heraldry on the north wall and the east window of the north chapel.