Cotton Gargrave

Wragby Church, Nostell Priory, Burial place of Sir Cotton Gargrave and father Sir Thomas Gargrave

Sir Cotton Gargrave (1540–1588) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1571 and 1572.

Earli life

Gargrave was the son of Sir Thomas Gargrave, High Sheriff of Yorkshire.^[1] He resided at Nostell Priory and at Kingsley, Yorkshire.^[2]

Political career

In the northern rebellion of 1569, Sir Cotton Gargrave commanded a force of 200 men from the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was elected Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge in 1571 and 1572. In 1583 he was appointed High Sheriff of Yorkshire.^[3] He was Custos Rotulorum of the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1584 to 1588. In his later years, he was forced to mortgage many of the extensive properties left him by his wealthy father.

Family

Gargrave married firstly Bridget Fairfax,^[4] daughter of Sir William Fairfax of Steeton, West Yorkshire, and High Sheriff of Yorkshire. He married secondly Anne Waterton, daughter of Sir Thomas Waterton of Walton and Sandal, Yorkshire.^[5]

Over the years, the Gargrave family earned what one observer called a reputation for romantic entanglements "remarkable for crime and misfortune." His wife became embroiled in lawsuits after his death. Thanks to ongoing lawsuits and ill-considered liaisons, "the whole family sunk into obscurity."^[6] His daughter, Elizabeth, married William Fenwick of Stanton, Northumberland.^[7] His son Thomas by his first wife was executed for the murder of a servant boy.^[8] His son Richard by his second wife inherited an enormous patrimony from the Gargrave estates in Yorkshire, but dissipated it by drinking, gambling and exravagence and was eventually reduced to riding with the pack horses and died with his head on a pack saddle in an old inn.^[9]

References

1. ^ The Pedigree of the Family of Gargrave, Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, Joseph Jackson Howard, 1868
2. ^ Walks in Yorkshire: Wakefield and its Neighbourhood, William Stott Banks, 1871.
3. ^ "History of Parliament". http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/gargrave-cotton-1540-88. Retrieved 2011-09-27. 
4. ^ The Visitations of Yorkshire in the years 1563 and 1564: made by William Flower, Esquire, Norroy King of Arms, Charles Best Norcliffe (ed.), London, 1881
5. ^ The Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons, James Alexander Manning, 1851
6. ^ Illustrations of British History, Biography and Manners, Edmund Lodge, 1838
7. ^ The Publications of the Surtees Society, Surtees Society, 1860
8. ^ Stately Homes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain - Nostell Priory
9. ^ History of Parliament Online - Richard Gargrave

External links

• Pedigree of the Family of Gargrave, Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica, Joseph Jackson Howard, 1868

Political offices
Preceded by Francis Wortley	Custos Rotulorum of the West Riding of Yorkshire 1584–1588	Succeeded by John Savile

Persondata
Name	Gargrave, Cotton
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1540
Place of birth
Date of death	1588
Place of death