Thomas Wentworth Esquire (abt. 1522 - 1574)

Born about 1522 in England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died 27 Mar 1574 at about age 52 in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England

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Biography

Thomas is generally believed to be the 3rd son of "Golden Thomas" Wentworth, though surviving documentary evidence seems to be lacking.

His wife Grace was a Gascoigne of Lasingcroft (distant cousins of the better-known Gascoignes of Gawthorpe).

Possibly around 1550, it appears that Thomas was appointed Bailiff of Scrooby. The "manor house" at Scrooby was a moated palace complex, one of the principal seats of the Archbishops of York, who were often noted for lavish hospitality and conspicuous consumption. (Later it would become the venue of the Brewster church for a year or two, before they decamped to the Netherlands.)

Apparently Thomas combined this office with that of Postmaster, responsible for changing the horses on the Great North Road mail traffic.

In 1555 Nicholas Heath, a favourite of Queen Mary, was installed by her as Archbishop of York. The opulence of Catholic bishops had been under Protestant scrutiny, but Heath was able to enrich his See considerably during his 4 years of office. It was at this time that the main hall, kitchen and gatehouse at Scrooby were demolished; perhaps the likeliest explanation is that Heath planned to rebuild on a grander scale. But Mary died, Heath was sent to the Tower, and Scrooby never recovered.

The end of the old order was further symbolised on Thomas's death, when his replacement in his posts was William Brewster sr, father of the Mayflower passenger. Most of what was left of the complex was demolished in 1623, with one house retained as a farmhouse (later misleadingly known as the "Manor House").

Meanwhile, the Gascoignes of Lasingcroft became notoriously Papist. They ran their domain near Leeds as a kind of Vatican client state and haven for recusants, and funded the training of Catholic priests for the "English mission".

Ironic then that Thomas and Grace's daughter Mary Wentworth was "identified" as the Mayflower passenger Mary Brewster, William jr's wife. This theory was popular enough to be carved in stone on a memorial by the Mayflower Society, but seems to be without foundation.

Sources

See also:

• Visitation of Suffolk, page 79 ("Thomas, third son")
• Listed Buildings describes Scrooby manor house and what's left of it - a farmhouse later converted into two cottages. Photo here of the said farmhouse.
• Archbishop Heath.
• Will.^{[citation needed]}
• Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900; The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA: 1999; Requires international Ancestry.com subscription to access
• Venn, J. A., comp., Alumni Cantabrigienses, London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922-1954
• "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch ( : accessed 8 October 2012), entry for Thomas (Esquire) WENTWORTH Bailiff

From a merged-in profile:

He supposedly married about 1560 Grace Gasoline and had:

1. Thomas Wentworth

From another:

Thomas Wentworth died 14 FEB 1587 in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England

(This is the DoD of his nephew, Thomas Wentworth of Wentworth and Gawthorpe.)

Acknowledgments

• Tracy McDonald created WikiTree profile Wentworth-671 through the import of McDonaldGedcom.aspx.ged on Jun 24, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Tracy and others.
• Source: S-2135054979 Repository: #R-2144611737 Title: Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. Page: Ancestry Family Trees Note: Data: Text: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=475790&pid=1778
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