Thomas Layton Esq. (abt. 1526 - 1584)

Born about 1526 in Sexhow, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 22 Dec 1584 at about age 58 in Sexhow, Yorkshire, England

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Biography

Thomas Layton of Sexhow was born at Rudby-In-Cleveland, Yorkshire, about 1526, son of Thomas and Muriel (Linley) Layton;^[1][2] and died 22 December 1583. He married at Gisburne, Yorkshire, about 1551, Elizabeth Metcalfe,^[3] daughter of Sir James and Margaret (Pigot) Metcalfe of Nappa, Yorkshire by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Pigott of Clotheram.^[4]

Thomas Layton, Esq., of Skutterskelf; aged 21 years 31 October 31 Henry VIII [ca. 1539] seised in reversion as of his inheritance of the castle and manor of Siggeston. By indenture dated 15 February 2 Elizabeth [ca. 1560], he released to Sir Christopher Metcalf, Knt., certain lands in Wynton near Siggeston, who in consideration thereof quitclaimed all his right in that part of the inheritance of Sir Ranulph Pygot, Knt., deceased, which belonged to the said Thomas, all of which said lands being held by Francis Neville, Esq., and Lady Elizabeth his wife; late wife of Sir Charles Brandon, Knt., for the lifetime of said Elizabeth; sold the manor of Melmorby 9 Elizabeth [ca. 1567]; purchased the manor of Hutton-juxta-Rudby, 10 Elizabeth [ca. 1568] and in the same year he purchased the manor of East Laton; purchased the manor of Braitwaithe from Robert Laton of Sexhow, with divers land etc.; seised of lands in Thoralby, Skutterskelf, Brumpton, etc.; sold the manor of East Laton to John Laton of East Laton, 13 Elizabeth [ca. 1571]. By deed dated 20 July 21 Elizabeth [ca. 1579] he feoffed Christopher Preston of Howleacre, co. Lancaster, Robert Laton of Aukland, co. Durham, and John Laton of East Laton, in trust to use of Elizabeth his wife his wife for her lifetime, with remainder to Charles Layton his eldest son and heir apparent, in fee tail; ob. 22 December 30 Elizabeth [1583]. He married Elizabeth [daughter of Sir Christopher Metcalfe of Nappa, co. York, Knight sic].^[5]

"Exactly 450 years ago, the Rising of the North or Northern Rebellion of 1569 was reaching its crisis...In Cleveland, Thomas Layton of Sexhow was a Queen's man and he played a part in the suppression of the Rising. And when you travel along the road between Hutton Rudby and Stokesley, remember the man from the tiny hamlet of Braworth who was hanged there for his role in the Rebellion."^[6]

Thomas Layton was Lord of Skutterskelfe and Sexhow. In 1567, a Robert Layton claimed the manor of East Layton, against his relative, Thomas Layton, who seemed to represent the interest of Robert Layton. The arbitrators decided that £400 should be given by one to the other claimant. However, both the said parties were very desirous to pay, but not to depart with the land, whereupon the following equitable arbitrations were made: Robert Layton came to the land as heir to his father, but Thomas was to have it himself and his heirs and pay Robert £4000.^[7] Thomas was seised of the manor at Seamer in 1578, which he received in 1565.^[8]

History of Parliament biography

• LAYTON, Thomas I (1520-84), of Sexhow, Yorkshire.
• Constituency
  • Dates BEVERLEY 1571; NORTHUMBERLAND 1572
• Family and Education

b. 1520, first son of Thomas Layton of Thornton le Street by Muriel, daughter and coheir of Thomas Lindley of Skutterskelfe. He was educated at Gray's Inn in 1547. He married by 1551, Elizabeth, daughter of James Metcalf of Nappa; second son, he succeeded his father in 1536.^[9]

• Offices Held

Attorney-gen. co. palatine of Durham 1561; chancellor, bishopric of Durham 1562-c.72; j.p. co. Durham from c.1562, custos. rot. by 1574; j.p. Yorkshire (North Riding) from c.1562, Northumberland from c.1574.

• Biography

Layton was a member of a cadet branch of a family which had, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, established several branches in the Cleveland district of the North Riding. Though he inherited a small estate in Hutton from his father, and was also heir to his mother’s share in a considerably larger estate, Layton adopted a legal career. In 1561 Bishop Pilkington, recently appointed to Durham, made him clerk to the justices of assize in Durham, clerk of the peace in Durham and Sedburgh, clerk of the chancery and attorney general of the county palatine, with an annuity of £14. Later in the year he was appointed to keep the hallmote courts, in the absence of Robert Mennell, his kinsman, and Michael Wandisforde, and in the following year became temporal chancellor to the bishop. As an important official in the county, Layton subsequently appears on local commissions, particularly piracy commissions. His protestantism—for which the bishop commended him in 1564—doubtless played some part in his appointment, but Layton also seems to have been a personal friend of the bishop, in whose will he was appointed supervisor of all the bishop’s goods north of the Thames. Layton also acted for the Crown: in 1563 he was prosecutor at a gaol delivery. It is probable that he maintained a considerable private practice, since a servant of Leonard Dacre recalled 20 years later that Dacre had frequently consulted him in his affairs.^[10]

During the northern rebellion of 1569 Layton remained loyal. On 17 Nov. he rode through the night to the Earl of Sussex to warn him that Christopher Neville was calling out the Westmorland tenants in Cleveland. He was subsequently given a commission to levy men in the neighbourhood and march to Hartlepool. After the rising had collapsed he took part in the proceedings against the rebels.^[11]

The council in the north would doubtless favour the return of such a protestant to Parliament, and for this reason it is assumed that this was the man who sat in 1571 for Beverley, where the council in the north was then influential. Layton was an active committeeman in both his Parliaments. In 1571 he served on the bill against great hosen (14 May), and on one probably concerning the navy (25 May). In the long Parliament of 1572 he was on several legal committees (25 June 1572, 25 Feb. 1576, 8 Mar. 1576, 17 and 20 so Feb. 1581) and several concerning social questions: the poor (11 Feb. 1576), excess of apparel (10 Mar. 1576), bigamy (31 Jan. 1581), wool and yarn (13 Feb. 1581). In addition he served on the ports bill committee (13 Feb. 1576), and on others concerning pistols (17 Feb. 1576), leather (18 Feb. 1576), supply (25 Jan. 1581), the clerk of the market (27 Jan. 1581), wrecks (30 Jan. 1581), Carlisle (27 Feb. 1581) and Dover harbour (4 Mar. 1581).^[12]

By 1573 Layton had given up the chancellorship of Durham but he became custos rotulorum for the county and remained prominent in local affairs until his death. The success of his career is reflected in the considerable expansion of his estates. While many of his land transactions are shrouded in the obscurity of legal devices, his main activities can be clearly seen. He reunited to his mother’s estates the remaining two thirds of the Lindley inheritance, and also enlarged his wife’s inheritance from her mother. In 1567 he bought the original family manors of Sexhow and Brawarth from his cousin Robert, who was selling all his estates. In 1577 he settled the manors of Seamer and Sigston on his heir, Charles, probably on the occasion of his marriage; an estate which comprised less than a third of his property. Not all his transactions may have been due to self interest; his dealings with the manor of East Layton remain obscure but seem to have been for the benefit of his kinsman, not himself, despite the fact that it was ultimately returned to his son. Layton died 22 Dec. 1584 and was probably buried at Rudby in Cleveland with his ancestors.^[13][14]

Children: i. Charles Layton of Sexhow m1. Ann Preston (dau of Christopher Preston of Holker by Elizabeth (sb Margaret?) Southworth) m2. (27.02.1595) Maria Milner (bur 01.03.1653, dau of Thomas Milner of Skutterskelfe) a. Sir Thomas Layton of Sexhow and 'of Estlayton' (b 1597, bur 27.02.1651) m. Mary Fairfax (dau of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Walton by Catherine, dau of Sir Henry Constable) (1) Sir Thomas Layton of Sexhow (d before 22.01.1680) m. Anna (2) Mary Layton (bur 21.11.1657) m. Sir Henry Foulis, Bart of Ingleby Manor (b 1607, bur 11.10.1643) (3) Katherine Layton (bpt 13.12.1618) possibly (but note that this is an assumption) the Catherine (dau of Sir Thomas 'of Layton') who married ... m. John Eden of West Auckland (d 1675) (4)+ other issue - Charles (b 05.04.1655), Margaret b. Brian Layton m1. (23.11.1662) Alice Turner (dau of John Turner of Kirkleatham, widow of Richard Seaton of Skinningrove) m2. (27.05.1673) Catherine (Mrs. Dawson) c. Robert Layton ii. Thomas Layton (a 1567) m. Clara Thwaites (dau of Christopher Thwaites of Marton)

Sources

1. ↑ "Laton of Sexho in Comm. Ebor," Charles Henry Hunter Blair and Frederick Walter Dendy, Visitations of the North, or, Some Early Heraldic Visitations of, and Collections of Pedigrees relating to, the North of England, part 4, The Publications of the Surtees Society vol. 146 (Newcastle: Northumberland Press Ltd., 1932), p. 26, found at FamilySearch.
2. ↑ "Laton of Sexhow," Joseph Foster (ed.), The Visitation of Yorkshire, Made in the Years 1584-85: To which is Added the Subsequent Visitation made in 1612, by Richard St. George, Norry King of Arms: with Several Additional Pedigrees (1875), p. 540, "Visitation of Yorkshire in 1612," found at FamilySearch and Archive.org.
3. ↑ Joseph Gillow, A Literary and Biographical History or Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics from 1534, vol. 4 (London: Burns & Oates, Ltd., 1885), p. 191, found at Google Books.
4. ↑ "Metcalfe of Nappa," Sir William Dugdale, John William Clay (eds.), Dugdale's Visitation of Yorkshire, with Additions, vol. 2 (Exeter: W. Pollard & Co., 1899), p. 122, found at Archive.org.
5. ↑ "Pedigree of the Family of Layton of East Layton," George Henry De Strabolgie Neville Plantagenet Harrison, The History of Yorkshire [Wapentake of Gilling West] (London & Aylesbury: Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ltd., 1885), p. 529, found at FamilySearch.
6. ↑ "The Rising of the North" (29 Nov. 2019), North Yorkshire Blogspot, found at North Yorkshire blogspot.
7. ↑ "Parishes: Stanwick St. John", William Page (ed.), A History of the County of York North Riding: vol. 1 (London, 1914), pp. 127-134, found at British History Online.
8. ↑ "Parishes: Seamer", William Page (ed.), A History of the County of York North Riding: vol. 2 (London, 1923), pp. 291-293, found at British History Online.
9. ↑ J. Graves, History of Cleveland, 171, 172; C142/51/61; 57/65; 64/122.
10. ↑ DKR, xxxvii. App. 1, 71, 72, 73, 80, 82; CPR, 1560-3, passim; 1563-6, passim; Cam. Misc. ix(3), pp. 66, 71; CSP Dom. Add. 1547-65, p. 572; APC, vii. 284; Surtees Soc. xxxviii. 9; E134/Mich. 32 and 33 Eliz./21.
11. ↑ CSP Dom. Add. 1566-79, pp. 110, 131; Sharp, Memorials of the Rebellion, 160, 186, 240; J. J. Cartwright, Chapters in Yorks. Hist. 68.
12. ↑ CJ, i. 89, 93, 102, 105, 106, 108, 112, 113, 120, 121, 125, 127, 128, 130, 131; D’Ewes, 183, 189, 224, 247, 254, 288, 289, 290, 295, 298, 299.
13. ↑ Yorkshire Fines (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. ii), 183, 186, 267, 310, 312, 313, 338, 361, 362, 368; (v), 3, 12, 47, 48, 57, 132, 176; C142/207/93; 367/93; VCH Yorks. N. Riding, i. 75, 86, 94, 101, 130, 131, 132, 135, 151, 158, 179, 223, 275, 309, 374, 407, 436, 458, 494; ii. 265, 284, 287, 289, 292; CPR, 1563-6, 285, 309.
14. ↑ "LAYTON, Thomas I (1520-84), of Sexhow, Yorks.," fromHistory of Parliament Online.

• P. W. Hasler, The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (1981), Available from Boydell and Brewer, found at History of Parliament Online
• The details given in the 1575 Visitation [Visitations of the North, or, Some Early Heraldic Visitations of, and Collections of Pedigrees relating to, the North of England, The Publications of the Surtees Society vol. 146, part 4 (Newcastle: Northumberland Press Ltd., 1932), p. 26, found at FamilySearch by Thomas's son, the lawyer Thomas Layton (1520-1584), while wildly inaccurate as to the Lindleys' pedigree, are very detailed as to his near relations. I believe they are likely to be to be the most accurate on the question of his siblings and his father's family. He stated that his father was the son of William Layton of Newsham in Yorkshire and Margery, daughter of Thomas Mountford of Hackforth in Richmondshire, and that he was the brother of John Layton of Snape, near Bedale. John is thought [cf The History of Parliament] to have been auditor to John Nevill, 4th Lord Latimer, the stepson of Queen Catherine Parr.
• "Thomas Milner of Skutterskelfe: the life & times of a Tudor gentleman" blog at North Yorkshire blogspot.