page_title: Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 8th Baronet
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 8th Baronet / Politics
caption_attribution_description: English: The Triumphal Arch. A closer view of the Triumphal Arch on the Parlington Estate
context_page_description: Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 8th Baronet was born on 7 March 1745 on the Continent into a devout Catholic gentry family based in Yorkshire. Despite receiving a solid Catholic education at institutions in northern France and Italy, Gascoigne would later renounce his religion to become a Foxite Whig Member of Parliament. Prior to his apostasy he travelled extensively as a Grand Tourist throughout much of Spain, France and Italy in the company of the noted travel writer Henry Swinburne, who would later record their journeys in two popular travel guides Travels through Spain in the Years 1775 and 1776 and Travels in the Two Sicilies, 1777–1780. Together they gained close access to the leading courts of Europe, particularly in Spain and Naples. An honorary member of the Board of Agriculture, Gascoigne was an important advocate of agricultural reform as well as a considerable coal owner who helped pioneer technological developments in the extractive industries. He is emblematic of how movements within the Enlightenment were having a major influence on the attitudes, activities and outlook of many leading English Catholic gentry families in the period.
context_section_description: Upon returning to England, Gascoigne renounced his Roman Catholic religion in order to circumvent the penal laws and take a seat in Parliament. Alongside his Catholic friend, Charles Howard, Earl of Surrey, Sir Thomas renounced ‘the errors of the Church of Rome before the Archbishop of Canterbury’ on 4 June 1780. Evidence would suggest that his apostasy was motivated solely by his legal need to be an Anglican as a Member of Parliament rather than from any religious conviction. The date he apostatised purposefully coincided with George III birthday and both Gascoigne and Surrey had earlier been promised parliamentary seats by the Duke of Portland and the Marquess of Rockingham, who had recently bought the seat at Thirsk for which Gascoigne was returned on 12 September 1780. Indeed, privately, Gascoigne seems to have remained Catholic in sympathy throughout his life, continuing to support the Catholic mission in Yorkshire, and only publicly adopted Anglicanism because of the legal need to be an Anglican as an MP. 
  Gascoigne was a strong supporter of the cause of American Independence and built a commemorative arch to the American victory in the War of Independence, at the entrance to his Parlington Hall estate. The main frieze read 'Liberty in N. America Triumphant MDCCLXXXIII' and whilst it categorically supported the American cause, the arch also subtly indicated Gascoigne's approval of Rockingham who had vocally opposed both Lord North, and the war, in Parliament. The Parlington arch still stands and in 1975, on the advice of Nikolaus Pevsner, the British Government made unsuccessful enquiries into the possibility of gifting it to the United States of America to mark the bicentenary of American Independence.
  In parliament Gascoigne was a committed Foxite whig and loyal to the Wentworth–Woodhouse connection headed first by Rockingham, and after 1782 by the second Earl Fitzwilliam. At the general election of 1784 Fitzwilliam nominated Gascoigne to be the election manager for the York County election supporting the Foxites Francis Ferrand Foljambe and William Weddell fight against the Pittite candidates William Wilberforce and Henry Duncombe. Despite his best efforts the county election fell into chaos and Gascoigne's committee declined the poll the night preceding the election. Since December 1782 Gascoigne had been a member of Christopher Wyvill's Yorkshire Association, which agitated for parliamentary reform. Despite eagerly supporting the cause of reform Sir Thomas was forced to resign from the Association during the election when Wyvill came out strongly in support of William Pitt against Fox, nationally, and Fitzwilliam's Wentworth–Woodhouse connection locally in Yorkshire. During the election Gascoigne was offered the parliamentary seat at Malton, which he held until August 1784.
  Between February 1795 and May 1796 Gascoigne was elected MP for Arundel in the gift of his friend Charles Howard, now eleventh Duke of Norfolk (with whom he had earlier apostatised). Despite antagonisms during the Yorkshire election of 1784 Sir Thomas soon renewed his friendship with Christopher Wyvill and together they opposed the Treasonable Practices Act and Seditious Meetings Act (what became popularly known as 'the Two Acts'), with Gascoigne chairing a tumultuous meeting against both bills in York in December 1795. Gascoigne remained committed to Parliamentary reform and in 1797 worked closely with Wyvill in an attempt to revive the reform movement in Yorkshire; the attempt was unsuccessful as by the late 1790s both Wyvill and Gascoigne had lost what little political influence they once had.
  In 1788 Sir Thomas became a captain in the 1st West Riding militia, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1794, a position from which he resigned in 1798 in support of his patron, the Duke of Norfolk, who had been dismissed from the lord lieutenancy (and de facto command of the militia) for expressing Jacobin sentiments at a political dinner. Three months later Gascoigne took command of a new militia - the Barkston Ash and Skyrack Volunteers.
caption: Triumphal Arch at Parlington Hall, designed by Thomas Leverton and erected 1783.
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