View source for Thomas Lascelles (1624–1658)

{{For|other persons with the same name|Thomas Lascelles (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
'''Thomas Lascelles''' (variously spelled both '''Lascelles''' and '''Lassells''') (c. 1624 – c. 1658) was an officer in the Commonwealth's army and a landowner, responsible for [[Mount Grace Priory|Mount Grace Charterhouse]], one of the few extant buildings from the period of the English Commonwealth.
== Early life ==
Lascelles was born in 1624, the son of William Lascelles and Elizabeth Wadeson.<ref>LDS genealogical department medieval families unit</ref> His brother was [[Francis Lascelles]], who was an MP for the constituency of Northallerton<ref>[[Northallerton (UK Parliament constituency)#1640-1832|Northallerton Constituency]]</ref> and was involved in the trial of [[Charles I of England|Charles the First]].<ref name=NM-1789>[[Mark Noble (biographer)|Mark Noble]] (1798). ''The Lives of the English Regicides: And Other Commissioners of the Pretended'', J. Stockdale.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=v_1HAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA375 Page 375]</ref>
== Army Service ==
During the Commonwealth period, Thomas was a captain in the army of Parliament (a Parliamentary note making it clear he had been in service since 1644) and served under [[Thomas Harrison (soldier)|Major General Thomas Harrison]] during the 1650s.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=24143&strquery=%22Thomas%20Lassells%22#s7 British History Online]</ref> He may well be the same man responsible for the capture on 1 April 1650 of Royalist privateer Captain Joseph Constant and his 30-man Dutch crew.  After Constant's being sighted off the Yorkshire coast by a local fisherman, Lassells and Robert Colman led an attack party which surprised and captured them.<ref>Leyland, John. ''The Yorkshire Coast and the Cleveland Hills and Dales''. London: Seeley & Company, 1892. (pg. 212-213)</ref>
== Mount Grace Priory ==
In 1654 Thomas acquired [[Mount Grace Priory|Mount Grace Charterhouse]] and transformed part of the western range of the outer court into a house.<ref>A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2, Wm Page (Ed)</ref> This remains as a rare example of Commonwealth building in the UK.
== Death ==
Thomas died in or soon after 1658, as emerges from a 1672 inheritance dispute between his widow Ruth and their grandson, also named Thomas Lascelles, who was the heir of Mount Grace.<ref>[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C5202198 Chancery Proceeding C6/64/61, The National Archives, Kew]</ref>
== References ==
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[[Category:1620s births]]
[[Category:1658 deaths]]
[[Category:Roundheads]]
[[Category:Lascelles family|Thomas]]
[[Category:17th-century English landowners]]