Richard Gargrave
Encyclopedia
Sir Richard Gargrave was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 at various times between 1597 and 1609.

Gargrave was the son of Sir Cotton Gargrave and his second wife Agnes Waterton, daughter of Thomas Waterton of Walton. He was at Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...

 in about 1591 and at Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 in 1591. He succeeded to the family estates worth £3,500 p.a when his elder half-brother Thomas Gargrave was executed for the murder of a servant boy. The estates consisted of eleven manors and other property. In 1597, he was elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Aldborough
Aldborough (UK Parliament constituency)
Aldborough was a parliamentary borough located in the West Riding of Yorkshire, abolished in the Great Reform Act of 1832. Aldborough returned two Members of Parliament from 1558 until 1832....

. He was a J.P.
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for the West Riding of Yorkshire and was knighted in 1603. From 1604 to 1605 he was High Sheriff of Yorkshire
High Sheriff of Yorkshire
The High Sheriff of Yorkshire was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. A list of the sheriffs from the Norman conquest onwards can be found below...

. He was elected MP for Yorkshire
Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Yorkshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1290, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...

 in the 1604 parliament.

Gargrave was given to drinking and gambling. To fund his extravagance he gradually disposed of all his lands. "He who could once ride on his own land from Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

 to Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, was reduced at last to travel to London with the packhorses, and was found dead in an old hostelry, with his head upon a pack-saddle," wrote Richard Vickerman Taylor in his Yorkshire Anecdotes. Echoed the genealogical publisher John Burke
John Burke (genealogist)
John Burke was an Irish genealogist, and the original publisher of Burke's Peerage. He was the father of Sir Bernard Burke, a British officer of arms and genealogist....

: "The memory of his extravagance and his vices yet lingers about Kingsley."

Gargrave married Catherine Danvers, daughter of Sir John Danvers of Danby Castle and had two daughters.
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