MOSELEY, Thomas (c.1539-1624), of York.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1597

Family and Education

b. c.1539, 2nd s. of John Moseley of North Castle Grange, Cawthorne, Yorks. by his w. née Simpkinson. m. 9 Sept. 1578, Jane (d. Oct. 1632), da. of John Wormeley of Hatfield, Yorks., 1s. d.v.p.

Offices Held

Freeman, York 1574-5, chamberlain 1578-9, sheriff 1583-4, alderman Mar. 1589, ld. mayor 1590-1, 1602-3; gov. York merchant adventurers 1589, 1595-7,1608-10.

Biography

Moseley was left only a few pounds under his father’s will and was placed in the care of a kinsman, Alderman John Beane of York. Apprenticed to his uncle, Ralph Micklethwaite, he became first a member of the merchants’ company and then, by 1584, one of its agents in Hamburg. He served in every rank of the York corporation, and performed a varied range of duties for his city. In 1587 he was sent to London to obtain royal assistance for the York merchants against the Dunkirk pirates. Next year he was committed to ward for refusing to pay the poor rate, and was fined 13s.4d. for contempt of the mayor. This did not prevent his being elected alderman in March 1589, following which he became warden of Walmegat Ward, and an overseer of John Cheseman’s trade school for pauper children. He was put down for a £50 loan to the Queen in 1590, and was assessed to the subsidy at £26 in goods in 1598. During times of dearth he was head collector of poor relief.

Moseley made an unsuccessful attempt to get into Parliament in 1593, when he polled second place among the freemen or commons, with 29 voices, but was rejected by the city assembly. When the system of voting was changed in 1597, the votes of assembly and commons then being added together, he obtained second place out of nine candidates, defeating two former Members, Robert Brooke and Andrew Trewe. In 1601 he was beaten into third place but when one of the successful candidates withdrew, Moseley again failed to be elected. So far as is known he did not speak in the House, but he was appointed to a number of committees by virtue of his position as citizen for York—forestallers etc. (7 Nov. 1597), maltsters (9 Nov., 7 Dec., 12 Jan. 1598), monopolies (10 Nov. 1597), navigation (12 Nov.), cloth (18 Nov.), mariners (9 Dec.), the Exeter merchant guild (12 Dec.) and wine casks (3 Feb. 1598). He died in 1624.

York City Lib., Skaife mss; Foster, Vis. Yorks.1584-1612, p. 555; York house bks. passim; York Freemen (Surtees Soc. cii); York Mercers (Surtees Soc. cxxix), passim; York Civic Recs. passim; J.J. Cartwright, Chapters in Yorks. Hist. 372-4; E179/218/167; York chamberlain’s accts. 60, ff. 51, 119; D’Ewes, 552, 554, 555, 556, 558, 569, 570, 571, 578, 592; Yorks. Fines (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. v), 68, 178; (vii), 33, 50, 178; (viii), 104, 113, 116, 123, 149; (liii), 197; (lviii), 87, 155; Jordan, Charities of Rural England, 378.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: R.C.G.

Notes