others

OTHER RECUSANT FAMILIES IN GENERAL

What has already been written concerns those families whose 'obstinate papism' incurred such official wrath both civil and ecclesiastical, and others who joined them later on due to the missionary endeavour of Fr. Postgate and his successors.

There were some however, who fell by the wayside, whose early obstinacy was worn into compliance by the rigours of the law. The failure to narrate something about them would be remiss.

Among those whose names disappeared from the local recusant lists were:-

It is strange to note the name Postgate in this respect, yet saving the possibility of the family dying out or moving away from the district, there seems to be no members of that family left. This of course could also explain the presence of the other names above.

The Whitfields were well represented in the early lists and devided family loyalties were apparent since one Margaret or rather Margery, the wife of Christopher was presented at Helmsley in 1608 'for reviling Thomas Whitfield, Constable in the execution of his duty'. John the Egton yeoman and his family officially 'conformed' in 1616 though other members of the family persevered until 'Francis and Ann poor' were entered in 1735 and thereafter the family ceases to be mentioned.

The Simpsons were shoemakers of Egton, the young men of which family were associated with one Robert of Staithes, perhaps thier uncle, in the formation of an itinerant band of players. They performed in the homes of the gentry over a wide area and were very much in demand. Providing a home-made interlude ridiculing religious establishment, they were dispersed, and one of the family hid himself away at Hunt House Goathland for the rest of his life. It was with this group that the future martyr spent his early years before entering the priesthood.

Henry and Isabel Dale and their daughter Dorothie lived at 'Okebar Holme' in 1603. Ann Dale a widoe was on the 1635 list for Egton, whilst Joseph and Elizabeth his wife found themselves on that of 1674. John Dayle appeared at Ugthorpe in 1691, and John a butcher in 1735 on the Lythe list. A Gabriel Dale was well known in Ugthorpe where Jane and her children George and Christine where recusants in 1790. Fr. Hervey officiated at the marriage John and Ann 1735 being dispensed from an impediment of consanguinity in the process. They lived at Glaisdale where their first child Mary was born having three fingers missing from her left-hand.

Margaret Mead a widow was on the Egton list for 1753. Thomas Mead who married ? Jackson at Lythe on May 16th 1775, lived at Barnby and produced a family many of whose daughters married local papists, but the idea persists that they were not so themselves.

John Dale of Ugthorpe apparently married Jane the daughter of Cuthbert Hodgson of the same village, and his children John, Ann, Bridget, Gabriel and William Dale were presented with him in 1691. No connection, as yet has been found between this John and John of Glaisedale above who may well be the father-in-law of 51 Henry Harrison of Redmires. John of Glaisdale, that is.

Information relating to the remaining families above listed has not been obtained.

It is the hope of the author that the foregoing narratives will be of use in extending research into the historical background of this small part of our country and that it will fit in with that wider study which is currently being undertaken on many levels. The steady erosion of Christian values under the relentless attack of secular humanism made it imperative that the values which sustained our forbears in the past should never be allowed to pass into oblivion, but must be reiterated and re-emphasized time and time again.