Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/207

 12 s. ix. AUG. 27, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 165 at Bologna (printed in Mrs. Merrifi eld's 4 Original Treatises,' p. 334.) It is custom- ary amongst glass- painters at the present day to keep a muller specially for gold purple, in order to prevent this delicate colour from being soiled. " To S* Thomas Pille," evidently son of Richard Pille, his workman or partner, William Thompson bequeathed xx d, re- questing his prayers on his behalf, and to Rauf Beckwith, probably father of the " Mr. Beckwith n who supplied " 4 whyspe of Bur- goine glasse "to the minster in 1577 (York Minster Fabric Rolls, Surtees Soc.), he be- queathed his " battell axe." A William Beckwith, probably another member of the same family, paid for a window in St. Michael -le-Belfrey Church in 1530 (Drake, ' Hist, of York,' large ed., p. 344). Mention of weapons of offence and defence similar to the above, which throws light upon the social position of the medieval glass- painter, is made in the will of William Inglish (free 1450, died 1480), where we read of " i jak, 1 salet, 1 ax, and gauntelettes." whilst Sir John Petty (free 1470, died 1508), probably because of his position as Lord Mayor of the city, possessed quite a small armoury, including "a white crose, a salet w* harnes for ye slevys, a fald of male, a gorget and a hawberd, a breist plait, sieves of male, wt a battil axe and a salett " ( Vide ' X. & Q.,' ante, p. 63). William Thompson made Agnes his wife his sole executrix and residuary legatee, with Richard Pille as supervisor, who received " v* for his panes." Witnesses : Richard Pille, Ambrose Dun with, and four more who are mentioned by name " with other moo " who are not. Probate granted Feb. 20, 1539-40. John Thompson, glasier, 1564. Charge for scrutation. Act. Book, fol. 23, catalogued in Wills in the York Registry (Yorks. Archaeol. Soc., Record Series, vol. xi.). Evidently another member of the same family, but of whom nothing more is known. Robertus Thomson, glasyer. Free of the city 1564. Wife, Ann. Son, Robert, tapi- tour. Free 1598. Daughters, Margaret, Mary, and Ann. His brother Roger Thomson (free 1580 and who died some time before Robert Thomson's decease in 1620) was also a glass-painter. These two were probably the sons or grandsons of Nicholas Thomson, whom William Thomson (free 1496, died 1539) mentions in his will, or of the Richard Thomson (free in 1492). Robert Thomson made his will June 19, 1620, desiring to be buried " near where my brother Roger Thompson (free 1580) and other of my friends have bene buried. 35 To his daughter Mar- garet " one silver bowle and two silver spoones." To his daughter Mary xl" and to Ann xx 8 . " To the poore within Bou- thome ward iij s iiijd." In his will he makes no mention of his son Robert, who, twenty- two years previously, viz., in 1598, had become free of the city as a tapitour, i.e., a maker of tapestries and coverlets, a trade which at one time flourished in York, and who had no doubt by that time become independent. He made his wife Ann his sole executrix of his will (Reg. D. and C. Ebor., v. 244), which was witnessed by three persons, none of whom is known to have been a glass- painter, and was proved Feb. 5, 1620. Robert Thomson's business was evidently continued by his nephew, " Georgius Thomp- son, glasier, fil. Rogeri Thompson, glasier,' 1 free of the city in 1613, and we can reason- ably suppose that, unless anything untoward happened, it would be still in existence thirty or more years after this date. The history of the Thomson firm thus well over- laps that of the Gyles family, which extended from the year 1578, when Nicholas Gyles was free of the city, until the death of his grand- son, Henry Gyles, in 1709. JOHN A. KNOWLES. A LIGHTFOOT BRANCH. THE earliest record I can find of the branch of the family with which this paper deals concerns one Richard Light foot , bom in 1562, who became rector of Stoke Bruerne, in North- amptonshire, in 1601, until his death in 1625. He married Jane Aske, daughter of Robert Aske, citizen and goldsmith of London, and a member of the ancient family of Aske, of Aught on, Yorkshire, who were leaders in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Richard was buried in his church, and a memorial tablet in it is inscribed *. Memoriae Bicardi Ldghtfoot hujus ecclesiae per xxin annos Rectoris, evangelii praeconis, J. L. Filius et heres suus posuit. Pascentem exemplo populum yerboque ciboque, Mors suggressa levi est non inopina pede Vita brevis nam longa fuit meditatio mortis, Sic alios docuit vivere, seq : mori. Dom 1625. Obiit Anno Aet suae 63. The above is on a small brass in a freestone slab, and represents a priest kneeling at an