Misc. Ancestors RAWSON

  General Notes:

Rawson, William 1545 Bradford,,Yorkshire,England
Rawson, William 1510 Bradford,,Yorkshire,England

https://books.google.pt/books?id=jJFIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=William+Rawson+of+Fryston&source=bl&ots=ysFPBW5UEN&sig=_AaM3thVoJAbZwmNWSBgCjuWUvY&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiN79DNhOfOAhUSM8AKHQ0uB9UQ6AEIJDAB#v=onepage&q=William%20Rawson%20of%20Fryston&f=false

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rawson,_1st_Viscount_Clontarf
He came from a family which had long been settled at Fryston village in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His father, Richard Rawson, moved to London, where he became an alderman and a warden of the Mercers' Company. John's mother, Isabella Craford, died in 1497. He had at least one brother Richard (died 1543), who was a royal chaplain.

A Richard Rawson was Sheriff of London in 1476

http://www.mygen.com/users/outlaw/Outlawe_History_in_Ireland.htm
The next most important Prior of Kilmainham was John Rawson. Rawson was born in Yorkshire in England in 1470. He joined the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in 1497. He was appointed prior of Kilmainham 1511. In 1517 he was elevated to the position of Treasurer of Ireland.

Rawson's tenure at Kilmainham coincided with the reign of Henry VIII. In September 1529 Prior Rawson became part of Henry VIII's special and secret Council of Three Ministers. In addition to the Prior of Kilmainham, the Council included the Chancellor and Archbishop of Dublin, John Alen and the Chief Justice, Patrick Bermingham.

The final phase in the history of the Irish Hospitallers at Kilmainham took place amid the political upheaval of the Kildare rebellion and the subsequent programme of political and ecclesiastical reform introduced by Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell.

Throughout this period the fate of Kilmainham and the Irish priory was placed in the hands of John Rawson. Rawson was one of the few ministers to remain loyal to the crown during the Kildare rebellion. In fact, the castle at Kilmainham came under attack from the forces of Silken Thomas in 1532.

From the crown inquisitions taken at Kilmainham's dissolution, reference is made to "a barn with stone walls the roof of which Thomas Fitzgerald, rebel and traitor, about six years ago burned and destroyed with all the grain there". Events in Ireland were affected by the political crisis in England arising from Henry VIII's divorce In 1536, a Bill for the "suppression of certain monasteries" was put before parliament.

This was the beginning of a campaign of dissolution that would not end until 1540. The final casualty would be Kilmainham. The early targets of the royal commissioners were the smaller monasteries in outlying areas. However, Sir William Brabazon, the undertreasurer, as early as autumn 1536, recognised the potential value of the wealthier Dublin monasteries, including Kilmainham. Brabazon's reason for not pressing for its immediate suppression was that he thought it would be better to wait until the death of the ageing Prior Rawson.

Brabazon again suggested in 1537 that the closure of the bigger monasteries with a yearly revenue of 2,000 marks would go towards the support of the army. Included in the proposal was the suggestion that the Knights Hospitallers' land should be confiscated. John Alen suggested that Rawson should retire to an estate he held in England.

However Rawson was reluctant to do so. Kilmainham was the last monastery to be surrendered. It was surrendered on the 12th November 1540 "by Sir John Rawson, Knight, the Prior, with the consent of his confreres". He was awarded a crown pension of 500 marks.

Misc. married.