George Plaxton (circa 1648—1720) was a Church of England clergyman of Yorkshire minor gentry origins, who held benefices in the West Midlands and Yorkshire. As an antiquarian and early ethnographer he was noted for his close observation of rural life in Shropshire and interest in archeology, as well as for his friendship and correspondence with Ralph Thoresby and his circle. As an estate manager, he was important in helping to enable the rise to wealth and prominence of the Leveson-Gower family.
Origins Plaxton was a Yorkshireman, born at Wressle in the East Riding. His parents were Beatrice (née Akeroyd) and William Plaxton. In George Plaxton's Cambridge University record, his father is described as "gent. of Wressel". However, a William Plaxton, who was almost certainly George's father, has his own entry in Alumni Cantabrigiensis, the Cambridge University database, where he is described as Esq. of Pocklington, and still living in 1655. The places are not far apart and both titles suggest William was of the minor gentry. William matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge in 1622 but there is no record of his graduation. There is nothing to indicate William was a clergyman, either in his university record or in the Clergy of the Church of England database, which only mentions him in repeating George's Cambridge record. However both Cambridge University and the Church of England have a record for another William Plaxton, a generation older, a student at St John's 1597–1602, who was ordained both priest and deacon in 1607 and was Rector of Rossington in the West Riding 1614–1652. On chronological grounds, he could be George's grandfather or great uncle, although evidence is lacking. More plausibly, Henry Plaxton of Scrayingham, born c. 1636, who was educated at Pocklington School and St John's and held a series of benefices near York and along the Humber, looks like at least a close relative of George.
Education
At least four Plaxtons registered at St John's College, some after Pocklington School and this could be more than just a family tradition. George Plaxton was certainly educated at Pocklington before admission to St John's, which had overall control of the school. Pocklington School had originated in a guild founded by John Dowman, in honour of St Mary and St Nicholas, under a licence issued in May 1514. In 1525 the founder granted lands to the college in order to secure scholarships there for five Pocklington boys. The college then rescued the school from oblivion and reconstituted it after the Dissolution of Colleges Act 1547. From 1552 the college held the school's original endowment, as patron of the corporation which was its governing body until 1875. This link between school and college probably explains why George and other Yorkshire Plaxtons went to St John's to complete their education. Plaxton's record in Alumni Cantabrigiensis gives the head's name at the time as Mr Elettson.
George Plaxton matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge, in 1666. The college was in a phase of its history described by the Victoria County History as "Anglican and Tory," which succinctly describes George Plaxton's religious and political orientation. Since the Stuart Restoration in 1660 the college had been under the mastership of Peter Gunning. He had been reinstated at the college as its master after having been expelled from it in 1643 for preaching against the Solemn League and Covenant, a formative and bitter experience at the hands of Puritans that now dictated its future course for several generations. Plaxton graduated BA in 1670 and on 29 May of that year was ordained deacon at York. His institution record at Sheriffhales. and Kynnersley show that he had received his MA by July 1673.
Early clerical career
Plaxton joined the Leveson Gower household on 6 June 1670, only a week after his ordination as deacon. He was instituted vicar of St Mary's Church, Sheriffhales, on 8 July 1673 by Bishop Thomas Wood. He was presented by William Leveson Gower, but he was not inducted into the benefice until 12 November.The Register of Sheriffhales, p. 82–83 Four days later he stood before his congregation to make the statutory declaration of assent and consent to the liturgy and doctrine of the Church of England. Between his institution and his induction at Sheriffhales, on 20 October, Plaxton had been instituted and admitted as Rector of Kynnersley, a few miles north-west of Sheriffhales on the Weald Moors. Here too his patron was William Leveson Gower. Plaxton was to retain the rectory of Kynnersley throughout and beyond his time as vicar of Sheriffhales.
Plaxton seems to have resided mainly at Sheriffhales for more than a decade, as that is where his marriage took place and most of his children were born. However, Arthur Michell, one of his successors as vicar, was uncomplimentary on his record keeping, referring to "G. Plaxton, who from 1679 to 1690 failed to make proper entries" in the parish registers.The Register of Sheriffhales, p. viii He did at least make a proper entry for his own marriage, to Alice Perratt at St Mary's Sheriffhales on 29 September 1677.The Register of Sheriffhales, p. 86 The Perratt or Perrat family were from York and evidently made a close connection with the Plaxtons, as later a Thomas Perrott was to marry George and Alice's daughter Anastasia. William, son of George and Alice Plaxton, was baptised on 29 December 1678.The Register of Sheriffhales, p. 88 However, another son named William was recorded as baptised on 6 December 1679The Register of Sheriffhales, p. 89 This is all the Sheriffhales parish register tells of the Plaxton family but this is the period when George Plaxton's carelessness left large gaps in the record. Later, after he left Sheriffhales for Donington Plaxton had some family details inserted into the register of St Cuthbert's Church there. There are listed William, born in 1678 but recorded as baptised on 26 December; Jane, who was born in December 1679 (casting doubt on the second William) but died young in 1685; young George, born in 1681; John, who was born on 12 March 1683 and baptised immediately because he seemed so weak; Anastasia, born on Easter Day in 1686; Anna, born in 1688. All of these were actually born at Sheriffhales, although there is no mention of them in the register there, except for William. Only Charles was born at Donington, on 3 February 1690, and baptised on 3 March.The Register of Donington, p. 52. The register for Kynnersley might tell more of the story, but it seems not to have been published.
It seems that at some point in Plaxton's ministry at Sheriffhales a need was felt to improve access to the parish church. A list near the back of a register book shows that both Plaxton himself and his patron, William Leveson Gower, were among those who donated towards the cost of a causeway.The Register of Sheriffhales, p. 232 Plaxton himself also gave the church two flagons made of pewter and a paten or communion plate for the "Communion Table," noticeably avoiding use of the term altar.
Political interventions
From at the latest his time at university, Plaxton was a Tory. This was true of William Leveson Gower, the patron of St Mary's, but only for some of the time. Leveson Gower was a Yorkshireman by birth, born at the Gower family seat, Stittenham, near Sheriff Hutton. His acquaintance with Plaxton probably began in his school days, as he too attended Pocklington School, and was of about the same age as Plaxton. J R Wordie, historian of the management of the Leveson Gower estates, describes Plaxton's relationship with the fourth baronet as "more that of a respectful friend than an employee," but also concedes that their professional relationship before 1689 was "obscure." He does, however, later recognise that William Leveson Gower was "reckoned to be a Whig throughout the 1680s." The History of Parliament entry for William Leveson Gower, published a year after Wordie's book, gives a fuller picture of his political commitments in this period, which covered such momentous events as the Exclusion issue and the Glorious Revolution. During Leveson Gower's swing to the Whigs, Plaxton made at least two important political interventions that revealed the gulf between them.
Although initially a supporter of Charles II and reviled for it by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, a key leader of the Whig opposition, the succession issue divided Leveson Gower from his Tory associates. The Whigs were in favour of legislation to ensure that the king's Catholic brother, James, Duke of York, could never succeed him. This had the support of most nonconformists, as well as self-consciously Protestant Anglicans, like Leveson Gower, who proclaimed that: "Nothing less than a firm union among all Protestants in this nation can be sufficient" Early in 1682 he was named as a supporter of dissenters and on 29 March 1682 Leoline Jenkins, Secretary of State, wrote to the Bishop of Lichfield's secretary offering up to £10 to recruit informers to keep Leveson Gower under surveillance, recommending the former MP for Stafford, Walter Chetwynd, whom Leveson Gower himself had nominated in the county seat in the previous general election. Communication was to be through the office of Owen Wynne, Jenkins' confidential secretary. A network of spies began to envelope Leveson Gower and his friends. As early as 4 April, a rumour mill had been set in motion: a spy's charge that he was stockpiling arms was supplemented by the entirely groundless accusation of Freemasonry.
Leveson Gower certainly courted notoriety. When the Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son and the Whig candidate for the succession, made a northward progress to Chester in early September 1682, Leveson Gower received and entertained him at Trentham On Monmouth's return southward on 19 September, Leveson Gower repeated his hospitality, accompanying him to Stafford. There the Duke received a rapturous reception but was then arrested on the king's orders. Leveson Gower was among those who offered to stand bail for him at that point and he renewed the offer after Monmouth was interviewed by Justice Raymond.
This political shift placed Leveson Gower and George Plaxton on opposite sides. The discovery of the Rye House Plot of 1683 created a critical situation. Leveson Gower had allowed a dissenting academy, intended to circumvent the ban on university education for nonconformists, to open in the Sheriffhales manor house, a very short distance west of St. Mary's. It's master, John Woodhouse came under intense pressure after the discovery of the plot and Plaxton wrote a damning character reference for him, which he sent in October to George Weld, a deputy lieutenant of Shropshire, although it soon landed, as was intended, on Secretary Jenkins' desk.
Plaxton went on to welcome the accession of James II not merely from the pulpit but in print. He is generally assumed to be the author of The Loyal Speech of G. Plaxtone, MA, upon the Proclamation of King James II, which appeared under his name and mentions the circumstantial details that he was minister of Sheriffhales and gave the speech at Shifnal. He greeted the new king in rapturous terms, praising the entire Stuart line. The peroration ran: After the flight of James II and accession of the joint monarchs William III and Mary II, Leveson Gower began to move back to the Tories, particularly as he was a strong supporter of Anne as potential successor. If there had ever been a breach between him and Plaxton, it had been repaired before his death in 1691.
Later Ecclesiastical Career