Gascoyne, Isaac 1770-1841, general, third son of Bamber Gascoyne the elder, and grandson of Sir Crisp Gascoyne [qv.], was born in 1770, and on 8 Feb. 1779 was appointed ensign in the 20th foot, from which he was transferred to the Coldstream guards in July 1780. His subsequent military commissions were lieutenant and captain 18 Aug. 1784, captain and lieutenant-colonel 5 Dec. 1792 (both in Coldstream guards), brevet-colonel 3 May 1796, lieutenant-colonel in 16th foot 7 June 1799, major-general 29 April 1802, colonel 7th West India regiment 10 Oct. 1805, lieutenant-general 25 April 1808, colonel 54th foot (now 1st Dorset) 1 June 1816, general 12 Aug. 1819. He was present with the guards in most of the engagements in Flanders in 1793-4, and was wounded in the brilliant affair at Lincelles in 1793, and again, in the head, a wound from which he suffered during the remainder of his life, when covering the retreat of Sir Ralph Abercromby's corps from Mouvaix to Roubaix, in the following year. He commanded the Coldstream battalion in the brigade of guards sent to Ireland about the close of the rebellion of 1798, and acted as a major-general on the staff there and elsewhere, a position he held in the Severn district before his promotion to lieutenant-general in 1808
     Gascoyne, who had a seat, Raby Hall, near Liverpool, was returned to parliament in 1796 for that borough, for which his eldest brother, Bamber Gascoyne, jun., had previously sat. For many years he was a familiar figure in the house, as well as on the turf at Newmarket. In politics he was a staunch conservative, and a consistent supporter of all measures for benefiting the army in days when such support was even more needed than at present. On 10 Aug. 1803 he seconded Mr. Sheridan's motion of thanks to the volunteers (Parl. Debates, under date). To his representations, it is said, was chiefly due the granting of the allowance of 25l. a company or troop to officers' messes, in lieu of the remission of wine duty, known as the prince regent's allowance; also the increase of pay granted to captains and subalterns after the peace. He was an active and successful opponent of the paltry attempts repeatedly made to cut down the compassionate allowances to families of deceased officers
     Gascoyne, who had been returned for Liverpool after a very severe contest in 1802 and again in 1806, 1807, 1812, 1818, 1820, 1826, and 1830, was defeated at the election 4 May 1831, and retired from parliamentary life. He died at his residence, 71 South Audley Street, London, 26 Aug. 1841, of an inflammatory attack, in his seventy-second year.

Sources:
     Army Lists
     Parl. Debates, 1796-1831
     Gent. Mag. new ser. xvi. 542.

Contributor: H. M. C. [Henry Manners Chichester]

Published: 1889