Thomas Causton

Thomas Causton or Caustun (died 1569) was an English composer. Causton was a gentleman of the chapel royal under Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. Nothing is known of his parentage, but it is possible that he is identical with a Thomas Causton who was living about the same date at Oxted in Surrey. This individual was the son of William Causton of Orpington, by Katherine Banister, and was married to Agnes Polley of Shoreham. Their son William (d. 1638) had a numerous family, who lived at Oxted until late in the seventeenth century. On 29 Oct. 1558 Mary wrote to the mayor and aldermen of London in favour of Thomas Causton, ‘one of the gentlemen of the chappell,’ requesting that he should be admitted into the freedom of the city. In 1560 he contributed some music to John Day’s rare ‘Certain Notes, set forth in four and three parts, to be sung at the Morning, Communion, and Evening Prayer.’ The same publisher’s ‘Whole Psalmes in Foure Partes’ (1563) also contains twenty-seven compositions by Causton. A Venite and service by him have been reprinted in the ‘Ecclesiologist,’ and a Te Deum and Benedictus in score are preserved in the British Library (Add MS 31226). He died on 28 Oct. 156