Thomas Causton
English composer of the 16th century
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.
The public source identifies “Thomas Causton” as english composer of the 16th century. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Thomas, Causton and English.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18528965. VIAF identifies the subject as 67202547. The Library of Congress control number is nr93013728. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1569, 1638, 1558 and 1560.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Causton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.