PLACE NAME
George Gascoigne (about 1535 – October 7, 1577), widely regarded as the most important poet of the Elizabethan era on account of being the first to deify Queen Elizabeth I as a virgin goddess, married to her subjects and kingdom. Rather ironically, in 1575 he was hired by the queen’s favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to provide entertainment for the monarch during her visit to Leicester’s home at Kenilworth Castle. This was to be Dudley’s last ditch attempt at getting Elizabeth to marry him and he hoped Gascoigne could help. In an otherwise varied and largely unsuccessful career he served as a politician, courtier and solider. He was an almoner at Elizabeth I’s coronation and sat in parliament for two years, despite previously having been imprisoned for debt. He repaired his fortunes by marrying the wealthy widow of William Breton thus becoming stepfather to the poet Nicholas Breton. He joined the army in 1571, serving under the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands and at one point facing accusations of treason. This is one of a cluster of New Addington streets – built from around 1934 by the First National Housing Trust – that were named after Tudor worthies in reference to the fact that Henry VIII used to own a hunting lodge on what became the grounds of Addington Palace. The driving force behind the Trust was its chairman, Charles Boot, which explains why the earliest part of New Addington estate is sometimes referred to as The Boot Estate.
