Robert Brewster (Roundhead)
Robert Brewster (1599–1663) was an English landowner of Parliamentarian sympathies who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1645 and 1659.[1]
The Brewsters at Wrentham
The Tudor brick mansion of Wrentham Hall (now lost) is said to have been built around 1550 by Humphrey Brewster, Esq. (c. 1527–1593), the elder son of Robert Brewster and his wife, daughter of Sir Christopher Edmonds of Cressing Temple, Essex.[2] If so, he did not then hold the manor in chief. The lordship of Wrentham Southall, or Perpounds, belonged to Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre (executed in 1541) and passed from his widow Lady Mary (Neville) to her son Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre, who had licence to alienate the manor to trustees in 1571.[3] So it became vested in his cousin Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys, who in 1576 had licence to alienate it to Humphrey Brewster.[4]
Humphrey Brewster appears as lord of the manor of Wrentham Southall in a
Francis Brewster married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Snelling, Esq., of
Church, Parliament and Commonwealth
In March 1643 Robert Brewster was at once appointed to the Suffolk Committee for the enforcement of the Ordinance for sequestration of the estates of notorious delinquents, and in June Robert and Francis Brewster were named to an additional Suffolk committee for the raising of money to support the Parliamentary army.[15] In August Robert was appointed one of the representatives for Suffolk to the committee (called "Deputy Lieutenants") for the Associated Counties (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertford, Huntingdon and Cambridge, and the City of Norwich) for the arrangement of their defence against rebellious or papistical armies, including that of the Earl of Newcastle.[16] He was thereafter concerned with the raising of levies to support the Parliamentary forces, and in June 1646 was named as a deputy to adjudge scandalous offences deserving exclusion from the Sacrament by the Elderships of congregations.[17]
In 1645 Robert Brewster was elected
Following the August 1648 ordinance for congregational organization of parochial worship,
Having survived
Hindolveston
Robert Brewster acquired the manor of
Death and succession
At his death in 1663, Robert Brewster was buried in St Nicholas' Church, Wrentham, where he has a memorial. He was succeeded by his son Francis Brewster (MP), who died in 1671, and was himself succeeded as master of Wrentham Hall by his brother Robert (died 1681).[32]
The Brewster arms are blazoned as sable a chevron ermine between three estoiles argent, and are quartered with Edwards: the crest, a leopard's head erased, azure (elsewhere, a beaver's, or a bear's head), and motto: Verité soyet ma Garde.[33]
References
- ^ C.H. Firth and R.S. Rait, Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660, 3 volumes as 1 (HMSO London, 1911) passim (British History Online).
- ^ B. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 Parts (Harrison, London 1862), I, p. 148 (Google).
- ^ Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, V: 1569-1572 (HMSO, London 1966), p. 320, no. 2373 (Internet Archive).
- ^ 'Hundred of Blything: Wrentham', in W.A. Copinger, The Manors of Suffolk: Notes on their History and Devolution, II: Hundreds of Blything and Bosmere and Claydon (Taylor, Garnett, Evans, & Co., Ltd, Manchester 1908), pp. 209-17, at pp. 211-13 (Internet Archive); citing a Fine levied in Hilary Term, 18 Elizabeth.
- ^ The National Archives (UK), Chancery, Butts v Brewster, ref. C 2/Eliz/B11/53 (Discovery Catalogue).
- ^ Copinger, Manors of Suffolk, II, pp. 213-17 (Internet Archive); citing a Fine levied in Michaelmas Term, 19-20 Elizabeth.
- ^ B. Burke, The General Armoury of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales (Harrison & Sons, London 1884), p. 121 (Google). Neither the Hervey nor the Henry Chitting blazons mention ermine, (J.J. Howard (ed.), The Visitation of Suffolke, made by William Hervey, Clarenceux King of Arms, 1561, Vol. I (Samuel Tymms, Lowestoft/Whittaker & Co., London 1866), p. 22), but it is shown so.
- ^ 'Church of St Nicholas, Wrentham', Historic England, List Entry Number: 1284532.
- ^ 'No. 236. 1593. Humphrey Brewster Esquire', in H. Haines, A Manual for the Study of Monumental Brasses (John Henry Parker, Oxford 1848), pp. 96-97 (Google).
- ^ 'The Visitation of Suffolk, 1612: Brewster of Wrentham', in W.C. Metcalfe (ed.), The Visitations of Suffolk, made in 1561, 1577 and 1612 (Metcalfe, Exeter 1882), pp. 117-18 (Internet Archive).
- ^ J.J. Howard (ed.), 'Brewster. Extracts from the Wrentham Registers relating to the family of Brewster', Miscellanea Topographica et Genealogica New Series, Vol. II (Hamilton, Adams and Co., London 1877), pp. 399-401 (Google).
- ^ a b "Brewster, Robert (BRWR617R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Burke, Landed Gentry (1862), I, p. 148 (Google).
- ^ 'Taverham Hundred: Sprouston', in F. Blomefield, ed. C. Parkin, An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (William Miller, London 1809), Vol. X, pp. 458-64 (Internet Archive).
- ^ Acts and Ordinances, pp. 106-17 and pp. 168-71 (British History Online).
- ^ Acts and Ordinances, pp. 242-45 (British History Online).
- ^ Acts and Ordinances, pp. 852-55 (British History Online).
- ^ H.M. Doughty, Chronicles of Theberton, a Suffolk village (Macmillan and Co., London 1910), pp. 117-21 (Internet Archive).
- ^ Acts and Ordinances, pp. 1188-1215 (British History Online).
- ^ 'Pyes Hall', Historic England, List Entry Number: 1032119.
- ^ J. Browne, The Congregational Church at Wrentham in Suffolk: its History and Biographies (Jarrold & Sons, London 1854), pp. 11-15 (Internet Archive).
- ^ A.I. Suckling, The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk, 2 vols (1845-1847), II, p. 322 (Google).
- ^ Doughty, History of Theberton, p. 135 (Internet Archive).
- ^ Acts and Ordinances, pp. 968-90 (British History Online).
- ^ Gardner, Historical Account of Dunwich, pp. 118, and p. 167 (Google).
- ^ J. Nickolls, jun., Original Letters and Papers of State, Addressed to Oliver Cromwell: concerning the affairs of Great Britain, from the year MDCXLIX to MDCLVIII: found among the political collections of Mr. John Milton (William Bowyer & John Whiston, London 1743), pp. 155-58 (Google).
- ^ Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
- ^ T. Gardner, An Historical Account of Dunwich, Antiently a City, Now a Borough (Author, London 1754), p. 90 (Google).
- ^ J.H. Leslie, The History of Landguard Fort, in Suffolk (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1898), p. 94 (Internet Archive).
- ^ The National Archives (UK), Chancery Final Decrees, C 78/553, no. 2 (1653), images 278-294. In English.
- ^ The National Archives (UK), Chancery Final Decrees, C 78/716, no. 16 (1658), rots 38-34. View original at AALT, images 336-344. In English.
- ^ Burke, Landed Gentry (1862), I, p. 148 (Google). "1671" misprinted as "1761".
- ^ J. and J.B. Burke, Heraldic Illustrations: comprising the armorial bearings of the principal families of the Empire (E. Churton, London 1846), III, pt. 57-58 and Plate CXLI (Google).