Bramber

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Elections

DateCandidate
26 Jan. 1559SIR HENRY GATES 1
 ROBERT BUXTON 2
1562/3WILLIAM BARKER
 ROBERT BALAM
1571BARTHOLOMEW CLERKE
 ROBERT WISEMAN
1572HUGH HARE
 HENRY CLERKE
1584NICHOLAS BEAUMONT 3
 SAMPSON LENNARD 4
11 Oct. 1586WILLIAM TOWSE
 JOHN PORTER
3 Oct. 1588JAMES ALTHAM
 JOHN OSBORNE
1593SAMUEL THORNHILL
 EDWARD MICHELBORNE
18 Sept. 1597NICHOLAS TROTT
 WILLIAM COMBER
22 Sept. 1601(SIR) THOMAS SHIRLEY II
 HENRY BOWYER
Nov. 1601HENRY LOK vice Shirley, chose to sit for Hastings
 

Main Article

The borough of Bramber, never incorporated, was owned by the dukes of Norfolk. A constable was chosen at the court leet, and he, with a few burgesses, made the return. Nine of these wrote to the sheriff on 26 Jan. 1559: Right worshipful, pleaseth it you to understand whereas we be informed that Mr. Francis Sherley hath been nominated and returned to you as our burgess of the borough of Bramber, these shall be to ascertain you that it was done without our whole consent or privity which since the time of that pretended return all we with one assent and consent have revoked and by these our letters do revoke and him as our burgess we do altogether repeal and remove. And further that we have elected Sir Henry Gates knight and Robert Buxton gentleman to be our burgesses of the borough of Bramber whom by this bearer we have by indenture returned to you with your warrants and precepts ...This must reflect a last minute change of mind on the part of a patron rather than a genuine election contest or dispute, for before the disgrace of the 4th Duke of Norfolk (i.e. up to and including 1571), all the Bramber MPs owed their returns to him. The position afterwards is less clear. Norfolk’s lands were forfeited to the Crown on his attainder, and Bramber came under the stewardship of one Edward Caryll, who appears to have nominated Hugh Hare (1572) and William Towse (1586). Henry Clerke (1572) has not been identified: he may have been a cousin of Bartholomew Clerke (1571). Another unidentified Bramber MP is Nicholas Beaumont (1584). A number of local gentry were returned: Sampson Lennard (1584); Edward Michelborne (1593); William Comber (1597); and both 1601 MPs, one of whom, however, Shirley, chose to sit for Hastings and was replaced by a diplomatic agent who came in through a court connexion, perhaps Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, who was beginning to emerge as patron at Bramber in the latter part of this period. His patronage may, for instance, be assumed in the case of John Porter (1586), a marriage connexion. Sackville may have been behind the return of those Members such as James Altham (1588) and Samuel Thornhill (1593), who undoubtedly came in through a contact at court, but whose patrons have not been identified. John Osborne (1588) was an Exchequer official who owed his return to Burghley, but Burghley may well have arranged it through Buckhurst. Sampson Lennard, mentioned above, became Buckhurst’s enemy, but it is quite possible that Buckhurst brought his influence to bear in Lennard’s favour before the rift occurred between them. The remaining Bramber MP was ‘good old Sir Nicholas Trott’ as he was later described, whose patrons may have been Francis Bacon and the Earl of Essex.5

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes

  • 1. Loseley letters, box I, no. 6.
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Browne Willis.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. Horsfield, Suss. ii. 226; Dallaway, W. Suss. ii (2) pp. 209-10; SC 6 Eliz. 2198.