Brampton Gurdon (1606 – 3 November 1669), of Letton in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, was an English Member of Parliament (MP), lawyer and a colonel of cavalry during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Gurdon was the son of Brampton Gurdon (died 1650), an MP and

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

, by his second marriage. His father left him the Letton estate while passing the family's other estate (at

Assington Assington is a village in Suffolk, England, south-east of Sudbury. At the 2011 Census it had a population of 402, estimated at 445 in 2019. The parish includes the hamlets of Rose Green and Dorking Tye. History According to Eilert Ekwall, the ...

in Suffolk) to Brampton's older half-brother,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. Brampton qualified as a barrister, and in 1645 was elected a member of the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

, filling a vacancy at

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

, though he does not seem to have been an active member. During the Civil War he was

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

of a regiment of Suffolk Trained Band Horse and served as a member of the court martial which condemned Sir

Charles Lucas Sir Charles Lucas, 1613 to 28 August 1648, was a professional soldier from Essex, who served as a Cavalier, Royalist cavalry leader during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Taken prisoner at the end of the First English Civil War in March 1646, ...

and Sir George Lisle to death after the

Siege of Colchester The siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the English Civil War reignited in several areas of Britain. Colchester found itself in the thick of the unrest when a Royalist army on its way through East Anglia to raise suppor ...

. He married Mary Polstead, and died 3 November 1669.Edmund Farrer, ''The Church Heraldry of Norfolk'' (Norwich: Agas H Goose & Co, 1887), p. 301 He was succeeded by his son, also called Brampton Gurdon (died 1691).

References

Sources

*John Burke, ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland'' (London: Henry Colburn, 1835) *D Brunton & D H Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) 1606 births 1669 deaths Roundheads English MPs 1640–1648 Suffolk Militia officers {{17thC-England-MP-stub