Edmund Bray (1686–1725) of
Barrington Park, Gloucestershire was a British politician who sat in the
English House of Commons
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...
from 1701 to 1708 and in the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
from 1720 to 1722.
![Barrington Park House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Barrington_Park_House.JPG)
Bray was baptized on 7 September 1678, a younger son of Reginald Bray of Barrington Park and his wife Jane Rainton, daughter of William Rainton of Shilton, Berkshire. His father died in 1688. He married, on 16 December 1697, Frances Morgan, the daughter and eventually heiress of
Sir Edward Morgan, 3rd Baronet
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
of
Llantarnam Abbey
Llantarnam Abbey is a Grade II*-listed abbey of the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy and a former Cistercian monastery located in Llantarnam, Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen in southeast Wales.
History
It was founded as a daughter house o ...
, Monmouthshire. In 1702, he succeeded his remaining elder brother
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
to the Great Barrington estate.
Bray was returned as a Whig
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Riv ...
in the January 1701 election and retained his seat in the second general election of 1701. He was wholly inactive in the House, however, and was granted leave of absence several times over long periods. He was threatened with a challenge at Tewkesbury at the election of 1702, but successfully repelled it. He was returned unopposed again in the 1705 general election, but decided not to stand for re-election at Tewkesbury in 1708. He stood for Cirencester in 1713 but came fourth place in the poll.
[
Bray was returned as MP for ]Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
at a by-election on 22 June 1720 but did not stand at the subsequent general election of 1722
Events
January–March
* January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel ''Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London.
* February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), as ...
.
Bray died on 6 September 1725 and was buried at Great Barrington. He and his wife had three sons and three daughters of whom two of each survived. He was succeeded by his eldest son Reginald Morgan Bray, who sold Barrington Park in 1734 to Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot
Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, (168514 February 1737) was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1733 to 1737.
Life
Talbot was the eldest son of William Talbot, Bishop of Durham, a descendant ...
, the Lord Chancellor, for the use of his son William Talbot and William's wife, Mary de Cardonnel.
References
1686 births
1725 deaths
Members of the Parliament of England for Tewkesbury
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Tewkesbury
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Gloucestershire
English MPs 1701–1702
English MPs 1702–1705
English MPs 1705–1707
British MPs 1707–1708
British MPs 1715–1722
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