Author: Brand, John
Biography:
BRAND, John (1743-1808: ODNB)
His first name is sometimes given as Fitzjohn. He was the only son of John and Hannah Brand and was born on 6 Nov. and baptised on 11 Nov. 1743 in St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, Norfolk. His younger sister was Hannah Brand (q.v.). Although his father is variously described in sources as a sadler, tanner, or harness maker, he may have been the Rev. John Brand (c. 1684-1765), reader at St. Peter Mancroft and, later, vicar of Easton. He studied at the Norwich School and was admitted to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in Jan. 1762 (BA 1766, MA 1772). Ordained a deacon in 1766, he became a priest in 1770 and was appointed curate at Little Brandon and Wellbourne, Norfolk. In Nov. 1775 he became the rector of Wickham Skeith, Suffolk, and there he married Elizabeth Harvey of Stowmarket on 4 Jan. 1794. He also served as the vicar of Egmere in Norfolk (1785-98) and St. George’s, Southwark, London (1797-1808). A strong tory, Brand wrote for BC and he produced pamphlets on politics and economics, including Alteration of the Constitution of the House of Commons (1793), Historical Essay on the Principles of Association in a State (1796), and A Determination of the Average Depression in the Price of Wheat in War (1800). He died on 23 Dec. 1808 leaving, according to his obituary in GM, “eight orphans, wholly unprovided for.” He was a friend of William Beloe (q.v.) whose account of Brand in Sexagenarian records that he was known as “Abbé Brand” thanks to the continental manners he had acquired during travel in Europe. (ODNB 24 June 2023; ancestry.co.uk 24 July 2023; findmypast.co.uk 24 June 2023; ACAD 24 June 2023; CCEd 24 June 2023; W. Beloe, Sexagenarian [1817]; Ipswich Journal 11 Nov. 1775; Ipswich Journal 28 July 1785; GM 78 [1808], 1134) SR
Other Names:
- The Rev. J[ohn] Brand