Author: Bree, John
Biography:
BREE, John (1773-1830: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born on 21 Dec. 1773 and baptised on 14 Jan. 1774 at St. Mary the Virgin, Twickenham, Richmond upon Thames, the second of at least four children of Rev. John Bree, Rector of Marks Tey, Essex, and his wife Anne Stapylton, an heiress, who had married in 1770. His elder brother, Martin, took the name Stapylton and the accompanying title in 1811. His younger brother, Robert Francis, entered the church. The death of their only sister, Anne, is recorded in two poems in Saint Hubert’s Isle (142-3). John Bree had probably inherited an estate at Newlands, Cumberland (possibly through the Stapylton family), before he married Elizabeth Barcroft on 3 Aug. 1805 at Crosthwaite, Cumberland. They went on to have at least eight children. In the predominantly farming community around Keswick, he would have been considered gentry and was listed as a Gentleman (above Farmers) at Emerald, Newlands, in directories and newspapers. He died on 31 Dec. 1830 at Whitehaven, Cumberland. Ancestry has been retained here as primary source but the 63+ family trees are replete with error. They all give his date of death as 1864 which is impossible because it is clear the work listed here is posthumous. They also fail to give his correct birth and marriage details. Nevertheless, the registers on Ancestry still yield the most information. Saint Hubert’s Isle (1832) also contains poems on his sister, his mother-in-law, an eighth child, and Markstay (sic, for Marks Tey). The lead poem was admired by reviewers as beautifully written and the topographical poems “To Derwent Water” and “Llangollen Letter” are still of historic interest. (ancestry.co.uk 30 May 2022; findmypast.co.uk 30 May 2022; CCEd [father] 30 May 2022; White’s Directory [Cumberland & Westmorland] [1829], 336; York Herald 24 Aug. 1805; Lancaster Gazette 8 Jan. 1831; GM Jan. 1831, 91) AA