Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/50

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30
Bray — Bridges.
BRAY, EDWARD ATKINS.
Poet and Divine.
1778—1857.

Admitted 21 January, 1801.

Only son of Edward Bray, of Tavistock, solicitor and manager of the Devonshire property of the Duke of Bedford. He was born at Tavistock 18 Dec, 1778. He was a person of retiring disposition, and after his call to the Bar, 7 Feb. 1806, soon abandoned the law for divinity. In 1811 he was ordained, and was presented to the living of Tavistock the following year, which he held till his death in 1857.

In his early years he was given to poetry, and his Poetical Remains were published by his widow in 1859. These and several selections of Sermons from English Divines form his contributions to English literature.


BREREWOOD, Sir ROBERT.
Judge.
1588—1654.

Admitted 21 October, 1607.

Son and heir of John Brerewood, of Chester, where he was born. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1605. He was called to the Bar 13 Nov. 1615. In 1637 he became a Judge of North Wales, and was elected Reader at the Inn the following year. In 1640 he became Serjeant-at-Law, And in the next year King's Serjeant. In 1643 he was knighted, and raised to the Bench 31 Jan. 1644. He died 8 Sept. 1654.

Though not himself an author, Robert Brerewood published the works of his uncle Edward, the first Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, to one of which, A Treatise on the Diversity of Language and Religion through the chief parts of the World, he wrote a "large and learned preface."


BRETT, HENRY.
Colonel.
d. 1724.

Admitted 5 June, 1695.

Eldest son of Henry Brett, of Down Hatherley, Gloucestershire. He became a friend of Addison, and is supposed to be the "Colonel Rambler" of The Tatler. He married Ann, the divorced wife of the Earl of Macclesfield, And the mother of the poet Richard Savage. He died suddenly in 1724.


BRETT, THOMAS.
Legal Writer.
1840—1893.

Admitted 23 May, 1866.

Second son of the Rev. Wills Hill Brett, of Kirkcubbin, co. Down. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in 1863. At the Middle Temple he obtained the first certificate of honour in 1869, and graduated LL.B. at London University the same year. He was called to the Bar 17 Nov. 1869.

He was joint author, with Mr. Clerke, of a treatise on The Conveyancing Acts, 1881 and 1882, and sole author of a work on the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, of Leading Cases in Equity (1887), and of Commentaries on the Present Laws of England (1890). He died 22 July, 1893, aged 53.


BRIDGES, JOHN.
Topographer.
1666—1724.

Admited 23 April, 1684.

Son and heir of John Bridges of Barton, co. Northampton. He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple 22 May, 1691, but subsequently passed to Lincoln's Inn, where he became a Master of the Bench. He was Solicitor to the Customs in 1695, a Commissioner 1711, and Cashier of Excise in 1715.