Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/220

 Bramston broke out in the city. For six weeks together Bramston never once took his clothes off to retire to rest. His father died while he was yet at Lisbon. In 1801 he returned to England, and in 1802 had entrusted to him, by the then vicar apostolic of the London district, Bishop Douglas, the poorest of all the catholic missions in the metropolis, that of St. George's-in-the-Fields. There he remained as the priest in charge for nearly twenty-three years. In 1812 Bishop Poynter, then vicar-apostolic of the London district, appointed Bramston his vicar-general. During that same year he acted as theologian and counsellor at the synodal meeting convened in the city of Durham by Bishop Gibson. In 1814 Bramston went to Rome with Bishop Poynter, and on 5 April 1815, at Genoa, the latter asked Pope Pius VII to constitute his vicar-general his coadjutor. Eight years elapsed, during which Bramston again and again declined the proffered dignity. On 29 June 1823 he was solemnly consecrated by Bishop Poynter at St. Edmund's College, Hertfordshire, as bishop of Usulæ in partibus infidelium. On the death of Bishop Poynter, 27 Nov. 1827, Bramston succeeded him as vicar-apostolic of the London district. Nearly the whole of Bramston's life was embittered by a cruel disease, and from 1834 be was yet further afflicted with constantly increasing weakness. Added to this, in the spring of 1836 he began to suffer from erysipelas in the right foot, which from that time forward rendered walking an impossibility. He died at Southampton in his seventy-fourth year, 11 July 1836. His conversational powers were very remarkable. His discernment was acute and his knowledge profound, but his chief characteristic was his tender charity. His singularly large acquaintance with the national life of England, his exceptional experience and skill in the conduct of business, and his intimate familiarity with the laws and customs of Great Britain peculiarly fitted him to conduct the affairs of the catholics of that period with discretion.

 BRAMSTON, JOHN, the elder (1577–1654), judge, eldest son of Roger Bramston by Priscilla, daughter of Francis Clovile of West Hanningfield Hall, Essex, was born at Maldon, in the same county, 18 May 1577, and educated at the free school at Maldon and Jesus College, Cambridge. On leaving the university he went into residence at the Middle Temple, and applied himself diligently to the study of the law. His ability was recognised early by his university, which made him one of its counsel in 1607, with an annual fee of forty shillings. In Lent 1623 he was appointed reader at his inn, the subject of his lecture being the statute 32 Henry VIII (on limitations), and he was reappointed in the autumn of the same year, this time discoursing on the statute of Elizabeth relating to fraudulent conveyances (13 Eliz. c. 5). Shortly after his reading was concluded he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law (22 Sept. 1623). His son remarks that this was an expensive year for him, the costs entailed by the office of reader being considerable, besides the fee of 500l. to the exchequer payable on admittance to the order of serjeants. His practice now became extensive, and during the next few years he was engaged in many cases of the highest importance, not only in the courts of common law, but in chancery and in the courts of wards and star chamber. In 1626 he defended the Earl of Bristol on his impeachment. A dissolution of parliament, however, soon relieved Bramston from this duty, by putting an end to the proceedings. Next year he represented Sir Thomas Darnel and Sir John Heveningham, who had been committed to the Fleet for refusing to contribute to a loan then being raised by the king without the consent of parliament, applying unsuccessfully for a habeas corpus on behalf of the one, and bail on behalf of the other. In the following year he was chosen one of the counsel for the city of London on the motion of Sir Heneage Finch, then recorder, who was a close friend and connection by marriage. In 1629 he was one of the counsel for seven of the nine members of the House of Commons (including Sir John Eliot and Denzil Hollis) who were then indicted for making seditious speeches in parliament. Next year the bishop of Ely (John Buckeridge) appointed him chief justice of his diocese, a position he held until his elevation to the king's bench. In 1632 (26 March) he was made queen's serjeant, and two years later (8 July 1634) king's serjeant, being knighted 24 Nov. in the same year. In 1635 (14 April) he was created chief justice of the king's bench. In this position his first official act of historical importance was, in concert with the rest of the bench, to advise the king (13 Feb. 1636–7) that he might lawfully levy ship-money, and that it belonged to the crown to decide when such levy ought to be made. Sir John's son informs us that his father was in favour of modifying this opinion in at least one essential particular: that he