Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/361

  

GURDON, BRAMPTON (d. 1741), Boyle lecturer, younger son of Brampton Gurdon, of Letton, Norfolk (who was nephew of [q. v.]), by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Thornhagh, of Fenton, Nottinghamshire (, London Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, col. 598;, Landed Gentry, 7th edit., i. 799), was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, where he took the two degrees in arts, B.A. 1691, M.A. 1695 (Cantabr. Graduati, edit. 1787, p. 171). By 1696 he had been elected fellow of his college. His Boyle lectures were published as 'The Pretended Difficulties in Natural or Reveal'd Religion no Excuse for Infidelity. Sixteen Sermons preach'd in the Church of St. Mary le Bow, London, in &hellip; 1721 and 1722,' 8vo, London, 1723 (reprinted in the third volume of S. Letsome and I. Nicholl's 'Religion,' fol. 1739). An abridgment by G. Burnet, vicar of Coggeshall, Essex, was issued in 1737, 8vo. Gurdon was a favourite of Lord Chancellor Macclesfield, who made him his chaplain and gave him the rectory of Stapleford Abbots, Essex, 17 March 1719-1720, a living he resigned 3 Nov. 1724 (, Essex, i. 178). On 16 March 1726-7 he was collated to the archdeaconry of Sudbury (, Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 493); became rector of Denham, Buckinghamshire, 17 Oct. 1730 (, Buckinghamshire. iv. 448); and rector of St. Edmund the King, Lombard Street, about 1732 (, Londinium Redivivum, iii. *468), preferments which he held until his death. He died unmarried in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, 20 Nov. 1741 (Gent. Mag. 1741. p. 609; Administration Act Book,P.C.C.,Dec. 1741). His other writings are:
 * 1) 'Probabile est animam non semper cogitare. Idea Dei non est innata' [in verse.], s. sh. fol. [Cambridge], 1696.
 * 2) 'The Distinction of Christians into Clergy and Laity justified: in a sermon [on Ephes. iv. 11, 12] preached &hellip; at the consecration of &hellip; John [Leng] &hellip; bishop of Norwich,' 4to, London, 1723.
 * 3) 'Christian Religion supported by the Prophecies of the Old Testament: or, a Defence of the Argument drawn from Prophecy,' 8vo, London, 1728.
 * 4) 'A Letter to a Lady: where-in the canonical authority of St. Matthew's Gospel is defended' [anon.], 8vo, London, 1732.
 * 5) 'An Answer to the Defence of the Dissertation or Enquiry concerning the Gospel according to St. Matthew &hellip; By the Author of the Letter to a Lady,' 8vo, London, 1733.



GURDON, JOHN (1595?–1679), regicide, born about 1595, was the eldest son of Brampton Gurdon (d. 1649) of Assington, Suffolk, and Letton, Norfolk, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Barrett of Bell House, Essex. He succeeded to the property at Assington (, Landed Gentry seventh edit. i. 798). On 26 Oct. 1640 he was elected M.P. for Ipswich, Suffolk, being returned for the county on 12 July 1654 (Lists of Members of Parliament, Official Return of, pt. i. pp. 494, 502). According to Lord Holles (Memoirs, ed. 1699), Gurdon was one of the party in the House of Commons who gave their support to the army. He was a member of the Eastern Counties Association; but on being nominated one of the commissioners of the high court of justice for the trial of the king, refused to attend. He was, however, appointed a member of the council of state on 20 Feb. 1650 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1650, p. 5), and served on various committees (ib. Dom. 1650-2). On 28 June 1653 he was constituted one of a sub-committee on the business of draining the great level of the fens (ib. Dom. 1652-3, p. 447). At the Restoration he retired to Assington, where he died on 9 Sept. 1679, aged 84. His will, dated on 25 June 1677, was proved at London on 4 Oct. 1679 (registered in P. C. C. 129, King). By his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Calthorpe Parker of Erwarton, Suffolk, who survived him, he left five sons, Robert, Nathaniel of Woodham, Essex, Philip, Brampton, and Barrett, and three daughters, married respectively to John Gould, merchant, John Jollife, and Dr. Thomas Jacomb.



GURDON, THORNHAGH (1663–1733), antiquary, elder brother of [q. v.], was born in 1663. As a member of Caius College, Cambridge, he received the degree of M.A. 'comitiis regiis' in 1682 (Cantabr. Graduati, edit. 1787, p. 171), and in the reign of Queen Anne was appointed receiver-general of Norfolk. He resided mostly at Norwich, where in 1728 he published anonymously a valuable 'Essay on the Antiquity of the Castel of Norwich, its Founders and Governors from the Kings of the East Angles down to modern Times,' 8vo (reprinted, 8vo, Norwich, 1834). Another work of great merit was his 'History of the High Court of Parliament, its Antiquity, Preheminence, and Authority; and the History of Court Baron and Court Leet,  Rh