Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/339

 12 S. II. OCT. 21, 1916.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

333

married Jane, daughter of William Pescoc of Winchester, and died in 1768 without male issue, when this branch of theMildmay* became extinct (see Duthy's ' Sketches o] Hampshire,' p. 300). Jane, eldest of the three daughters, married Sir Henry St. John of Dogmersfield, who assumed the name ol Mildmay. The other daughters were named Ann and Letitia. J. L. WHITEHEAD.

Scholastica de Meux and John de Meux her son, temp. Edward III., are mentioned in Whalley's ' Northamptonshire,' vol. i. pp. 262-3. A copy of that work is in the exteasive historical collections of the New- berry Library, Chicago.

The pedigree of Mewce of Holdenby, tra- cing from John Mewce of Calais, is given in the ' Visitations of Northamptonshire,' London, 1887, p. 114. Can any reader give the earlier history of the Mewce family in Calais 1 A query inserted in L'lnterme- diaire some years ago brought no response. EUGENE F. McPiKE. 1200 Michigan Avenue, Chicago.

BBASSEY (BRACEY) FAMILY (12 S. ii. 269)' John Brassey would seem to be the first of his family who became a landowner in Hertfordshire. He bought the Manor of Roxford in 1699, and this property remained in the possession of his family till 1802, when it was conve\ 7 ed by his great-grandson Richard John Brassey to William Baker of Bayfordbury (Clutterbuck's ' Herts,' ii. 201). Nathaniel Brassey, son of John, was a banker of Lombard Street (Cussans's ' Herts : Hundred of Hertford,' p. 104). Perhaps John had made money as a merchant or tradesman, and thus became practically the founder of his family. Many of them are buried at Bengeo and Hertingfordbury,and their alliances with the local families of Caswall, Dimsdale, and others may be traced through the indexes of Clutterbuck and Cussans.

I should be glad to be corrected by MR. PAXMER or others, but I fear the family is now extinct. In my own boyhood "Mr. George Brassey lived on a small property of which he was owner at Bram field, near Hertford, of which parish my father was then rector. He had married a lady who was very kind to us boys, especially when we returned to school. She was Jane, daughter of Richard Emmott, Esq., of Goldings, Bengeo, and died in 1857, aged 80. Her husband died in 1862, aged 82. They had no children, and the estate devolved on his nephew, Nathaniel Brassey, who had been, I

believe, conveyancing-clerk to Lord Chief" Justice Coleridge. He sold the messuege and the rest of the property to Abel Smitli of Watton Woodhall, the owner of all the rest, of Bramfield parish, and died, I believe, unmarried, but when and where I know not-

It may be worth noting that the present Rector of Bramfield is only the third in succession since 1800, in which year Edward Bourchier was appointed. Lewis Deedes succeeded in 1840 and resigned in 1882,. since which year the Rev. F. L. Harrison has held the benefice. MR. PALMER is right as to the uniform pronunciation of the name- (Bracey). CECIL DEEDES.

Chichester.

It appears to me that the Brasseys of Hertfordshire were probably descended from the same stock in Cheshire as Earl Brassey. On locking at the latter's pedigree hi Crisp's ' Visitation of England,' Notes,, vol. xi. p. 87, it will be noticed that Tho. Bressie, haberdasher, and his brother Edmund Bressie, merchant, settled in London before 1613, their other brothers,. Richard, Randle, and Ralph, remaining in Cheshire. Edmund's pedigree was appar- ently recorded in the Visitation of Bedford- shire in the year 1634.

Sir Francis Morton of the Island of Nevis, then of London, in his will, made in 1679,. names

" Mrs. Susanna Bressy, dau. of the worshipful Balph Bressy, merchant of Dort, deceased. The Hon. Madam Adriana Bressey of Dort. The worshipful Eichard Bressy of Dort & his wife- Mr. Bandolphus Bressy."

Now these three Christian names are the same as those used by the Cheshire family.

Richard Bressii, son of Ralph of Dordrecht,. Holland, Esq., matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on July 23, 1668, aged 1& (Foster).

There is an allegation, dated March 30 r 1680 (Vic. Gen. of Archb. of C.), for the- marriage of Tho. Plott, Esq., Secretary to

the most Hon. Sydney, Envoy to

Holland, aged 23, with Mrs. Susanna Bresey of Dort, spinster, aged 25.

Randall Brassey of Watling Street, haber- dasher, buried Oct. 13, 1665, at St. Manv Aldermary (his surname indexed as Brane), made his will, and gave his wife Man- 20<>/., his son Nathaniel 100J. at age of 21, and also named his son John and daughter Sarah King (P.C.C. 108 Hyde). Nathaniel Bra-s.-t v accompanied George Fox the Quaker to Holland in 1683 (' Life of Fox,' ii. 269).

In Howard's Misc. Gen. et Her., New Series, ii. 577 (with additions in vol. iii.), is a