BRAMPTON, Henry, of Bletchingley, Surr.

Brampton was probably the son of Philip Brampton of Bletchingley, who, in August 1392, was one of the jurors at the inquisition taken in the borough on the estates of Thomas, earl of Stafford. He held a considerable amount of farm land in and around the manor of Bletchingley: some of this was leased from the Uvedale family, but most seems to have been his own property, to which he added over the years. In 1453, for example, he paid 20 marks for a messuage and 32 acres of land in the manor, which soon afterwards passed to his own son, John.C136/76/45; Staffs. RO, D641/1/2/233E; U. Lambert, Blechingley, i. 290; ii. 587; Surr. Arch. Colls. i. (addnl.), 180. In 1438 and again in 1444, described as ‘of Bletchingley’, he was a witness to the property transactions of John Wyke, the earl of Stafford’s bailiff, although their apparent friendship did not prevent his eviction in 1445 from one of the earl’s burgages. This was because of his refusal to take up office in the borough of Bletchingley, probably as bailiff, after having been elected by his fellow burgesses.Surr. RO, 87/16/9, 10; Staffs. RO, D641/1/2/233C; C136/76/45.