BRAY, Thomas II, of Sutton in Chiswick, Mdx.

Very little is known about this obscure figure, although, according to Lysons, members of the Bray family were living in the Chiswick area of Middlesex from the mid 14th century onwards, and Thomas himself was at some point lord of the manor of Sutton in Chiswick.In his Environs London, ii. 190 n. 27, D. Lysons refers to a John Bray of Sutton (who may have been Thomas’s father). His citation of Harl. 4507 as the source of this information is, however, incorrect. This property eventually passed by descent to his grandson, Baldwin, who conveyed it to trustees in 1469. Bray himself first appears in 1380, when he witnessed two deeds at Acton in Middlesex. He again acted as a witness in May 1385, this time at Chiswick, but, save for his one return to Parliament as shire knight in 1391, no further evidence survives about his career.CCR, 1377-81, p. 468; 1381-5, p. 624; 1468-76, pp. 93-94.