BRANDE, James (c.1532-c.82), of Bitterne, Hants and Gray’s Inn.

Nothing is known of Brande’s family background. He was first returned for Southampton about the time of his appointment as recorder, sitting in all but one of the Parliaments held during his term of office, and being paid at the usual rate of 2s. a day. He last signed an order in the town’s remembrance book on 8 Oct. 1565, and his successor as recorder claimed his salary from the Christmas following. Brande was still acting as the town’s solicitor in 1578, and was one of the 12 jurats and mayor’s assistants until 1582. He wrote in the same year from Gray’s Inn to Francis Walsingham about a lawsuit, and this is the last reference found to him.1Soton RO, bk. of debts 1525-1602, ff. 60, 111; bk. of oaths and ordinances, f. 27; leases SC 4/3/16/15; Soton Black Bk. iii (Soton Rec. Soc.), 112; Remembrance Bk. i (Soton Rec. Soc.), 93; Third Remembrance Bk. ii (Soton Rec. Ser.), 98, 158-9; CPR, 1560-3, pp. 448-9; CSP Dom. 1581-90, p. 45.