Show ContentsBraybrooke History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Braybrooke is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the parish Braybrook, Northamptonshire.

Early Origins of the Braybrooke family

The surname Braybrooke was first found in Northamptonshire at Braybrook(e), a parish, in the union of Market-Harborough, hundred of Rothwell. [1] The place name derived its name from Saxon times and the term "Brada-broc" meaning "the broad brook", [2]

By the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, the place name had evolved to Bradebroc, Braibroc in the Pipe Rolls of 1163, and as Brabroc in the Feet of Fines of 1197.

Robert de Braibroc was a Baron by tenure temp. King John. Also known as Robert of Braybrooke or Robert le May (1168-1210), he was a medieval landowner, justice and sheriff. He was born at Braybrooke, Northamptonshire, son of justiciar Ingebald de Braybrooke. His son Henry of Braybrooke (died 1234) was an undersheriff of Rutlandshire, Buckinghamshire, and Northamptonshire. [3]

The family held Braybrook Castle, originally a manor home, but by the late 13th century, the estate has passed into the hands of the Latymer family.

Later, Sir Gerard Braybrooke I (c.1332-1403), of Colmworth, Bedfordshire and Horsenden, Buckinghamshire, was an English politician, Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire (1377-1390.) He had two sons: Sir Gerard Braybrooke (before 1354-1429), an English politician, Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire (1388-1399) and for Essex (1402-1417); and Sir Reynold Braybrooke (c.1356-1405), another English politician, Member of Parliament for Kent in 1404. He died from a battle wound on 20 September 1405.

Baron Braybrooke, of Braybrooke in the County of Northampton, is a title created in 1788 for John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden and has no relationship to this family.

Early History of the Braybrooke family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Braybrooke research. Another 81 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1200, 1356, 1381, 1382, 1383, 1390, 1394, 1397, 1404 and 1405 are included under the topic Early Braybrooke History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Braybrooke Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Braybrooke family name include Braybrook, Braybrooke, Brailbroc and others.

Early Notables of the Braybrooke family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

  • Robert Braybrooke (d. 1404), medieval Dean of Salisbury and Bishop of London, nominated (1381) and consecrated in 1382, named Lord Chancellor of England in 1382, out of the office by 1383, accompanied...


United States Braybrooke migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Braybrooke surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Braybrooke Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Edward Braybrooke, who arrived in Virginia in 1658 [4]

New Zealand Braybrooke migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Braybrooke Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Amelia Braybrooke, aged 16, a lacemaker, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Clifton" in 1842

Contemporary Notables of the name Braybrooke (post 1700) +

  • David Braybrooke (1924-2013), American political philosopher and professor emeritus at both Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • Henry Mellor Braybrooke MBE (1869-1935), English cricketer who played first-class cricket in England
  • Neville Patrick Braybrooke, English author and editor
  • Geoffrey Bernard Braybrooke QSO (1935-2013), English-born, New Zealand politician, Member of New Zealand Parliament (1981-2002)


  1. Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
  2. Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
  3. Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
  4. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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