John Thurloe Brace 1686/7-1737

John Thurloe BRACE 1686/7-1737

Biographical Note

Son of Francis Brace of Bedford, lawyer. Matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge 1702, but did not graduate; admitted at the Inner Temple 1705. Through his mother Ann, daughter of John Thurloe, he inherited an estate at Astwood, Buckinghamshire, which he sold in 1735. MP for Bedford 1715-28; "lived a loose kind of life", according to the antiquary William Cole.

Books

Brace inherited some books from his brother Francis in 1724; like him, he used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 3436/3437), which exists in two states. What is presumably the earlier version (3436) describes him as of "Ashwood", which was corrected to "Astwood" (3437). In his will, Brace directed that all his books, except such as he had already given to his daughter Anna Maria, should go to his son Harris Thurloe Brace, once he turned 21 (in 1738; at the time of the making of the will, Harris was a student at Oxford).

Sources

• Will of John Thurloe Brace, The National Archives PROB 11/683/402.
• History of Parliament.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.