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BRACEBRIDGE, Roland (by 1524-83), of Chipping Wycombe, Bucks.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Family and Education
b. by 1524, s. of (?John) Bracebridge of Chipping Wycombe by w. Alice. m. Anne; 2s. illegit.1
Offices Held
Gent. porter, Blackness fort by 1546-7 or later; man-at-arms, household of the Duke of Somerset by Apr. 1548-Oct. 1551; mayor, Chipping Wycombe 1575-6, alderman to 1578-9.2
Biography
Roland Bracebridge may have been the son of John Bracebridge, who was mayor of Wycombe in 1541 but died by 1543, when the only bearer of the name assessed there for the subsidy was one widow Alice: although she did not die until 1569, she had made her will in 1552 naming her son Roland as executor. When returned to the Parliament of 1545 Bracebridge was presumably already in the service of the Earl of Hertford, later Duke of Somerset. Nothing is known about his part in Parliament, but during the prorogation in 1546 he was paid for bearing letters between the Council and Boulogne where under Hertford’s command he held a minor post at Blackness fort. Although not re-elected in 1547 he was presumably the go-between for the return at Wycombe of his master’s secretary, Thomas Fisher, and the clerk of the Council, Armagil Waad. Bracebridge seems not to have been harmed by his master’s fall, obtaining in September 1552 a 30-year lease of the alnage of cloth in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, but apart from his reelection to Parliament in 1559 and his municipal career little else has come to light about him. He died between 19 Aug. 1583 when he made his will and the following 21 Oct. when it was proved.3