BRAEMES, Arnold (1602-81), of Bridge, Kent.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1660

Family and Education

bap. 3 Oct. 1602, 2nd s. of Charles Braemes of Dover by Josina Spike of London. m. (1) lic. 15 Apr. 1631, Joan, da. of Walter Harflete alias Septvans of Bekesbourne, 1s.; (2) lic. 16 Aug. 1636, Elizabeth, da. of Sir Dudley Digges, master of the rolls, of Chilham Castle, s.p.; (3) Margaret, da. of Sir Thomas Palmer, 2nd Bt., of Wingham, s.p. Kntd. 27 May 1660.1

Offices Held

Freeman, Dover 1631, 1670; j.p. Kent July 1660-d., commr. for assessment Aug. 1660-74, 1679-80, sewers, E. Kent Sept. 1660, corporations, Kent 1662-3, Chatham Chest 1662, recusants, Kent 1675, dep. lt. 1680-d.2

Biography

Braemes was descended from a Flemish merchant who settled in Sandwich in the middle of the 16th century. He was one of 12 defendants before Star Chamber in 1637 charged with illegally exporting gold. He was fined £2,000, but had sufficient reserves to purchase an estate in Bridge where he built a fine house. He was an ardent Royalist in both wars. According to his petition tendered at the Restoration, he sent coin worth £2,000 to Dublin and when his ship was captured sustained a loss of another £2,000. In 1644 he was assessed at £400 by the committee for the advance of money and in 1648 he compounded for £800. After assisting in the naval revolt of 1648 he joined Prince Rupert’s fleet with his 30-gun ship, which was sunk, adding another £4,000 to his losses. During the years 1656-8 he travelled regularly between England and Flanders as a royalist agent, and on 23 Oct. 1659 received a letter from Charles ordering him to persuade Admiral Lawson to come over to the King’s side. His efforts were successful when, in March 1660, Lawson agreed to follow the orders of Edward Montagu I.3

Shortly afterwards Braemes and Montagu were returned for Dover. He was knighted by the King at Canterbury on his way to London, but his petition for a commissionership of customs failed. He was named to no committees, but spoke in favour of Lawson’s petition on 18 Dec. He stood as a churchman against Montagu’s son at the Dover by-election of 1670. He died on 13 Nov. 1681 and was buried at Bridge. He had straitened his fortune by building, and although his son was active locally as a Tory j.p. and militia officer, the estate had to be sold in 1704, and no other member of the family entered Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Basil Duke Henning

Notes

  • 1. Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. xlii), 215; (xliv), 24; Canterbury Mar. Lic. ed. Cowper, ii. 126; Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 55.
  • 2. Add. 29625, ff. 36v, 101, Eg. 2985, f. 66; C181/7/56.
  • 3. Hasted, Kent, ix. 288, CSP Dom. 1625-6, p. 254; 1636-7, p. 450; 1637, p. 352; 1639-40, p. 301; 1660-1, p. 152; D. Underdown, Royalist Conspiracy, 311.
  • 4. O1d Parl. Hist. xxiii. 57; CSP Dom. 1670, pp. 494, 506; Hasted, ix. 279, 288; Arch. Cant. xiv. 181.