Family and Education

b. aft.1673, 1st s. of George Bruere alias Brewer of M. Temple, London, dep. auditor of the excise, by Mary, da. of Alexander Weld of Wildbury Hill, Herts. m. bef. 1701, Frediswede (d. 1740), da. of Sir William Goulston† of Whitechapel, Mdx. and Fairfield, Kent, 4s. (1 d.v.p.) 1 da., 6 o. ch. suc. fa. 1713.1

Offices Held

Biography

Bruere’s father served as deputy auditor of the excise and had chambers in the Middle Temple until they were sold in 1700 to pay debts, but managed to retain his office until his death in June 1713. Bruere himself owed his election at Great Marlow to his close relationship to Sir James Etheridge*, his wife’s stepfather. (A secondary relationship was that Bruere’s mother was the daughter of Etheridge’s stepfather.) Bruere probably came to reside in Marlow after his marriage to Etheridge’s stepdaughter.2

Bruere was certainly prominent enough to accompany Etheridge in 1702 in presenting the borough’s address of congratulation on the accession of Queen Anne, a role he performed again in 1704 and 1706. At the general election of 1710 he stood for Marlow on Etheridge’s interest, and tied for the second seat with James Chase*. Although there was a double return, Chase waived his claims and Bruere was seated on 9 Dec. Classed as a Tory on the ‘Hanover list’, Bruere was also named as one of the ‘worthy patriots’ who helped detect the mismanagements of the late administration during the opening session of the Parliament. He was appointed to the drafting committee of the Aylesbury–Bicester road bill early in 1712. In July following, with Etheridge, he presented the Marlow address asking for peace and an end to Whig warmongering. He voted on 18 June 1713 for the French commerce bill. Re-elected in 1713, he appeared as a Tory in the Worsley list. Having presented the borough’s address on the accession of George I, he was left out of the commission of the peace, despite taking the oaths in October 1714.3

Etheridge seems to have stood down in Bruere’s favour in 1715 and after his return he was described as a ‘whimsical’ Tory on a list classifying those MPs who had been re-elected. Bruere continued to sit until 1722, by which time Etheridge had sold his main estate to Sir John Guise, 3rd Bt.* Bruere voted for the Tory candidates for the county in 1722, although in 1727 he appears to have acted for Robert Walpole II* in Great Marlow. It was the beneficiary of his intervention on that occasion, John Clavering†, who ensured that he regained his place on the county bench in March 1728. Bruere was buried on 1 Feb. 1743 at Great Marlow.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

• 1. Mar. Lic. Vicar-Gen. (Harl. Soc. xxiii), 215; Misc. Gen. et Her. n.s. i. 213; i. 326–7; Cal. Treas. Bks. xxix. 649.
• 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. ix. 1227, 1274; xvii. 49; xxix. 649; M. Temple Mins. iii. 1474; Misc. Gen. et Her. n.s. i. 213.
• 3. London Gazette, 30 Apr.–4 May 1702, 12–16 Oct. 1704, 29 July–1 Aug. 1706; Post Boy, 8–10 July 1712; Misc. Gen. et Her. n.s. i. 215; Bucks. Sess. Recs. iv. 90.
• 4. Add. 61602, ff. 104, 108, 114; Misc. Gen. et Her. n.s. i. 215; Bucks. Poll 1722 (IHR), 67.