Brampton Gurdon of Letton in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, was an English Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP), lawyer and a colonel of cavalry during the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

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He was the son of Brampton Gurdon

Brampton Gurdon (of Assington and Letton)

Brampton Gurdon , of Assington in Suffolk and Letton in Norfolk, was an English country gentleman and Member of Parliament .He was the son of John Gurdon , MP for Sudbury and High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1585....

 (died 1649), an MP and High Sheriff of Suffolk

High Sheriff of Suffolk

This is a list of High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually by the Crown. He was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county and presided at the Assizes and other important county meetings...

, by his second marriage. His father left him the Letton estate while passing the family's other estate (at Assington

Assington

Assington is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. Located near Sudbury, in 2005 it had a population of 380....

 in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

) to Brampton's older half-brother, John. Brampton qualified as a barrister, and in 1645 was elected a member of the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

, filling a vacancy at Sudbury

Sudbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Sudbury was a parliamentary constituency which was represented in the British House of Commons. A parliamentary borough consisting of the town of Sudbury in Suffolk, it returned two Members of Parliament from 1559 until it was disenfranchised for corruption in 1844...

, though he does not seem to have been an active member. During the Civil War he was colonel of a regiment of horse and served as a member of the court martial which condemned Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle to death after the Siege of Colchester

Siege of Colchester

The siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the English Civil War reignited in several areas of Britain. Colchester found itself in the thick of the unrest when a Royalist army on its way through East Anglia to raise support for the King, was attacked by Lord-General Thomas Fairfax...

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He married Mary Polstead, and died in 1669. He was succeeded by his son, also called Brampton Gurdon (died 1691).