Name Index to

Devonshire Briefs, Part I.

By

T.N. Brushfield, M.D.

Trans. Devon Assoc. Vol. XXVII. (1895), illus. pp. 311-357.

Prepared by Michael Steer

The Paper was presented at the Association’s July 1895 Okehampton meeting. It is for the genealogist, a treasury of names and places associated with the early records of our county’s unique history. In this informative Paper, the first in a series, the author begins a collection of “all recorded “Briefs” relating to Devonshire persons or objects, especially those dated prior to the Restoration. To this end a “Brief” is defined as "A letter patent, issued by the Sovereign as Head of the Church, licensing a collection in the churches throughout England for a specified object of charity. The instrument is also called a Church Brief, or King's Letter”. The author, Thomas Nadauld Brushfield (1828–1910) was an alienist (early psychiatrist), and antiquarian. On his retirement he settled at Budleigh Salterton, and made a study of Raleigh’s life his main focus. He became a member of the Devonshire Association in 1882, was elected to its council in 1883, and was president in 1893–4. There is an excellent biography with portrait in Wikipedia. The Paper, from a copy of a rare journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. Those on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.