James Bramston (bishop)

James Yorke Bramston (15 March 1763 – 11 July 1836) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Vicar Apostolic of the London District from 1827 until his death in 1836.

The Right Reverend

James Yorke Bramston
Vicar Apostolic of the London District
SeeLondon District
Appointed4 February 1823 (Coadjutor)
Installed26 November 1827
Term ended11 July 1836
PredecessorWilliam Poynter
SuccessorThomas Griffiths
Other post(s)Titular Bishop of Usula
Orders
Ordination1801
Consecration29 June 1823
by William Poynter
Personal details
Born(1763-03-15)15 March 1763
Died11 July 1836(1836-07-11) (aged 73)
London, England
NationalityEnglish
DenominationRoman Catholic
Alma materEnglish College, Lisbon

Biography

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Born in Oundle, Northamptonshire, Bramston was educated at Oundle School and Lincoln's Inn, where he studied for nearly four years under the Roman Catholic conveyancer Charles Butler,[1] and became a lawyer.[2]

Following his conversion to Catholicism in 1790, he studied theology at the English College, Lisbon and was ordained a priest in 1801.[3] Then he worked as a missionary in the apostolic vicariates of the Midland District and the London District, of which he became vicar general in 1812.[4]

On 4 February 1823, Bramston was appointed Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of the London District and Titular Bishop of Usula by Pope Pius VII.[3] He received his episcopal consecration on the following 29 June from Bishop William Poynter, with Bishops Peter Collingridge, O.F.M., and Peter Augustine Baines, O.S.B., serving as co-consecrators.[3] He succeeded Bishop Poynter as Vicar Apostolic of the London District upon the latter's death on 26 November 1827.[3]

In 1834, in his private chapel in London, Bramston consecrated as a bishop the Benedictine Bede Polding, vicar apostolic of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land and the adjoining islands,[5]

By 1835, London contained 16 churches, 35 priests, and 150,000 Catholics.[4]

Bramston died at the age of 73, on 11 July 1836. His funeral Mass was held at St. Mary's Church in Moorfields, where he was buried; his heart, however, was interred at St Edmund's College, Ware.[6]

References

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  1. ^ The Dictionary of National Biography seems to have confused him with his brother, John William Bramston, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. G. Martin Murphy, 'Bramston, James Yorke (1763–1836)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2007, accessed 13 December 2009.
  2. ^ Ward, Bernard. History of St. Edmund's College, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1893, p. 235  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ a b c d "Bishop James Yorke Bramston". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  4. ^ a b Brady, William Maziere. The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875.
  5. ^ Nairn, Bede. "Polding, John Bede (1794–1877)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1967
  6. ^ Bradford,Charles Angell (1933). Heart Burial. London: Allen & Unwin. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-162-77181-6.
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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Vicar Apostolic of the London District
1827–1836
Succeeded by