Joseph Lloyd Brereton - Life

Life

Brereton was born on 19 October 1822 at Little Massingham Rectory, near King's Lynn. He was third son of eleven children of Charles David Brereton (1790–1868), for forty-seven years rector of Little Massingham, by his wife Frances (1796–1880), daughter of Joseph Wilson of Highbury Hill, Middlesex, and Stowlangtoft Hall, Suffolk. The father was an influential writer on poor law and agricultural questions between 1825 and 1828. Brereton's youngest brother, Robert Maitland Brereton, became a railway and civil engineer.

Brereton was educated at Islington proprietary school under Dr. John Jackson, afterwards bishop of London, and at Rugby under Dr. Thomas Arnold (1838–41). He gained a scholarship at University College, Oxford, in 1842, obtained the Newdigate prize for a poem on the Battle of the Nile in 1844, and graduated B.A. in 1846 and M.A. in 1857. During his university education he was granted leave on account of illness. It was during this time he started employment as a private tutor with wealthy families, a practice he continued for many years.

Taking holy orders, Brereton held curacies at St. Edmund's in Norwich, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, and St. James's, Paddington (1847–50). While in London and with the help from his family, he edited a quarterly journal, The Anglo Saxon, which contained articles celebrating English culture and history for consumption in England and throughout the English speaking world. The popular author, Martin Farquhar Tupper was a frequent contributor. The journal promoted and reported on the grand celebration held on 25 October 1849 at Wantage of the millennium of the birth of Alfred the Great.

From 1852 to 1867 Brereton was rector of West Buckland, Devon, and in 1867 he took over from his father as rector of Little Massingham, where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1882 Brereton, with his brother, General John Alfred Brereton, was severely injured in a railway accident between Cambridge and Ely, which interrupted for some years his public work.

On 25 June 1852 Brereton married Frances, daughter of William Martin, rector of Staverton, Devon, and they had five sons and six daughters. Brereton died on 15 August 1901, and was buried in Little Massingham churchyard.