The family of the Bretts ‘came over with the Conqueror’, and the name is to be found on the battle roll of Hastings. The old name was again brought prominently forward by the then head of the family, Sir Richard Lebrett, being one of the knights concerned in the slaying of Thomas À Beckett, and again when Captain Brett of the City Trained Bands, took up arms, under Sir Thomas Wyatt, in the cause of Princess Elizabeth against her sister, Queen Mary. … [Edwin’s] father was an officer in the British Army, and served through the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Peninsular, and Waterloo. Soon after Waterloo he retired from the service, and married, living to the honoured old age of just ninety. Mr. Brett’s mother as a cousin of the celebrated Lady Mary Small, and it was doubtless from…
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Citation: Collins, Dick. "Edwin John Brett". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12538, accessed 23 November 2024.]