Introduction

Biography

Son of a wealthy Lin­coln­shire fa­mi­ly, Brack­en­bu­ry at­tend­ed Fel­sted School, and ma­tri­cu­lat­ed at St. Ca­the­rine’s Hall (now St. Ca­the­rine’s College), Cam­bridge, but left with­out gra­du­at­ing.

He joined the Wes­leys, and be­came a Me­tho­dist min­is­ter. In that ca­pa­ci­ty he vi­sit­ed Guern­sey, Jer­sey and the .

In 1779, he built a Me­tho­dist chapel above the st­ables in the grounds of his es­tate in Raith­by. He al­so con­struct­ed Raith­by Hall around this time. The cha­pel was com­plet­ed be­fore the house, which was just a shell when John Wes­ley vi­sit­ed Brack­en­bu­ry in Ju­ly 1779 to open the cha­pel.

Wesley held Brack­en­bury in high re­gard and, de­spite his ne­ver be­ing or­dained, ap­point­ed him to be part of the Le­gal Hun­dred, a con­fer­ence of es­teemed min­is­ters who ad­vised Wes­ley and gave guid­ance on the ap­point­ment of preach­ers.

Wesley writes of his trips to Raith­by and Brack­en­bury’s home fond­ly. After a vi­sit in 1779, he wrote that he could not but ob­serve, while the land­lord and his ten­ants were stand­ing to­ge­ther, how Love, like Death, mak­eth all dis­tinct­ions void.

Brackenbury re­tired in 1789.

Works

• Select Hymns in 2 Parts (Lon­don: 1795)
• Sacred Po­ems, in 3 Parts (Lon­don: 1797)
• Sacred Po­et­ry; or Hymns on the Prin­ci­pal His­to­ries of the Old and New Tes­ta­ments and on All the Pa­ra­bles (Lon­don: 1800)