Huntingdonshire Brokets
- The St Neots line
- Marriage Bonds
- St Neots Parish Registers
- Hunts Marriage Index
- St Neots probate records
- Sawtry
- Kimbolton
Huntingdonshire lies NE of Bedfordshire, W of Cambridgeshire and SE of Northamptonshire. Apart from a 16th C Gentleman son of Edward of Letchworth, who held land in Stow Longa, Huntingdonshire, Brokets settled in the town of St Neots in the 17-18th C and in the village of Kimbolton from c 1816-1913. There were also a couple of isolated records further north in Sawtry in the 19th C. Those in St Neots were most likely a branch of the Bedfordshire Dunton clan and after 4 generations died out or moved on, and those in Kimbolton were part of the separate Bedfordshire Grouping, and after 3 generations moved to Lincolnshire where they evolved into a large clan with members still living there and elsewhere.
1. The St Neots line
The St Neots line survived through 4 generations from the 1670s to the 1740s, beginning with Samuel and Mary, or perhaps just Mary. Mary was in St Neots at least by 1684—when she was excommunicated—and she died there, a Widow, in 1701. It isn’t known if Samuel had lived in St Neots. The couple had had their two daughters baptised c 2 m S in Little Barford 1653-5, so they were in the vicinity from the middle of the century. Their son married in St Neots in 1673 as a Butcher and presumably therefore had been there some time by then. Mary’s modest—but signed—will and the signed application for a marriage licence by her son indicate that this Broket line occupied a middling rank in local society. The eldest sons were Butchers—neither wealthy Yeomen nor Labourers. This, and the correlation of names and dates, make it virtually certain that they were a Dunton cadet line, descending from Samuel, 5th son of Edward II and Ann NEGUS:
No further records have been found of Robert son of Edward and Sarah, still alive in 1701, nor of John son of Edward and Eliza nor his brother Samuel, probably alive 1755. Other known contemporary Samuel Brokets:
1609: Samuel Brokett, baptised 2 Apr, Luton, Bedfordshire, son of Rev Edmund.1 Died London 1674.
1658: Samuel Brocket, married by Banns 28 Mar, St Mary (The Minster), Reading, Berkshire.2 Son of John of Radwell?
1669: Samuel Brocket, buried 27 May, Bures St Mary, Suffolk.3
1683: Samuel Brockett, son of John, citizen and fishmonger (deceased), apprenticed to Samuel Walton, 30 Mar, Fishmongers’ Company.4
1724: Samuel Brockett, buried 6 Feb, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, son of Richard and Sarah.5
1727: Samuel Brockett, married Mary Hornall “by Lycence” at Hertford, St Andrew, 3 Jul, both of Andrews parish.6 Perhaps the Samuel who …
1729: Samuel Brocket, buried 8 Apr, Frating, Essex, son of William and Martha Brocket.7
1731: Samuel Brocket, buried 1 Jul, Frating, Essex, son of William and Martha Brocket.8
1755: Samuel Brocket who married Eleanor BULL in Godmanchester—c 7 m NE of St Neots. Most probably this Samuel son of Edward and Eliza of St Neots.9
1759: Samuell Brockett of St Albans, Hertfordshire, admitted to Bethlem Hospital, London; discharged 1761.10
1764: Samuel Brocket, buried 11 Aug, St Albans St Peter, Hertfordshire.11 Perhaps the Samuel who married in Godmanchester 1755?
1766: Samuel Brocket, buried 30 Jun, St Albans St Peter, Hertfordshire.12 Perhaps the Samuel who married in Godmanchester 1755?
1770: Samuel Brockett, buried 26 Apr, St Peter and St Paul, Cranfield, Bedfordshire.13
1772: Samuel Brocket, buried 6 Feb, St Mary & St Helena Abbey Church, Elstow, Bedfordshire.14
2. Marriage allegations and Bonds 1663-1883
On 7 Jul 1673 Edward Brockett and Joseph ABBOTT, both Butchers of St Neots, each pledged £200 to secure a licence from the Archdeacon for Edward to marry Sarah CONINGTON, also of St Neots. The Bond is the only Broket entry in the Marriage Allegations and Bonds Index 1663-1883. The Latin bond—a printed proforma with spaces to write in names and dates—is almost identical to John son of John of Caswell’s from 1635. The wording of the English condition—also a printed proforma—is slightly different. Edward signed—his parents had sent him to school. Marriage licences, especially for marriage in one’s own church, were a socially up-market alternative to Banns, which some perceived as a little vulgar.
3. St Neots St Mary Parish Registers 1604-1920
Following are the entries in the Indexed Transcripts to St Neots St Mary Parish Register15—not in the IGI. The 1678 and 82 entries only appear in the Bishop’s Transcripts; the first St Neots Parish Register is in poor condition.
| Year | Day | Name | Event |
| 1674 | 26 Mar | Susana | Brockitt married Oliver BIGG |
| 1674 | 21 Apr | Edward | s/o Edward Brockitt baptised |
| 1675 | 31 Dec | John | s/o Edward Brockitt baptised |
| 1677/8 | 8 Mar | Robert | s/o Edward Brockitt baptised |
| 1678 | 2 Dec | Robertus | s/o Edwardus Brockitt buried16 |
| 1679 | 21 Nov | Mary | d/o Edward Brockitt baptised |
| 1682 | 2 Sep | Mary | d/o Edward Brockitt buried17 |
| 1683 | 11 May | Robert | s/o Edward Brockitt baptised |
| 1686 | 29 Sep | Edward | Brockitt senr. buried |
| 1692 | 30 May | William | s/o Sarah Brockitt Widow buried |
| 1693 | 29 Aug | John | Brockitt buried |
| 1701 | 1 Oct | Mary | Brockett Widow, buried, [will] |
| 1713 | 1 Dec | Edw. | Brocket married Eliza BETTS |
| 1714/5 | 20 Jan | John | s/o Edwd and Eliza Brocket, Butcher baptised |
| 1716/7 | 15 Feb | Butler | s/o Edwd and Eliza Brocket, Butcher baptised |
| 1718 | 3 Aug | Butler | s/o Edw Brocket buried |
| 1719 | 30 Aug | Mary | d/o Edwd and Eliza Brocket, Butcher baptised |
| 1722 | 7 Oct | Saml. | s/o Edwd and Eliza Brocket, lab. baptised |
| 1726 | 24 Apr | Ann | d/o Edwd and Eliza Brocket, Butcher baptised |
| 1728 | 14 May | Ann | d/o Edw Brocket buried |
| 1731 | 31 Oct | Robert | s/o Edwd and Eliza Brocket, Butcher baptised |
| 1732/3 | 27 Feb | Robert | s/o Edw Brocket buried |
| 1739 | 5 Sep | Mary | Brockett sp[inster] buried 18 |
| 1740 | 1 Dec | Elizabeth | wife of Edwd Brockett buried |
| 1741 | 9 Dec | Edward | Butcher buried |
4. Hunts Marriage Index 1601-1837
The 3 volumes of the Hunts Marriage Index span 1601-1837 and have the following 8 Broket entries.19 The first 4 all belong to the St Neots line and the second 4 to the later Kimbolton and Souldrop clans:
| Year | Name | Event |
| 1674 | Susana Brockitt | to Oliver BIGG in St Neots |
| 1678 | Mariam Brockett | to Robert WHITCHURCH in Southoe—c 2 m N of St Neots |
| 1713 | Edw. Brocket | to Eliza BETTS in St Neots |
| 1755 | Samuel Brocket | to Eleanor BULL in Godmanchester—c 7 m NE of St Neots |
| 1826 | Susan Brocket | to Samuel ROBISON in Kimbolton |
| 1833 | Thomas Brocket | to Hannah ABRAHAMS in Kimbolton |
| 1835 | Daniel Brocket | to Sarah ABRAHAMS in Kimbolton |
| 1837 | Daniel Brocket | of Souldrop to Mary GREEN in Hail Weston—c 5 m SE of Kimbolton |
5. St Neots probate records
Only one St Neots Broket Will or administration is recorded proved in the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon Wills and Administrations Indexes, that of Mary Brocket of St Neots, Widow, 30 Oct 1701.20 She would have been the same Mary Brocket of St Neots parish, who—along with John Nutter, William Lake, Thomas Laundey, Thomas Payne and Daniel Eaton—was excommunicated 1684.21
She was most probably the wife of a Dunton Broket, and ancestress of the St Neots line which survived through to the mid 18th C. She died there 1701, leaving a Will.
2. August in the yeare of our lord 1700: I Mary Brocket of St Neotts
3. Widow being of a sound and perfect Memory praised be god Read more
Signed by Mary in a very shaky hand.
6. Sawtry Parish Registers 1604-1886
Sawtry is c 16 m N of St Neots on the main north road.
6.1. St Andrew
The Indexed Transcript of Parish Registers 1604-1886 has no Broket baptisms or marriages, only 1 burial: 7 Nov 1826 Ann23 Brockett, aged 58, ie b c 1768. She may have been a Broket by marriage, but it isn’t clear who she was. Ann didn’t leave a Will or administration among the Huntingdon Archdeaconry probate records.
6.2. Sawtry All Saints
The Burial Register 1813-184824 also has only 1 burial: 18 Apr 1831 William Brocket of this parish, aged 73, ie b c 1758—mistranscribed as Brochet in the draft transcript. William didn’t leave a Will or administration among the Huntingdon Archdeaconry probate records. His parentage isn’t obvious.
Page Last Updated: April 7, 2020
[1] Parish Register, transcription from FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[2] Berkshire Family History Society's transcription of the Berkshire Marriages Index, transcript on FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[3] Suffolk Family History Society's transcription of the National Burial Index For England & Wales, transcript on FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[4] London Apprenticeship Abstracts, 1442-1850, transcript on FMP 27 Jan 2020.
[5] Parish Register, image accessed from FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[6] Parish Register, image accessed from FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[7] Essex Burial Index 1530-1994, Essex Record Office reference D/P 349/1/2; 3 Apr according to the Essex Society for Family History's transcription of the National Burial Index For England & Wales, transcript on FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[8] Essex Burial Index 1530-1994, Essex Record Office reference D/P 349/1/2; Also the Essex Society for Family History's transcription of the National Burial Index For England & Wales, transcript on FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[9] Parish Register, transcription from FMP 28 Jan 2020; Boyd's 1st miscellaneous marriage index, 1415-1808.
[10] Bethlem Hospital Patient Admission Registers And Casebooks 1683-1932, Archive reference ARA-11, p 154, image accessed from FMP 20 Jan 2020.
[11] Parish Register, image accessed from FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[12] Parish Register, image accessed from FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[13] Parish Register, transcription by Bedfordshire Family History Society, accessed from FMP 28 Jan 2020.
[14] National Burial Index For England & Wales, transcribed by Bedfordshire Family History Society,
[15] 1604-1900, Baptisms 1604-1920
[16] Bishop's Transcripts
[17] Bishop's Transcripts
[18] Bishop's Transcripts: Brocket
[19] None recorded in the IGI.
[20] Written 22 Aug 1700.
[21] Archd Hunts AH12/267/79
[22] The will clearly names Susanna Bigg as executrix and the probate Susanna Briggs.
[23] Bishop's Transcripts: Anne
[24] HP74/1/4/1