Brame
The Brame surname is frequently encountered in the history of Stowupland. As our research finds a mention of a Brame it will be posted here but it does not imply there is a family conection between them.
In his unpublished memoir the Rev Leslie Brame wrote that ‘the ‘family name of Brame or Brem could be traced back to the Domesday Book…in the Stowe Hundred…and the Brame family has been represented in the village ever since, mostly as farmers; I seem to have been the last Brame in the area, and here I am in New Zealand without male progeny’. He did have a daughter.
Edmund Brame (age 2), son of Edmund died 09/11/1852 after drinking hot water out of a tea kettle. (Stowmarket LHG archive, data collated by Steve Williams).
Between 1904 and 1916 a George Brame was at Walnut Tree Cottage before moving to Poole’s farm (on The Green).
Kellys 1912 & 1916 names as farmers George Brame at Walnut Tree Farm and a Thos. Wm Brame at Poole’s Farm.
Harriet Brame
In 1939 a widowed Harriet Brame, (b 6/6/1870) was living on the Green with Lily Lummas (b 3/12/1901), Florence Coote (b 13/5/04) and Donald Coote (b26/10/1933)
Thomas G Brame (b.20/1/1908) see Pooles Farm and George Ramply’s condemned cottage.
Mary G Brame (b.19/12/1909)
In 1939 Thomas is a farmer living on the Green, between Harriet on one side and Mr Walter and Mrs Dulcie Rampley on the other.
Sarah Brame
Mother of Thomas William Brame (known as Will) . At the age of 90 she went to live with her son Thomas and daighter-in-law Ruth, but after 5 years as she required round -the-clock nursing the reluctant decision was taken for her to be admitted to a hospital for the elderly infirm or workhouse (i.e. Stow Lodge in Stomarket). Apparently the hospital had been revamped and although Sarah was on a ward with 50 other patients (no longer known as inmates) the care was not as bad as anticipated and Sarah remained there for 3 years.
A photo of Leslie Brame with his parents Ruth and Thomas (although he was known as Will or William). In 1952 the Bury Free Press published an article on the life of Leslie’s father, see Mr T.Brame. Thomas/WIlliam was born in Earl Stonham in the late 1800s and although officially retired was still working at the age of 79. He was a keen gardener, member of Stowupland Over 60’s Club, a lay preacher and respected member of the Congregational Church. This photo was taken outside a house in Church Walk, Stowupland (Our thanks to a later resident Albert Cooper who recognized the porch)
Family of Thomas William (known as Will or William) and Ruth (ne Robinson) Brame (from Leslie’s autobiography). Thomas and Ruth were cousins but they were married April 20th, 1898.
Reginald William was born May 21st, 1899, died 1993. He is not recorded in the 1939 Stowupland register so maybe married and moved away. The registration district for his death is recorded aas ‘Waveney.’ It is assumed this was an error and was the name of the house where he died.
Miriam Ruth – from the Bury Free Press 27th Nove 1953. ‘School teacher and keen church worker Miss Miriam Ruth Brame daughter of Mr W. Brame and the late Mrs Brame of Church Walk, Stowupland was married Saturday at the Congregtional Church, Stowupland. Her bridegroom was Mr William Stevens of Mill Street, Stowupland and Rev N.B. Frost officiated. The bride was given away by her brother Mr. R. Brame. She carried a spray of gold freesias and wore gold crepe chine. (Retreived by Neil Lnagridge 2024)
Kittie Evelyn was born October 26th 1910. Around 1934 she married Charles A. Thorpe of Howe Farm, Earl Stonham. {SLHG Archives/OS/scrapbbooks}
Leslie Alfred b 26th October 1914
Leslie remembered that when he was 3 ½ they fostered a ‘Barnados Boy’, Fred Esler (possibly the baby son of an American).
Reg was apprenticed to a printer, Miriam went into service, Kittie was trained as a shop assistant. Fred worked on a farm.
In the 1939 survey Frederick Esler (b 14th July 1918) was working as a cowman and married to Kathleen (b 20th April 1917) and they have a baby girl
The Rev Leslie Alfred Brame M.A. (Hons) Contab.
He was the son of a Stowupland carpenter and lay preacher, was born in the first year of WW1, October 26th 1914. His parents Thomas and Ruth lived in Church Walk, Stowupland. The Congregational Church in Stowupland featured largely in Leslie’s upbringing.
He attended Stowmarket County Secondary School before gaining a Bachelor of Arts from Cheshunt College, Cambridge.
At the age of 24, as Britain was heading into WW2, he was ordained to the ministry as a missionary to Northern China at Stowmarket Congregational Church . The Rev T. Cocker Brown said ‘they were sending him to the great plains in North China, composed of thousands of square miles, and filled with an unthinkable mass of humanity. He spoke of the suffering which was being endure by that hard-working rather slow-witted people through Japanese oppression and occupation. It was he said a time of tribulation and agony, but it was only a temporary state and already a new China was being forged.’
The Rev Weir reminded the new ordinand that ‘the totalitarian state was everywhere threatening to control the life of the individual… prescribing with pagan ruthlessness not only how men were to live, but how they were to worship. The Church could never be a department of the establishment and controlled by the law of the land. When Christianity started to become that kind of worship it ceased to be Christianity.’
In 1972 after working in China, Samoa and New Zealand, the Rev Brame returned home for a month stay before returning to New Zealand. He had married in China, but they returned to England in 1949 , having had to make a difficult escape into Burma as the political situation in China deteriorated. They subsequently went to Samoa but after a few years he moved to New Zealand with his wife and daughter.
The above information was taken from contemporaneous press cuttings, but in 2006 whilst living in New Zealand the Rev Brame made a record of his memories. And we are very grateful to the Congregational Church for the loan of a copy of ‘As I Remember it, Book 1, Growing up in Suffolk 1914 – 1940′.
We understand the manuscripts will be passed to Stowmarket Congregational Church.
Book 1 primarily concerns his life in Stowupland and his studies at Cambridge. Book 2 concerns his time as a missionary in China.
From the 1939 register, the Brame family were living in Church Walk, Stowupland
Thomas W.Brame (b.24/06/1873), married and a builders carpenter and wheelwright. Read more about Leslie’s father
Ruth Brame (b.09/04/1874) married and a housewife.
Leslie Alfred Brame (b. 26/10/1914, he is male, unmarried and a congregational missionary.
Leslie Greenblatt or Green (b18/08/1932) – presumably an evacuee.
Ruth Brame died in 1941. At the time her son Leslie, together with his wife Judy, were onboard a ship traveling to Shanghai on their way (eventually) to Burma away from the Japanese who were occupying the Eastern border of China. {As I remember It, Book 2, unpublished manuscript by Rev Brame}.
1953 – (Bury Free Press) ‘School teacher and keen church worker, Miss Miriam Ruth Brame (elder sister of Leslie Brame), daughter of Mr W Brame and late Mrs Brame of Church Walk, Stowupland was married Saturday at the Congregational Church, Stowupland. her bridegroom was Mr William Stevens of Hill Street, Stowupland and Rev N.B. Frost officiated. The bride was given away by her brother Mr R. Brame.’
In 1930, a press report for Miss E.Brame (was this Kittie Evelyn?) , daughter of Mrs T Brame of Church Walk was married to Mr Charles A. Thorpe of Howe Farm, Earl Stonham.
John Brame b. 1850 (in Earl Stonham) – d.1936. Although born in Earl Stonham he worked for a time at Stowupland Hall (for Mr Harwood) , living in Saxham street till the 1930s (his wife died around 1930) . His eldest son was also named John. He is buried with his youngest son Arthur Brame in Willesden.
Together with his wife they brought up a family of 6 sons and 4 daughters.
Miss Rosetta Maria Brame the daughter of Mr J.Brame and the late Mrs Brame of Saxham Street.
Capt Reginald Brame of the 5th Mid-Suffolk Stowupland Boys Brigade
Harry Brame was born in Stowupland in 1894. His parents were Frederick and Emily (ne Cobbold) Brame and in 1901 the family lived in Main Road, Stowupland. Harry was a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery 104th Heavy Brigade and he died in Iraq on 21st December 1915 at the age of 21 and is buried in Kut cemetery, Iraq.
1929 the death of George Brame of Poole Farm was announced.
Eva Gertrude Brame – d 22/7/1965 age 76
1967 Thomas Brame, Pooles Farm accepted an invitation to become a vice-president for the newly formed Stowupland Cricket Club
