Sir Basil Firebrace, 1st Baronet

Firebrace was the second son of Sir Henry Firebrace, a courtier to both Charles I and Charles II, and Elizabeth Dowell; he was born in 1652.[1]

Firebrace became a vintner and supplier of wines to the royal household.[2] He went into partnership with Samuel Shepheard.[3] He was Sheriff of London in 1687, and knighted; he was also appointed Colonel of the Orange Regiment of the London militia.[1] He was admitted into the Worshipful Company of Vintners the following year and became an Alderman for Billingsgate.[4][5]

He was elected MP for Chippenham as a Tory on 9 December 1690, but the election was declared void almost a year later, on 1 December 1691, and was re-run on 14 December. He again won but an election petition unseated him in favour of Thomas Tollemache on 22 January 1692.[6] In 1694 he purchased West Lodge, Enfield Chase, where he resided until 1716.[7]

Contemporary pamphlet detailing Parliamentary proceedings against Firebrace and others

Firebrace also became a prominent figure in the East India Company[8] and was imprisoned in the Tower of London by Parliament for bribery and fraud in relation to its activities.[9][10] In April 1695 the House of Lords ordered that he be kept in "close confinement", having no contact with other prisoners.[11] He was perhaps more of a go-between than a principal,[12] and although criticised for his entrepreneurialism, he was eventually acquitted of all charges.[13]

He was appointed 1st Baronet Firebrace in 1698 by King William III.,[14] was bankrupted in 1701 and again imprisoned, for stabbing a creditor.[2]

He married Elizabeth, the daughter of merchant Thomas Hough on 7 September 1671, at St Margaret's, Westminster.[1]

They produced five children, two of whom, Basil and Thomas, died in infancy.[7] Of the survivors, Hester (c. 1675- c.1725) married Basil Feilding, 4th Earl of Denbigh, Charles (1680–1727) later inherited the baronetcy[14] and their final child, George, was born in 1681.[7]

Firebrace died on 7 May 1724;[2] W. H. Auden was among his descendants.[15]

• Beaven, Alfred P. (1908). The Aldermen of the City of London. British History Online.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets