Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Garbrand, John (1542-1589)
GARBRAND, or Herks, JOHN (1542–1589), prebendary of Salisbury and friend of Bishop Jewel, was born at Oxford in 1542. Before that date his father, Garbrand Herks or Herks Garbrand, a Dutch protestant, fled from religious persecution in his native country, and settled as a bookseller at Bulkeley Hall, in St. Mary's parish, Oxford. In 1546 he was licensed to add wine to his commodities. At the beginning of Edward VI's reign he purchased many libraries from the suppressed monasteries, some of which subsequently entered the Bodleian Library. As early as 1551 he regularly supplied books to Magdalen College (Bloxam, Reg. ii. 273). In 1556 his house was ‘a receptacle for the chiefest protestants,’ who worshipped in a cellar there (Wood, Annals, ed. Gutch, ii. 107). The refugee had many sons, some of whom carried on the bookselling business in the later years of the century. Richard Garbrand was admitted a bookseller at Oxford 5 Dec. 1573, and was alive in 1590 (Oxf. Univ. Reg. ii. i. 321). Thomas, born in 1539, was probationary fellow of Magdalen College from 1557 to 1570 (B.A. 1558, M.A. 1562), and was senior proctor 1565–6 (Bloxam, iv. 145). William, born in 1549, was also fellow of Magdalen from 1570 to 1577 (B.A. 1570, M.A. 1574), when he seems to have been suspended for insubordination (ib. iv. 165). Four members of the third generation of the same family are often met with. Ambrose, born at Oxford in 1584, received the privileges of an Oxford citizen in 1601 (Oxf. Univ. Reg. ii. i. 398), and in 1616 was a chief officer of the London Stationers' Company (Arber, Transcript, vol. iii.) John, born in 1585, was a scholar of Winchester in 1596, fellow of New College, Oxford, from 1606 to 1608 (B.A. in 1603–4, M.A. in 1608), and pursued the bookseller's trade at Oxford, dying about 1618, when his widow Martha remarried Christopher Rogers, principal of New Inn Hall (Kirby, Winchester Scholars, p. 157; Oxf. Univ. Reg. ii. i. 323, ii. 269, iii. 279). Tobias, born in 1579 [see under Garbrand, John, fl. 1695)], and Nicholas, born in 1600, were both of Magdalen. The latter was demy 1614–19, fellow from 1619 to 1639 (B.A. 1618, M.A. 1621, B.D. 1631); vicar of Washington, Sussex, 2 Sept. 1638 to 1671, vicar of Patching, Sussex, 1660–71, prebendary of Chichester 1660–9 (Bloxam, v. 43). As late as the end of the seventeenth century the family name was often written Garbrand, alias Herks.
John, one of the younger sons of Herks Garbrand, entered Winchester College in 1556, was admitted probationary fellow of New College, Oxford, 24 March 1560, and perpetual fellow in 1562, proceeding B.A. 22 April 1563, and M.A. 25 Feb. 1566–7. In 1565 Bishop Jewel, who was friendly with Garbrand's father, presented him to a prebendal stall in Salisbury Cathedral, where he subsequently held two other prebends. In 1567 he left Oxford to become rector of North Crawley, Buckinghamshire. In 1568 he was incorporated M.A. at Cambridge, and on 5 July 1582 proceeded B.D. and D.D. at Oxford. Until 1578 he was a prebendary of Wells, and for some time he was rector of Farthingstone, Northamptonshire, to the poor of which parish he gave 5l. (Bridges, Northamptonshire, i. 64). He died at North Crawley on 17 Nov. 1589, and was buried in the church. An inscription describes him as ‘a benefactor to the poor.’ Like his father and patron Jewel Garbrand was a puritan. When Jewel died in 1571 he bequeathed his papers to Garbrand, who by will devised them to Dr. Robert Chaloner and Dr. John Rainolds. Garbrand edited from Jewel's manuscripts three volumes of works by the bishop: 1. ‘A View of a Seditious Bul’ and ‘A short Treatise of the Holie Scriptures,’ London, 1582, with preface by Garbrand. 2. ‘Certaine Sermons preached … at Paules Crosse’ and ‘A Treatise of the Sacraments,’ London, 1583, with dedication by the editor to Lords Burghley and Leicester, and Latin verses before the treatise. 3. ‘Exposition upon Paul's two epistles to the Thessalonians,’ London, 1583, with dedication by Garbrand to Sir Francis Walsingham. Garbrand wrote prefatory Latin verses for Wilson's ‘Discourse upon Usurie,’ 1572. Six letters in Dutch, dated in 1586, from J. Garbront to Herle, concerning naval affairs, are in Brit. Mus. Cat. Cotton. MS. Galba C. ix. ff. 253, 265, 283. Garbrand bequeathed some books to New College, Oxford.
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 64, 544; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 556; Jewel's Works, ed. Ayre (Parker Soc.); Oxford Univ. Reg. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. ii. passim; Wood's Fasti, ed. Bliss, vol. i. passim; Le Neve's Fasti.]