Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Thomas Brett
Thomas Brett,
DIVINE, AND CONTROVERSIAL WRITER,
Was a native of Betteshanger, where he was born in 1667. He was educated at the Grammar School of Wye, whence he proceeded to Queen's College, Cambridge, thence to Corpus Christi, 1689. On taking his degree, in the same year, he made no scruple of taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance to William III, having been brought up in Whig principles; but some years later, in 1705, he began to have doubts, and finally joined the party of the Non-jurors. Before this he held successively the livings of Betteshanger and of Ruckinge. The latter he resigned in 1715, and lived the remainder of his life in obscurity, till his death in 1743.
He was a voluminous writer of controversial pieces. His "Dissertation on the principal Liturgies of the Christian Church," published 1720, has been highly commended. In 1743 was published his "Letter to a Clergyman," showing why our English Bibles differ so much from the Septuagint, though both are translated from the Hebrew Original.
[See "Chalmer's Biographical Dictionary," "Nichols's, Literary Anecdotes," "Allibone's Dictionary of Authors."]