Brand, John

John Brand, (born Aug. 19, 1744, Washington, Durham, Eng.—died Sept. 11, 1806, London), British antiquary and topographer who contributed to the study of English folklore with the publication of Observations on Popular Antiquities: Including the Whole of Mr. Bourne’s Antiquitates Vulgares (1777).

Ordained in 1773, Brand occupied positions as a teacher and curate in and near Newcastle upon Tyne until 1784, when he received financial benefits from the Duke of Northumberland, to whom he became a personal chaplain in 1786. His Observations, an expansion of Henry Bourne’s general survey (1725) of the traditions and seasonal rites of the English peasantry, cataloged and described the origins of many customs, celebrations, superstitions, and other considerations of folklore. Brand also published The History and Antiquities of the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2 vol. (1789), and many papers in Archaeologia.