{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Use British English|date=August 2025}}

'''Thomas Brerewood''' (c.1670 – 22 December 1746), was a 'Gentleman Entrepreneur & Fraudster'. He was involved with the "Pitkin Affair" of 1705, a bankruptcy fraud committed with his business partner Thomas Pitkin that was surpassed in scale only by the South Sea Bubble of 1720. Brerewood was eventually pardoned and was able to rebuild his fortune. From 1741, to his death on 22 December 1746, Brerewood held office as the clerk of Baltimore County.

{{Infobox UK legislation | short_title = Thomas Brerewood's Estate and Thomas Pitkins' Creditors Act 1706 | type = Act | parliament = Parliament of England | long_title = An Act to subject the Estate of Thomas Brerewood to the Creditors of Thomas Pitkin, notwithstanding any Agreement or Composition made by the Creditors of the said Thomas Pitkin. | year = 1706 | citation = {{ubli|6 Ann. c. 23{{efn|name=StatutesOfTheRealm|This is the citation in ''The Statutes of the Realm''.}}|5 Ann. c. 23{{efn|name=StatutesAtLarge|This is the citation in ''The Statutes at Large''.}}}} | territorial_extent = England and Wales | royal_assent = 8 April 1707 | commencement = 3 December 1706{{efn|Start of session.}} | repeal_date = 30 July 1948 | repealing_legislation = Statute Law Revision Act 1948 | related_legislation = Thomas Pitkin's Bankruptcy Act 1704 | status = Repealed | original_text = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000033905846&seq=660 | collapsed = yes }}

== Early life == Thomas Brerewood was born circa 1670 to a well-known Chester family. He was the son of Henry Brerewood, and a grandson of Sir Robert Brerewood.<ref name="Kadens">{{cite journal |last1=Kadens |first1=Emily |title=The Pitkin Affair: A Study of Fraud in Early English Bankruptcy |journal=American Bankruptcy Law Journal |date=3 January 2011 |volume=84 |ssrn=1734579 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1734579 |access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref><ref>American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Vol. 84, p. 483, 2010 "The Pitkin Affair: A Study of Fraud in Early English Bankruptcy" by Professor Emily Kadens, University of Texas at Austin, School of Law, http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?59+Duke+L.+J.+1229+pdf</ref> He was apprenticed to his uncle, Francis Brerewood, Treasurer of Christ's Hospital, London in June 1686 and admitted to the Fishmongers' Company in 1699.{{fact|date=September 2025}}

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == * Risk and Failure in English Business 1700-1800, Julian Hoppit, Cambridge University Press, 2002 {{ISBN|0-521-89087-X}} (''Dr Julian Hoppit is Astor Professor of British History at ''University College London) {{reflist|2}} {{DNB|wstitle=Brerewood, Thomas}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brerewood, Thomas}} Category:1748 deaths Category:18th-century English criminals Category:18th-century English poets Category:People from Cheshire Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:People from Monkton, Maryland Category:English male poets Category:18th-century English male writers Category:18th-century English writers Category:18th-century English businesspeople