Laurence Braddon
Laurence Braddon (died 29 November 1724), was an English politician and writer. He believed that Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex was murdered, and was found guilty of a number of crimes committed in the process of attempting to prove this. Biography Braddon was the second son of William Braddon of Treworgy, in St Gennys, Cornwall and studied law at the Inner Temple. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1681. When Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex died in the Tower in 1683, Braddon believed that he had been murdered, and worked to collect sufficient evidence to prove the murder. He set on foot inquiries on the subject in London, and when a rumour reached him that the news of the earl's death was known at Marlborough on the very day of, if not before, the occurrence, he posted off. When his action became known at court, he was arrested and put under restraint. For a time he was let out on bail, but on 7 February 1683/4 he was tried with Hugh Speke at the king's bench on the accusation of conspiring to spread the belief that the Earl of Essex was murdered by some