John Brereton

John Brereton (ca. 1571/1572 - ca. 1632) was a gentleman adventurer and chronicler of the 1602 voyage to the New World led by Bartholomew Gosnold.

Brereton recorded the first European exploration of Cape Cod and its environs. His account, published in 1602, helped promote the possibilities of English colonization in what was then known as "the North part of Virginia" and would later become known as New England.

Twentieth century historians such as Gookin and Quinn have identified John Brereton as a clergyman who was born and lived in East Anglia. The son of Cuthbert Brereton, a sheriff of Norwich, he was born around 1571/72 and was educated at Norwich School, before being admitted as a pensioner at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge aged seventeen on 17 January 1589. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1593, and proceeded to Master of Arts by seniority in 1596. He took holy orders, being ordained deacon priest by the Bishop of Norwich and in 1598 was appointed curate of Lawshall, Suffolk.

It was probably through this appointment in Suffolk that Brereton came into contact with Gosnold, who lived nearby, and also with the notable Elizabethan author, Richard Hakluyt, who had published numerous accounts of travels and voyages of discovery, especially in America.

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