Brocard Sewell

Who was Brocard Sewell?

Michael Seymour Sewell, usually now known by his religious name Brocard Sewell, was a British Carmelite friar and literary figure.

He was born in Bangkok, and brought up in Cornwall, England. He was educated at Weymouth College, leaving at 16. He became a Catholic convert in 1931. As a young man he was involved with H. D. C. Pepler in craft printing.

He became a Carmelite friar in 1952. In a subsequent career as editor, publisher, printer and writer, he commemorated and wrote up a number of lesser literary lights: Arthur Machen, Frederick Rolfe, Montague Summers, Marc-André Raffalovich, John Gray, Olive Custance, Henry Williamson. He also wrote on distributist figures and the Eric Gill and Ditchling circle. As noted by Oswald Mosley biographer Stephen Dorril, Sewell was himself a member of the Distributist League and the British Union of Fascists. He engaged during the 1960s in a high-profile controversy, speaking out against the Catholic Church's teachings on contraception.