Thomas Bromley

Effigy of Thomas Bromley, St Andrew's parish church, Wroxeter, Shropshire. Sir Thomas Bromley (died 1555) was an English judge of Shropshire landed gentry origins who came to prominence during the Mid-Tudor period. After occupying important judicial posts in the Welsh Marches, he won the favour of Henry VIII and was a member of Edward VI's regency council. He was appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench by Mary I.

Family-background Arms of Thomas Bromley, from his tomb at Wroxeter. The Visitation of Cheshire describes the Bromley arms as: "Quarterly per fess indented Gules and Or." Bromley was of a Shropshire gentry family, which traced its origins to Eccleshall in the neighbouring county of Staffordshire and the family had acquired land through marriage in other neighbouring counties. In the mid-15th century, Thomas's grandfather married an heiress from Malpas, Cheshire. Their allies, the Hills, had married apparently into the same family, not disdaining marriage for gain, although the family concerned had declined from the medieval nobility to merely yeoman status. Thomas's uncle William was married to a Hill and the two families were to prosper together in the 16th century.

A number of the Bromleys attained note as lawyers and politicians in the 16th century: Thomas's cousin George was a distinguished member of the Inner Temple: the later Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Bromley (1530–1587), and Sir George Bromley (c.1526–89), the justice of Chester, were Thomas's first cousins, once removed.

However, Thomas Bromley's own beginnings were not auspicious, as his family was a cadet branch of a then relatively minor family. The dates of his legal training suggest he was born in the early years of the 16th century, probably at the Shropshire home of his parents. He was the second son of Roger Bromley, third son of Roger Bromley of Mitley, Shropshire Jane Jennings, daughter of Thomas Jennings of Walliborne Hall, Church Pulverbatch.

Family tree: the Bromley dynasty

The relationship between the Bromley politicians and lawyers of the 16th century, and between them and their allies in the Hill, Corbet and Newport families, is illustrated in the family tree, c.1450–1650. Based primarily on the Heraldic Visitations of Shropshire and Cheshire, with assistance from the History of Parliament Online.

Legal training The Bromleys were already involved with the Law. George Bromley, Thomas's elder cousin, was an important member of the Inner Temple and had been appointed Autumn Reader for 1508 and Lent Reader for 1509, although he recused himself when so honoured for Lent 1515. The first evidence of Thomas Bromley's legal career dates from May 1519, when he was suspended by the parliament of the Inner Temple for offensive behaviour toward the chief governor: "Order that Widdon and Brumley, the younger, be sent out of commons because they evilly behaved themselves towards Master Sutton, the chief governor, at the time of the last vacation." His penitence was duly recorded in the Law French still widely employed by lawyers at the time: "Thomas Bromele permitte et graunte all compeney de le Inner Tempell de paier mes commons et auteres duetes en le dit Tempell, et de etre goveryn et redresse par les governers et par le dit compeney, et de obaier et performer totes maners ordnaunces de le compeney de le dit Tempell, sur payne detre oust a tous jourz. Pleg, John Whiddon, Thomas Newton" This was followed by a similar undertaking from Whiddon.

Despite his "youthful indiscretion", In November 1528, as Whiddon, his former accomplice, was reappointed Reader for the following Lent, Bromley was appointed as one of the auditors to the Treasurer of the Inner Temple. After attending the Lent Reader for two successive years, in May 1533 Bromley was at last elected Reader for the following autumn. By February 1534 his standing was such that the Inn admitted one William Walter on his recommendation, free of all charges apart from the cost of his wine. In June 1539 Bromley was appointed serjeant-at-law by Henry VIII. He was immediately declared the next Autumn Reader, as was the custom. The records of the Inner Temple show that he refused the honour and was fined £10. However the entry recording this is crossed out, and it is not recorded whether Bromley retracted and performed the office or was pardoned. In November 1539, he was appointed Reader for Lent 1540, but two others were nominated as reserves. All three were honoured in this way in recognition of their appointment as serjeants-at-law. In the event, Bromley did not lecture for the full term but was replaced by one of his attendants after the second week, "in consideracion that it apperyd suche debylete in the seyde Thomas Bromley that he was not lyke too have keppyd owte the hole redyng in the seyde vacacion of Lente." The precise nature of his "debility" is unknown but it appears to have affected him often. Hence it probably lists those likely to oppose the Statute in Restraint of Appeals, a key piece of Reformation legislation. Bromley is listed twice: an entry near the head has been crossed out and he is named again at the foot of the list. His presence on the list means that he had displeased Cromwell. It is also fairly certain evidence that he did sit as an MP for at least some of the parliament after being returned in a by-election. His constituency is unknown but Lostwithiel and Lancaster have been suggested. Once again, his cousin George had beaten the path, becoming Recorder of Shrewsbury

Thomas Bromley secured the freedom of Shrewsbury in 1528 and in 1529 admission to the Drapers' Company of Shrewsbury. it was one of the two guilds that dominated this cloth town (the other being the Mercers). Around 1532 he became Warden of the Company, – a post he was to hold until his death. In 1536 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace in Shropshire. By 1537 he had been appointed Recorder of Shrewsbury: Between 1539 and 1547, Hill invested a substantial part of his commercial wealth in great quantities of landed property in Shropshire and the neighbouring counties that had been made available by the dissolution of the monasteries or the abolition of chantries and colleges. Bromley speculated in some of Hill's deals Similarly, near Stanton Long, he bought Oxenbold, partly in the parish of Monkhopton, and a former manor of Wenlock Priory, from John Jennings, and in 1545 added to it the neighbouring estate of Patton.

As his status nationally rose through judicial preferment, Bromley was able to shift and consolidate his regional power. He became a Justice of the Peace in the Marcher counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire during 1540–1. Lee was a ruthless reformer, determined to stamp out corruption and to establish a reputation for the organs of justice in his region. Seeing Bromley as a natural ally, he wrote to Cromwell in 1536 and 1537, recommending him for promotion. The parliament of the Inner Temple decreed a traditional ceremony of leave-taking for them.

"Memorandum that att this parlement it is orderyd that Master Conysby and Master Bromley, wiche procedit serjant crastino Johannis, shall have, every off them, fyve pounde and a pere off glovys off iijd., accordynge too the ancient use, wiche wer delyveryd unto them, etc., att ther departynges att the hall dore of Temple, after ther proposission and leve takyn att the fyer."

Coningsby was dead within three-month but Bromley was promoted still further, to King's Serjeant, by November of the same year.

The years of power Sir Edward Montagu. He was browbeaten into approving the succession of Lady Jane Grey, along with Bromley. Edward Foss, the judicial biographer, contrasts their respective treatment by Queen Mary. Bromley was held in favour by Henry VIII, who made him one of the executors of his will, and bequeathed him a legacy of £300. Hence he was one of the council of regency to Edward VI and a Privy Counsellor; but, although he succeeded in avoiding political entanglements for some time, at the close of the reign he became implicated in Northumberland's scheme for the succession of Lady Jane Grey. The duke summoned to court Montagu, chief justice of the common pleas, Bromley, Sir John Baker, and the attorney- and solicitor-general, and informed them of the king's desire to settle the crown on Lady Jane. They replied that it would be illegal, and prayed an adjournment, and next day expressed an opinion that all parties to such a settlement would be guilty of high treason. Northumberland's violence then became so great that both Bromley and Montagu were in bodily fear; and two days later, when a similar scene took place, and the king ordered them on their allegiance to despatch the matter, they consented to settle the deed, receiving an express commission under the great seal to do so and a general pardon. Bromley, however, adroitly avoided witnessing the deed.

Consequently, when Mary I sent the lord chief justice to gaol, she made Bromley chief justice of the King's Bench, in place of Sir Roger Cholmeley, on 4 October 1553. Burnet says of him that he was 'a papist at heart,' contrasting his treatment with that of Montagu, who was imprisoned and fined, although he had sent an armed force to support Mary's uprising. The statement is repeated by Foss and by the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), but it is pointedly absent from the recent Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and is specifically contradicted by the History of Parliament.

Fall from favour?

Effigies of Thomas Bromley and his wife, Isabel Lyster, Wroxeter, Shropshire. Bromley presided over the trials of a number of those implicated in Wyatt's rebellion.

Sir William Portman succeeded Bromley as chief justice on 11 June 1555. The exact date, even the year, of Bromley's death was not known when the DNB account of his life was written, leaving the impression that the Queen's displeasure might have led to his disgrace and dismissal. However, recent sources concur in dating his about four before Portman's succession, Elizabeth Newport married first Francis Lawley and later his cousin, Thomas Lawley. The former marriage produced the line of Lawley baronets. Magdalen Newport, married Richard Herbert (d.1597), and was a friend of the poet John Donne, as well as mother of the poet George Herbert.

Family tree: descendants

The main lines of descent from Thomas Bromley and Isabel Lyster through their daughter Margaret are shown on the following family tree. Based on the Newport pedigree in the Visitation of Shropshire, with details from History of Parliament Online.

Footnotes