Thomas Bromley
Sir Thomas Bromley was a 16th-century lawyer, judge and politician who established himself in the mid-Tudor period and rose to prominence during the reign of Elizabeth I. He was successively Solicitor General and Lord Chancellor of England. He presided over the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots and died three months after her execution.
Background
Thomas Bromley was born around 1530. He was the second son ofThe Bromleys originated in Staffordshire, but had acquired estates in neighbouring counties. They were of the middling landed gentry, like their allies and neighbours the Hills: the two families were to prosper together by seeking new sources of income, the Hills from commerce and the Bromleys through the law. George Bromley was a prominent member of the Inner Temple, serving as Autumn Reader for 1508 and Lent Reader for 1509, although he refused the honour for Lent 1515. Another Thomas Bromley, George's younger cousin, was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench by Mary I. The young Thomas Bromley also had an elder brother, another George Bromley, the heir to the family estates, who was himself to become a notable lawyer and politician.
Family tree: the Bromley dynasty
The family tree illustrates Thomas Bromley's relationship to the rest of the Bromley dynasty and to their main allies, the Hill, Corbet and Newport families.Based primarily on the Heraldic Visitations of Shropshire and Cheshire, with assistance from the History of Parliament Online.
Legal education and academic career
Both Thomas Bromley and his elder brother, George, were trained in law and called to the bar at the Inner Temple. By 1555, Thomas had gained some trust and prestige at his Inn of Court and was appointed as one of the auditors of the steward. In that year his namesake, the chief justice, died, bequeathing the young Thomas an allowance of 40 shillings a year for ten years, on condition he continue his legal studies. This he clearly did, as he received the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford University in 1560 He also rose at his Inn: by February 1563 he was a member of the parliament of the Inner Temple, like his brother George. In 1565 he was appointed attendant on the Reader for the first time, accompanying Richard Onslow, a contemporary from Shropshire who often officiated with him.Bromley is variously stated to have been Reader at the Inner temple in 1566 for Lent, and autumn although the Inn's records only mention his selection as attendant on the Lent Reader, Francis Gawdy. ODNB states that he served in the autumn and lectured on the Statutes of Attaints. He is listed as a double reader, along with his brother George, in a state paper, probably from about 1579. In 1567 the parliament of the Inn had to rectify a number of anomalies relating to chambers held by Onslow, Bromley and Gawdy, making clear that Bromley had been admitting trainee lawyers of his own for some years, even before he became a bencher. On 25 October 1573 Bromley was chosen to be Lent Reader for the following year but the honour was deferred until 1575 because of the pressure of parliamentary business, with Edmund Anderson standing in for him.
A week later Bromley was elected Treasurer of the Inner Temple, with power to choose his own assistants. He seems to have taken his post very seriously, and apparently found the Inn's finances in crisis. On 19 November a levy was imposed on all members clear immediate debts, graded according to status, with Bromley and his fellow-benchers paying 13s. 4d. While junior barristers paid 6s. 8d. It was not enough, and in January 1574 the parliament noted that
A butler was deputed to persecute members for their outstanding fees, on pain of physical exclusion from the premises, and a few months later, pleading inflation of food prices, the members were made chargeable for their actual consumption. Bromley continued in office the following year, listed as appearing at the parliament as treasurer. Financial reform continued, with the cook made chargeable for future losses of pewter dishes – a major expense in the past. Bromley's appointment for a third term was noted in November 1575.
Member of Parliament
Bromley sat as a member of the Parliament of England three times, all fairly early in his career, before he achieved major promotion as a judge.In 1558 Bromley was MP for the Shropshire borough of Bridgnorth in the last parliament of Mary's reign. At this point he had not completed his education, although he was about 28 years old and a recognised lawyer. He probably owed his election mainly to family connections. His mother's family had numerous links in the Bridgnorth area. The High Sheriff of Shropshire had a considerable say in elections, and in that year was Richard Newport, son-in-law of the chief justice Thomas Bromley and another Inner Templar. The town's elector's, a council of 14 aldermen and bailiffs, had a predilection for lawyers. Their other choice was John Broke, a young Middle Templar and the son of the Shropshire jurist Robert Broke. However, the election seems to have been delayed, perhaps for want of nominations, until 18 January, only two days before the opening of parliament.
In 1559 Bromley was returned to parliament by Wigan. This was dominated by the Duchy of Lancaster and the Earl of Derby. Although it is not known precisely how Bromley obtained the seat, the duchy too had a preference for lawyers. It generally secured the return of a member of the Gerard family, another gentry-lawyer dynasty, and Bromley's colleague on this occasion was William Gerard.
It is much clearer how Bromley came to be MP for Guildford in the parliament which assembled in January 1563. The seat was in the gift of Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, a Shropshire landowner and the high steward of the borough, who was a friend and patron of Bromley. Bromley was to serve as one of the executors of Arundel's will. In 1566, when he was appointed Recorder of London, he became an MP for the City ex officio, as the aldermen always chose the recorder and one of their own number as MPs. Richard Onslow had been recorder since 1563, succeeding Ralph Cholmley, who had died in office. Thus Bromley was now put forward as MP by two constituencies. However, parliament resolved the contradiction by deciding he should continue to represent Guildford. The London aldermen were forced to hold a by-election and chose Sir John White, a successful merchant in the trade with Spain. Bromley served in 1566 on a committee concerned with legal issues and another on the succession to the throne.
Legal and judicial career
Legal practice
Through family influence as well as the patronage of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the lord keeper, he quickly made progress in his profession. Alongside public appointments, Bromley built up a substantial practice in both the Queen's Bench, the senior common law court, and Chancery, the principal court of equity. He was patronised and befriended by major political and judicial figures, like Arundel, Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, the queen's cousin, Sir William Cordell, the Master of the Rolls, Francis Drake and Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, and even the great Lord Burleigh himself.In 1560 Bromley counselled Catherine, dowager duchess of Suffolk and her husband Richard Bertie. They were prominent Marian exiles who had entrusted much of their property to a lawyer, Walter Herenden of Gray's Inn, with the unwritten proviso that he return it when the persecution was over. Herenden, however, refused, bringing about a cause célèbre which is still considered of importance in developing English trust law and the law concerning refugees' property. Bertie, acting also on behalf of his wife, sued Herenden for breach of trust. While common law viewed the estates as clearly transferred to Herenden in fee simple, Nicholas Bacon and the Court of Chancery decreed otherwise, cancelling the lease and ordering Herenden to hand over the property. However, Bertie still had to get an act passed by parliament in 1563 to get the lands actually restored to him and his wife. It was generally believed that Bromley only took on cases when he was personally convinced of their justice, and this may account for his remarkable record of never losing in five years.
Recorder of London
In 1566 Bromley was appointed recorder of the City of London in succession to Richard Onslow, who had become Solicitor General. This was a post occupied for a considerable period of the Mid-Tudor period by Shropshire lawyers: Robert Broke had held it for nine years. Broke and Onslow, like other London recorders, had represented the City as MPs, but Parliament ordered Bromley to continue as MP for Guilford, as noted above.Solicitor General
On 14 March 1569 Bromley was appointed Solicitor General, again succeeding Onslow. The following year he was sent north to take part in the trials following the Revolt of the Northern Earls, which had been suppressed largely through the efforts of Hunsdon. He was greatly embarrassed by an accusation that he had helped Richard Dacres, an attainted rebel who was a distant relative.However, Bromley played a notable part in 1571 trial of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, suspected of collusion with the Northern Earls and of involvement in the Ridolfi plot. Bromley spoke after Nicholas Barham, the Queen's Serjeant, who led the prosecution, and Gilbert Gerard, the Attorney General. He was apparently very zealous to secure a conviction. After evidence had been given about the proposed marriage between Norfolk and Mary, Queen of Scots, Bromley's focus was on the communications between Ridolfi and Norfolk. His only evidence of Norfolk's involvement in a plot to invade England and remove the queen was an alleged deciphered copy of a letter given to one Barker to deliver to the Duke. As Norfolk himself argued, there was no evidence that he had ever received the letter, much less that he approved its contents. Bromley was forced to resort to hearsay evidence: that a foreign ambassador in Flanders had heard about the plot and one of his servants had mentioned it to an unnamed English government minister. None of the links in this chain of intelligence gathering was available to give evidence or face questioning but Bromley's allegations were accepted as having explicit royal warrant.
The following year Bromley was one of those sent to Sheffield to lay charges before Mary, Queen of Scots, with the aim of getting her to renounce her claim on both the English and Scottish thrones and to transfer her rights to her son, James. Bromley rehearsed the history of the recent plots and her alleged part in them, but to no avail. In 1574 he was one of the arbitrators appointed to resolve a dispute between the city of Oxford and the university.
On 26 April 1579 Bromley was appointed Lord Chancellor, although he had been made a Privy Counsellor as early as 11 March.