George Bromley (ca. 1526–1589) was an English lawyer, landowner, politician and judge of the Mid-Tudor and Elizabethan period, a member of an important Shropshire legal and landed gentry dynasty. Although his career was overshadowed by that of his brother Thomas Bromley, George Bromley was of considerable importance in the affairs of the Welsh Marches and the Inner Temple. He was an MP for Liskeard 1563, Much Wenlock in 1558 and 1559 and Shropshire in 1571 and 1572.
Background and early life
George Bromley was born around 1526. He was the first son ofGrazebrook and Rylands, volume 1, p. 78Rylands, p.49 George Bromley of Hodnet, close to Market Drayton in Shropshire, the son of William Bromley of Mitley and Beatrix Hill. Jane Lacon, daughter of Sir Thomas Lacon of Willey, Shropshire.
The elder George Bromley was a prominent lawyer, important in the affairs of the Inner Temple, where he was Autumn Reader for 1508Inderwick, p.11 and Lent Reader for 1509,Inderwick, p.12 although he refused the honour for Lent 1515.Inderwick, p.35 He was also recorder (judge) of Shrewsbury. His younger cousin, Thomas Bromley, also served as recorder of Shrewsbury and was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench by Mary I. The cousins both exercised considerable power regionally as legal officers of the Council in the Marches of Wales, which embodied the power of central government in this still-turbulent region.
The young George Bromley was left without a father in 1533 and must have undergone a protracted, wardship but nothing is known of it. It was possibly ameliorated by the influence of his father's cousin, Chief Justice Thomas Bromley.
Family tree: the Bromley dynasty Based primarily on the Heraldic Visitations of Shropshire and Cheshire, with assistance from the History of Parliament Online, 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, c. 1450–1650.
Landowner The Bromleys were a landed gentry family in a county without a resident aristocracy and dominated throughout the century by the gentry.Coulton, p.40 However, their estates were not large: their wealth came from their use of their education and contacts to tap into the opportunities for enrichment offered by the State, both national and local. George Bromley was the heir to the family estates, the most substantial at Hawkstone, near Hodnet, where they lived cheek by jowl with the Hills, their closest allies. George also had land at Wistanswick, a few miles east of Hodnet, at Allerton, and elsewhere in Shropshire.
However, Bromley made a strategic marriage to Joan Waverton, heiress to the estate of Hallon, in the parish of Worfield, east of Bridgnorth. Hallon, also rendered Hawne,Randall, p.85 which represents its pronunciation more effectively, lay to the south-west of Worfield village. Bromley made it his home and it was passed on to his heirs. However, his granddaughter, Jane, daughter of Francis Bromley, married into the Davenport family, allegedly after a secret courtship.Randall, p.88 An extremely protracted legal battle left Hallon in the hands of the Davenports and the seat of the Bromleys was replaced by Davenport House, although Hallon remains as a local toponym and street name.
Legal training and career at Inner Temple
The chief justice probably influenced also the legal training of his cousins once removed: certainly he left a small annuity as a bequest to encourage George's younger brother, the future Lord Chancellor, to continue his legal studies. George himself was trained at the Inner Temple and called to the bar, followed a few years later by his brother, Thomas.
The Inn gradually entrusted George with posts of honour and authority, beginning with ceremonial functions, like steward to the reader's dinner in 1555Inderwick, p.179 and for the Lent vacation in 1556.Inderwick, p.184 The followed more responsible posts: he was appointed auditor to the steward of the Inn in November 1556Inderwick, p.187 and surveyor of the Inn's church in the summer of 1558.Inderwick, p.198 With the new reign, his career at the Inn, as in other respects, immediately accelerated. He was made a bencher by a resolution of the Inn's parliament on 23 April 1559,Inderwick, p.201 along with William Rothewood and Richard Onslow, another successful Shropshire lawyer-politician and a noted Puritan. Bromley's first appearance as a bencher at the parliament of the Inn was recorded as 2 October 1559,Inderwick, p.202 although the sequence suggests that this is a mistake for All Souls' Day, 2 November, one of the customary days for the parliament. His attendance at parliament thereafter was very frequent,Cf. Inderwick's index, which lists his attendances. although from February 1563, when Thomas first appeared as a bencher,Inderwick, p.224 the brothers more often alternated than attended together.
Further honours now followed rapidly. A parliament on 4 May 1561 appointed Bromley Autumn Reader for the year.Inderwick, p.212 and a year later, in recognition of his discharge of the office, he was allowed to make a special admission to the inn of Edward Caryll, a member of a well-known recusant family from Sussex.Hasler: CARYLL (CARRELL), John (d.1566), of Warnham, Suss. – Author: J.E.M. On 3 November 1567 Bromley was elected treasurer of the Inn.Inderwick, p.243 It appears that Bromley, like his brother some years later, clamped down on debt and dereliction of duty to steady the Inn's shaky finances. Later in the month parliament decreed penalties for those who were more than 40 shillings in arrears.Inderwick, p.244 Officials who failed to perform their duties at Christmas were fined £5Inderwick, p.246 – a large sum. In the summer of 1568 debtors were warned that they faced loss of their chambers if they failed to pay within three months.Inderwick, p.248-9 The new regime seems to have met with the approval of most, as exactly a year after he was first elected, Bromley was re-elected treasurer and appointed Lent Reader for 1569Inderwick, p.249 Soon he was extracting large sums of £20 and £40 from members to commute future fees and duties, while the precise fees for admissions were reasserted and minuted.Inderwick, p.253 Bromley was evidently elected for a third term, as he attended parliament as treasurerInderwick, p.256-7 until he was replaced by Francis Gawdy on 2 November 1570.Inderwick, p.258
Elizabeth's ministers had long been concerned about Catholic influence in the legal profession and had sought to exclude recusants from the Inns of Court from 1569.Inderwick, p.l Bromley and Edward Flowerdew were given the task of compiling a return of suspected recusants at the inner Temple in 1577.Inderwick, p.liii This they did with great thoroughness, returning 59 names, carefully classified according to presumed levels of complicity.
Bromley retained a chamber at the Inner Temple until his death. It was situated in an area known as Mr. Hare's Court,Inderwick, p.369 as Hugh Hare had long had a study on the upper floor.Inderwick, p.283 The chamber had been restored to use after it had fallen into decay by William Towse, who was allowed to share it with Bromley for life.
Political and judicial career
Early parliamentary career Bromley was a made a Steward of crown lands in Shropshire by March 1554, perhaps by Queen Mary and was from the outset of his career committed to a power base in his own county of Shropshire. He was elected MP for Much Wenlock in the last parliament of Mary's reign, which assembled on 23 January 1558 and lasted until the succession of Elizabeth brought about its dissolution on 17 November. Sir George Blount was the other MP, elected ahead of Bromley in order of precedence,Bindoff: Much Wenlock. – Author: N.M. Fuidge. while Thomas Bromley was elected for Bridgnorth.
The brothers were favoured by the great influence of their relatives. Their mother's family, the Lacons, exercised considerable sway in the Shropshire borough elections. At Much Wenlock the contracting parties to the election were the High Sheriff of Shropshire, the town's bailiff and the bugesses, the sheriff being Richard Newport, who was married to their second cousin, Margaret, the daughter of the late Chief Justice Thomas Bromley.Grazebrook and Rylands, volume 1, p.77 George was elected to the next parliament, the first of Elizabeth's reign, on 19 January 1559, again for Much Wenlock: this time his colleague was Roland Lacon, who was his first cousinGrazebrook and Rylands, volume 2, p.308 and Blount's uncle.
Bromley was also elected to the following parliament, which assembled in January 1563. This time he seems to have relied on powerful court connections which he shared with his brother: specifically Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, and Lord Burleigh, the queen's closest adviser. They had great influence over the return of MPs for the borough of Liskeard in Cornwall, where Bedford was Lord Warden of the Stannaries.Hasler: Liskeard – Author: R.C.G./M.R.P. Bromley was returned alongside a local gentry politician, Reginald Mohun.
Judicial and administrative preferment However, in Elizabeth's reign he was appointed to a series of important posts in both the judiciary and in civic authority. A member of the Council in the Marches of Wales, he was appointed Justice of the Peace successively in counties across the border country and West Midlands: Shropshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire and Warwickshire. In 1564 the bishops were asked by the Privy Council to report on the suitability and religious reliability of the local magistrates. For Shropshire, Thomas Bentham, the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Bromley's good standing as a Protestant and commented: I know the learning of none muche reported, but of Justice Corbet, and George Bramley.Bateson, p.44
With such episcopal approval, his promotion was swift. From 1566 to 1580 he was Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster 1566–80, a post of great power and patronage, especially in the north-west of England, although the duchy had land and employees all over the country. He became an ecclesiastical commissioner in 1572. By 1574 he was Custos rotulorum of Shropshire, the senior civil authority in the county. After serving as justice of the Anglesey circuit from 1567–80, he was appointed justice of Chester in May 1580. Thereafter he collected at least three recorderships: at Worcester, Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth by 1583.
The Council in the Marches
Bromley was a member of the Council in the Marches of Wales by 1560, but may have been appointed considerably earlier. It was the main organ of the state not only in most of Wales but also in the neighbouring counties of England and even Worcestershire, and for 26 years from 1560 its president was Sir Henry Sidney, a pillar of the Protestant establishment and brother-in-law of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, the queen's favourite. Bromley the chief legal official of the council, receiving the substantial salary of £200 per annum.
Bromley was sometimes given tasks beyond his remit as a legal officer: in 1569, for example, he was one of those named as responsible for the official store of arms and ammunition in Merionethshire.Flenley, p.60 Frequently he was involved in the imposition of the Elizabethan religious settlement, a role he took on also at the Inner Temple. In 1573 he was appointed to a commission of oyer and terminer with the task of imposing the Act of Uniformity 1558, which made it mandatory for everyone to worship regularly in their parish church according to the Book of Common Prayer.Flenley, p.104-5 In 1577 he was appointed to another commission of oyer and terminer on the death of the assize judges.Flenley, p.172-3