Thomas Bromley

:"For Sir Thomas Bromley's cousin, also Sir Thomas Bromley, chief justice of the king's bench, see Thomas Bromley (chief justice)"

Sir Thomas Bromley (1530-11 April, 1587), English lord chancellor, was born in Staffordshire. He was educated at Oxford University and called to the bar at the Middle Temple. Through family influence as well as the patronage of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the lord keeper, he quickly made progress in his profession.

In 1566 he was appointed recorder of London, and in 1569 he became solicitor-general. He sat in parliament successively for Bridgnorth, Wigan and Guildford. On the death of Sir Nicholas Bacon in 1579 he was appointed lord chancellor. As an equity judge he showed great and profound knowledge, and his rule in Shelley's Case is a landmark in the history of English real property law.

He presided over the commission which tried Mary I of Scotland in 1586, but the strain of the trial and the enormous responsibility of ordering the execution of a monarch proved too much for his strength, and he died soon after. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

His wife was Elizabeth Fortesque, daughter of Sir Adrian Fortesque, and by her he had four sons and four daughters.

See Foss, "Lives of the Judges"; and Campbell, "Lives of the Lord Chancellors".

References

*1911

Persondata
NAME= Bromley, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English lord chancellor
DATE OF BIRTH=1530
PLACE OF BIRTH=Staffordshire, England
DATE OF DEATH=11 April 1587
PLACE OF DEATH=