Coat of arms of Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chief Justice (d. 1555) on his tomb monument in the chancel of St Andrew's church, Wroxeter.
"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.
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.
Bromley's death occurred on 15 May 1555. In his will, admittedly dating from 1552, in the reign of Edward VI, he names as executors his wife and Sir Rowland Hill, his friend and business partner, a noted Protestant. He commends himself to God's care, "by the merits of the blood and passion of our Saviour Jesu Christ" and there are no specifically Catholic provisions, undermining Burnet's assessment of his religious beliefs He left considerable sums to provide for the poor in and around Shrewsbury. He left just a gold piece for Hill as a keepsake of the "olde love and amytie" between them. There were also bequests to relatives, including 40 shillings a year for ten years for the young Thomas Bromley, the future Lord Chancellor, on condition that he continued his legal studies. The remainder was divided between his widow and daughter.
Bromley was buried in St Andrew's Church, Wroxeter. An alabaster monument was constructed there, portraying him in judicial robes alongside his wife."
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