George Bromley (politician)
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.
His younger cousin,[4] Thomas Bromley, also served as recorder of Shrewsbury and was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench by Mary I.
George Bromley was the heir to the family estates, the most substantial at Hawkstone,[5] near Hodnet, where they lived cheek by jowl with the Hills, their closest allies.
[11] However, Bromley made a strategic marriage to Joan Waverton, heiress to the estate of Hallon, in the parish of Worfield, east of Bridgnorth.
The Inn gradually entrusted George with posts of honour and authority, beginning with ceremonial functions, like steward to the reader's dinner in 1555[14] and for the Lent vacation in 1556.
He was made a bencher by a resolution of the Inn's parliament on 23 April 1559,[18] along with William Rothewood and Richard Onslow, another successful Shropshire lawyer-politician and a noted Puritan.
[22] 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.
[31] 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.
[38] George was elected to the next parliament, the first of Elizabeth's reign, on 19 January 1559,[39] again for Much Wenlock: this time his colleague was Roland Lacon, who was his first cousin[40] and Blount's uncle.
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.
[2] 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.
For Shropshire, Thomas Bentham, the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Bromley's good standing as a Protestant and commented: With such episcopal approval, his promotion was swift.
[5] 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.
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.
[48] Next month, Bromley was appointed to the Denbighshire commission for musters, the body responsible for raising troops in the county: in this case extremely detailed instructions were given to ensure that all eligible men were available and equipped.
[2] Bromley was elected knight of the shire for Shropshire in 1571, second to the Catholic landowner Sir George Blount,[51] as he had been at Much Wenlock at the very beginning of his political career.
The Privy Council had written on the queen's behalf to reliable Protestant agents in each county to secure careful vetting of candidates, in Shropshire selecting Sir Andrew Corbet.
[54] By now a reputable lawyer, Bromley was given considerable responsibility, mainly within his own areas of interest and expertise and also in important matters of State and Church.
Another of his committees dealt with a bill to restore the finances of Tonbridge School, which had almost lost its buildings and land because its endowment by Henry Fisher of the Worshipful Company of Skinners was challenged by his descendants.
Later that month Bromley helped investigate the case of Arthur Hall, who was using parliamentary privilege to avoid paying damages of £100 in compensation for an injury inflicted by one of his servants on Melchisedech Mallory during a brawl over a dice game in St Paul's churchyard.
Bromley wrote to William Chaderton, the Bishop of Chester, and Sir Henry Stanley, asking them to delay proceedings against her for three months and telling them he had "good hope of conformitie in her."
He seems to have pulled his more powerful connections into the campaign, for his brother Thomas, the Lord Chancellor, sent a supporting letter in July and Sir Christopher Hatton did the same in January 1583.
Bromley also led the panel of judges that tried Gwyn at Wrexham for high treason in October 1584 and sentenced him to death by hanging, drawing, and quartering.
[61] The canonization ceremony for St. Richard Gwyn by Pope Paul VI took place as part of that for the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales at Rome on 25 October 1970.
[62][63] In 1585 Bromley felt compelled to write to the mayor and sheriffs of Chester to complain about the very poor quality of board and lodging they afforded him.
[64] Even before his appointment, he had advised and drafted ordinances for Shrewsbury School, assuring the headmaster, Thomas Ashton that earlier charters did not prevent him setting aside funds for university scholarships.
[64] The council must have valued Bromley highly, as in 1582 they gave him a considerable say in the financing and payment of a public preacher at St Mary's church.
