Edward Bromley

Sir Edward Bromley (1563–1626) was an English lawyer, judge, landowner and politician of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. A member of a Shropshire legal and landed gentry dynasty, he was prominent at the Inner Temple and became a Baron of the Exchequer. He was elected MP for Bridgnorth on six consecutive occasions.

Edward Bromley was the second son of

Edward Bromley's elder brother, Francis, was the heir to the Bromley estates. He had two more brothers and three sisters, who all married into regionally powerful gentry families. The gentry dominated Shropshire and, generally, its boroughs politically and culturally, as there was unusually no resident aristocracy in the county.

Edward Bromley was sent to Shrewsbury School in 1577 at about the age of 14. The school was explicitly committed to a Christian and humanist ethos, reflecting Calvinist principles. The first head Thomas Ashton had established a tradition of using drama to develop students' confidence and self-expression.

Bromley was admitted to the Inner Temple by its parliament on 27 November 1580: a special admission, without cost, in recognition of his father's status. An undated note states that he was in debt to the treasurer, Andrew Gray, to the tune of 20 marks: Gray was treasurer during 1585–6. Bromley's call to the bar was noted by the parliament on 5 July 1590. The same meeting noted that he was permitted to use a chamber over the buttery, which had been restored by Michael Lowe, and was used also by his nephew, Humphrey Lowe. In 1595 the shared chamber fell into disrepair and the Inner Temple itself was forced to take action, spending £40 on repairs and subsequently billing Lowe and his relative Abney, for 20 marks each. The chamber seems to have become a family institution, with Bromley on a similar footing to Lowe's blood relations. The association was entirely reciprocal: In November 1590 Lowe, a chief clerk of the King's Bench, was accorded a seat next to Bromley and "ancienty" of those under Bromley, i.e. recognised as their co-tutor. Bromley's marriage to Margaret Lowe in April 1593 was one result of this close association.

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