Thomas Brooke, Sr.

Major Thomas Brooke Sr., Esq. (1632 – 1676) was a colonial lawyer, planter and politician of Calvert County, Maryland, where he served in the appointed positions of Burgess, High Sheriff and Chief Justice.

Thomas Brooke was born in Battle, Sussex, England on June 23, 1632. Thomas was raised as a Protestant but converted to Roman Catholicism. He immigrated at the age of 18 to Maryland with his father Gov. Robert Brooke Sr., Esq., an Anglican minister [1] (1602–1655) on June 30, 1650.

Thomas Brooke was commissioned a Captain in 1658, commanding the Militia of Calvert County, and then a Major in the Militia of Calvert County by 1660, at age 28. In 1661 he led an expedition against Native Americans. He served as a Burgess for Calvert County from 1663–1669, and again from 1671-1676. He was a High Sheriff of Calvert County from 1660–1667, and presiding Chief Justice of the County Court in 1667. In addition Thomas was Mayor of Battle Creek, Calvert Co., Maryland.

Maj. Thomas Brooke resided at his plantation called "Brookefield", which he laid out on April 16, 1664. “Brookefield” was located in the woods on the west side of the Patuxent River, bounded on the north by Brooke or Mattaponi Creek, on the east by the Patuxent River, on the south by Deep or Spicer’s Creek and extending west to a line marked by a stone on which were cut the letters T. B., the initials of the grantee. This is the origin of the name of the current town of T. B.. A few years later Major Brooke conveyed back to the Lord Proprietor a certain number of acres on the bank of the Patuxent, intended for the site of a town, which, when laid out, was called “Nottingham Towne”, in honor of the Duke of Nottingham. The village still bears the name.

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