BROMLEY, Henry (c.1761-1837), of Abberley Lodge, Stourport, Worcs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1806 - Jan. 1807

Family and Education

b. c. 1761, 2nd illegit. s. of William Bromley. m. 1s. d.v.p. 6da. suc. kinsman Robert Bromley of Abberley 1803.

Offices Held

2nd lt. R. Marines 1776; ensign 1 Ft. 1778, lt. 1780; capt. ind. co. ft. 1790, half-pay 1791; maj. Worcs. vol. cav. 1798, capt. 26 Ft. 1803, brevet maj. 1803 (with effect from 1798), brevet lt.-col. 1803; inspector of vols. 1804, ret. 1806.

Sheriff, Worcs. 1809-10.

Biography

Bromley gave up the military profession three years after succeeding a kinsman to the estates of ‘a very old family in Worcestershire’ with ‘several thousands a year’. He wished for a baronetcy, but Lord Somers, who applied to the premier Lord Grenville on his behalf in 1806, was informed that the King objected to illegitimate baronets. Bromley secured evidence from the Heralds’ College that at least four had been made since 1781, one in the current year, and Somers forwarded it to Grenville, adding that Bromley was ‘a warm friend to Mr Lyttelton’ in county politics. Grenville could promise nothing. Subsequently Somers encouraged Bromley to stand for Worcester with the ministerial blessing, which proved ‘very useful’, as he was a corporation nominee.1 He succeeded, but took fright at a petition against his return alleging bribery and treating and resigned his seat before it came to an issue.

In 1807 Bromley contested Leominster unsuccessfully. He still wanted a baronetcy and the lord lieutenant mentioned this to Spencer Perceval, 29 Nov. 1809, when he regretted that Bromley, then high sheriff, had been unable to present a loyal address from the county to the King in person, which would have been a pretext for some acknowledgment for his ‘zeal for HM’s government’ and an endorsement of the ‘popularity’ he had gained in the county from the ‘liberation of the debtors’.2 When Henry Brougham toyed with the idea of candidature for Worcester in 1811 he was informed that Bromley had already started ‘on the same interest’; but he did not persevere and before the dissolution of 1812 wrote to William Henry Fremantle* for a seat as a supporter of Lord Grenville. Fremantle, describing him to Grenville as ‘a firm friend of yours’, regretted that such an opening was ‘impossible’.3 Bromley died in 1837, his will being proved in October.4

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: M. G. Hinton

Notes

  • 1. PCC 176 Marriott; Fortescue mss, Somers to Grenville, 11 Aug., 1 Dec., reply 18 Aug. 1806.
  • 2. Add. 38244, f. 52.
  • 3. Brougham mss, Brougham to Grey, Sunday [13 Oct. 1811]; Fortescue mss, Somers to Grenville, 20 Sept., Fremantle to same, 31 [sic] Sept. 1812.
  • 4. PCC 697 Norwich.