Henry Bromley, 1st Baron Montfort

Henry Bromley, 1st Baron Montfort (20 August 1705 – 1 January 1755), was a British landowner and politician.

Bromley was the only son of John Bromley and the grandson of John Bromley, who had both been Knights of the Shire for Cambridgeshire. His mother Mercy died in childbirth having been born the daughter and eventual sole heir of William Bromley (of Holt Castle) (1656–1707), Whig Member of Parliament.[1]

Henry Bromley was educated at Clare College, Cambridge.[2] In 1727, aged 22, Bromley was returned to parliament as one of two representatives for Cambridgeshire, a seat he held until 1741.[3] He was also Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire between 1729 and 1742. In 1741 he was elevated to the peerage as Lord Montfort, Baron of Horseheath, in the County of Cambridge.[4]

Montfort was active in cricket, both as a player (for London Cricket Club) and as a patron. In the 1743 season, he was the patron and captain of a London, Middlesex & Surrey XI for a first-class match against a Kent XI led by Lord John Sackville at Bromley Common on Thursday, 16 May. The stakes were £500 a side. Montfort's team scored 97 and Kent replied with 69. In their second innings, Montfort's team had reached 112–4 by eight o'clock when the patrons agreed to "leave off and play it out the next day".[5] In fact, play did not restart on the Friday because Sackville conceded defeat.[6] There are no other cricketing references to Montfort.

Lord Montfort committed suicide on New Years Day 1755, aged 49, and was succeeded in the barony by his only son, Thomas.[1] Lord Montfort had married Frances, daughter of Thomas Wyndham and sister and heiress of Sir Francis Wyndham, 4th Baronet, of Trent, Dorset. They had one son and a daughter. Frances died in childbed after the birth of their son, Thomas, and was buried in St Margaret's, Westminster. Their daughter, the Honourable Frances, married Charles Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan.

Through his mother Montfort inherited the manor of Great Malvern in Malvern, Worcestershire, from his ancestor Sir Thomas Bromley and sold it, in about 1740, to Lord Foley.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Brydges, Sir Egerton. Collins's Peerage of England: Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical. Volume II.
  2. ↑ "Bromley, Henry (BRMY723H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ↑ leighrayment.com House of Commons: Caernarfon to Cambridgeshire South West
  4. ↑ "No. 8011". The London Gazette. 2 May 1741. p. 1.
  5. ↑ Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press. p. 13.
  6. ↑ Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline. p. 50.
  7. ↑ Chambers, John (1817). A General History of Malvern. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown. Retrieved 4 January 2010. Also published in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4367-2852-5. page 12.
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Sir John Hynde Cotton, Bt
Samuel Shepheard		 Member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire
1727–1741
With: Samuel Shepheard		 Succeeded by
Samuel Shepheard
Soame Jenyns
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Earl of Lincoln		 Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
1729–1742		 Succeeded by
The Duke of Newcastle
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation Baron Montfort
1741–1755		 Succeeded by
Thomas Bromley
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