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 another man of that name who were 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]

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.^[5]

References

1. 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. The London Gazette: no. 8011. p. 1. 2 May 1741.
5. 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.