John Bromley (c. 1682 – 20 October 1718), of

Horseheath Hall Horseheath is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, situated a few miles south-east of Cambridge, between Linton, Cambridgeshire, Linton and Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, on the A1307 road. It was known to the Roman Empire, Romans, and it had f ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, was an English owner of land in England and Barbados, and a Tory politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1707 to 1718. Bromley was born in Barbados, the son of John Bromley and his wife Dorothy White, daughter of Thomas White of Fittleford, Dorset. His father was a prosperous sugar planter of unknown origins who settled back in England. He was admitted at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

in 1700. He married Mercy Bromley, daughter of William Bromley on 10 August 1704. For the year 1704 to 1705, he served as

High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

. In 1707 he inherited estates in Cambridgeshire and Barbados from his father. Bromley was returned unopposed as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

in succession to his father at a by-election on 4 December 1707. He was returned unopposed in

1708 In the Swedish calendar it was a leap year starting on Wednesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–June * January 1 – Charles XII of Sweden invades Russia, by crossing th ...

and voted consistently with the Tories. He was to some extent beholden to the local Whigs and after he voted against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710, he faced a contest at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

, but nevertheless topped the poll. In Parliament, he showed himself as a staunch Tory, and was one of the ‘worthy patriots’ who exposed the mismanagements of the previous ministry. He was also a member of the

October Club The October Club was a group of Tory Members of Parliament, established after the 1710 general election. The Club was active until approximately 1714. The group took its name from the strong ale they reportedly drank.Pat Rogers, �October Club (' ...

. At the 1713 general election he was returned unopposed. He was elected in a contest again in

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

and sat until his death. Bromley died at Horseheath Hall, aged 36, on 20 October 1718 and was buried at Horseheath parish church. He and his wife had one son,

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

, who became the 1st Baron Montfort. In his will he specified that the Horseheath estate should be completed in accordance with his plans.

References

1682 births 1718 deaths People from Horseheath Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies High Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub