BROXHOLME, Thomas (d.1591), of Lincoln and Louth, Lincs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

2nd s. of Robert Broxholme (d.1578), of Claxby by Christian, da. of Henry Hansard of Cuxwold. educ. G. Inn 1563, called 1565. m. Anne Laughton (d.1600), s.p.

Offices Held

Servant of 3rd and 4th earls of Rutland.

J.p.q. Lincs. (Lindsey) from c.1574; warden, Louth 1584-5; reader, G. Inn 1586; of counsel to Lincoln 1587.

Biography

Broxholme must have been returned for East Retford by the 3rd Earl of Rutland, who was at least partially responsible for the town’s enfranchisement in 1571. His family had property over the Lincolnshire border, less than 20 miles from the borough, and by 1571 he may already have owned some of the houses and land at Claxby, Lincoln and Louth mentioned in his will. Not long before Parliament met, Rutland gave him a cottage in Wood Street, Walthamstow, but at the manor court in July 1572 he surrendered it to William Jurden. He also had rooms in London at his inn of court, where he had a long career. His call to the bar only two years after his admission to Gray’s Inn indicates that he may already have studied at an inn of chancery.

The 4th Earl of Rutland, who succeeded to the title in 1587, responded promptly to a letter from Anthony Thorold in August 1587, asking him to use his influence to have ‘Mr. Broxham’ made recorder of Lincoln. However, the corporation, who had already chosen their man, could only offer to retain the Earl’s nominee as a counsellor to the city. In the same year a purge of justices of the peace occurred, and Broxholme ‘answereth not his value required’. The ‘£10’ entry beside his name is presumably his subsidy assessment, which should have been £20 to qualify him to serve as a justice. No commission of the peace survives between 1587 and his death, so it is not known whether he was actually struck off. He was present as a mourner and ‘gentleman in ordinary’ at the 4th Earl’s funeral in April 1588, and helped to draw up information for the court of wards commission about the property. As late as August 1590 he was at Belvoir working on this. He died in March or April 1591. His will, made on 6 Mar. in that year and proved 4 May following, left most of his property to his wife, the sole executrix. His mother was still living, and under the will was to receive a ‘gown, kirtle or petticoat’ every year. Modest sums went to his nephews, to the poor of several Lincolnshire parishes, and to servants. The widow was to dispose of the lease of a house at Louth and property at Lincoln was to be ‘right out sold’.

Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. l), 193; Louth Recs. ed. Goulding, 19; J. W. F. Hill, Tudor and Stuart Lincoln, 73-4; Walthamstow Antiq. Soc. xxi. 3; HMC Rutland, passim; Lansd. 53, f. 188; PCC 31 Sainberbe.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes