BROOKE, Thomas (c.1561-1612), of Whitchurch, Hants.

Brooke’s father, steward to Sir Thomas White†, left him the lease of Whitchurch parsonage under the dean and chapter of Winchester. Winchester Consistory Ct. Depositions 1561-1602 ed. A.J. Willis, 19; Balch, 3-4; PROB 11/83, f. 331v. Brooke himself became a barrister, and married a judge’s daughter. HMC Rutland i. 432. His influence in Whitchurch was sufficient to secure his return to the first Stuart Parliament. In the first session two committees were ascribed to him by full name on the same day, those for a private bill promoted by the Windsor chapter, and a bill to abolish benefit of clergy for sheep-stealing (21 Apr. 1604). CJ, i. 181b, 182b. In the second session ‘Mr. Brooke of Hampshire, the lawyer’ opposed the bill to regulate conveyancing on 29 Jan. 1606. Ibid. 261a. Other mentions in the parliamentary records of ‘Mr. Brooke’ are more likely to refer to either Christopher or Giles Brooke.

Brooke apparently encouraged the inhabitants of Whitchurch to obtain a charter in 1608. His name headed the list of aldermen, but the dean and chapter complained that the grant had been procured by fraud, and it was cancelled. C66/1778/1. Brooke died on 13 Sept. 1612, two days after drawing up his will, in which he described himself as ‘sick in body’. He left all his lands and leases to his eldest son Thomas, £5 to the poor of Whitchurch, and £5 to the church. PROB 11/120, f. 378v. He was buried at Whitchurch on the same day that his youngest son was christened, and the following day his wife, who had died after the birth, was buried with him, under a fine monument to them both. Hants RO, 83M76, f. 15; Balch, 5-6. His brother-in-law Richard Venables* had to protect the interests of 11 ‘small young children’ against the designs of Sir Richard Paulet*, against whom Brooke had been in dispute for many years over his title to coppices and other property in Whitchurch and Freefolk. C2/Jas.I/V2/68; Hants RO, 44M69/F2/14/31, 32, 33; 44/M69/F4/18/44. Although none of Brooke’s descendants in the male line sat in Parliament, one of them, a merchant, emigrated to Maryland and founded a prominent family there. The Whitchurch property passed by marriage to Richard Ayloffe†, who was returned for the borough at four elections between 1674 and 1681. Balch, 8-10, 13.