Richard Broke

Who was Richard Broke?

Sir Richard Broke or Brooke, was an English judge, who served as Chief Baron of the Exchequer.

Broke was fourth son of Thomas Broke of Leighton in Cheshire, and his wife, daughter and heiress of John Parker of Copnall. His ancestors had been Brokes of Leighton since the twelfth century, and came of a common stock with the Brookes of Norton. On 11 July 1510 he obtained a royal exemption from becoming serjeant-at-law, an honour then conferred only on barristers of at least sixteen years practice at the bar. Perhaps he was deterred, as others had been, by the great expenses attending the promotion ; but he did not long avail himself of his privilege, he being one of the nine Serjeants appointed in the following November. He was double reader in his inn, the Middle Temple, in the autumn of 1510, and must have passed his first readership before 1502, at which date Dugdale's list of readers commences. In the spring of 1511, from undersheriff he became Recorder of London, an office he filled till 1520. Foss says he represented the city of London in the parliaments of 1511 and 1515, the returns of members to which parliaments are stated to be 'not found' in the House of Lords' Report. In the parliament of 1523 he was one of the triers of petitions. In June 1519 he appears as a junior justice of assize for the Norfolk circuit. He became a judge of the common pleas and knight in 1520, and chief baron of the exchequer on 24 January 1526, and continued in both offices till his death in May or June 1529.