Thomas Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham (died 19 July 1529), lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was an English peer.
Thomas Brooke was the son and heir of Sir John Brooke, 7th Baron Cobham (d. 1512) and Margaret Neville (d. 1506),G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 347 daughter of Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny, and his second wife, Katherine Howard.
Career Thomas took part in the wars with France and was at the Siege of Tournay in 1513, and fought at the Battle of the Spurs on 16 August 1513.
He was made Knight Banneret by King Henry VIII in 1514, and attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.
He was summoned to Parliament from 1514 to 1523.
In 1521 he was one of the twelve Barons for the trial of the Duke of Buckingham.
Family Thomas Brooke married Dorothy Heydon, daughter of Sir Henry Heydon of Baconsthorpe and Anne, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Boleyn and Anne Hoo.The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215: The Barons Named in the Magna Charta, 1215 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Walter Lee Sheppard, William Ryland Beall They had seven sons and six daughters. His daughter Elizabeth Brooke married Sir Thomas Wyatt.
He was twice widowed. He married secondly Elizabeth Calthorpe (d.1517), the daughter of Sir Philip Calthorpe of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, widow of Sir Robert SouthwellMagna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition by Douglas Richardson (d. 31 March 1514) and thirdly Elizabeth Hart, and had no issue from them.L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884–1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 78.Court of Common Pleas – CP 40/1013 (Hilary 1516) County: London; Persons: Thomas Lovell; Robert Southwell; Thomas Cobham; Elizabeth Cobham; William Wotton; Places: London. "In 1516 Thomas Lovell, Knt., sued Thomas Cobham, Knt., Lord Cobham, of London, Elizabeth his wife, and William Wotton, Esq., co-executors of Robert Southwell, Knt., of the King's Household in the Court of Common Pleas regarding a debt."—For a full text of the suit see f 1137Court of Common Pleas – CP 40/1013 (Hilary 1516) County: Norfolk; Persons: Robert Southwell; Christopher Ursewyk; William Wotton; Thomas Broke; Thomas Cobham; Elizabeth Cobham; Thomas Collys; Robert Henlyng; Places: Honworth; Hempsted. "In 1516 Christopher Ursewyk, clerk, doctor of law, William Wotton, and Thomas Broke, knight, Lord Cobham, and Elizabeth his wife, acting as co-executors of Sir Robert Southwell, sued Thomas Collys, freemason, of Hanworth, Norfolk, and another regarding a debt."—For a full text of the suit see d 837
Elizabeth Calthorpe's and Sir Robert Southwell had been married by settlement of 1506/7. After his death, together with Sir Robert's brother-in-law William Wootton, she was entrusted the wardship of his ten-year-old nephew and heir, Sir Richard Southwell. After her death, Thomas Wyndham acquired the wardship."Richard, owing to the deaths of his father and uncle, was heir to great wealth. His wardship was given to his uncle's widow, Elizabeth, and to William Wootton, but on 27 June 1519 he was handed over to Sir Thomas Wyndham."
Thomas Brooke died on 19 July 1529 and was buried at St. Mary Magdalene New Churchyard, Cobham, Kent.
His epitaph was recorded by Weever:Orate pro anima Tho' Broke militis Domini de Cobham consanguinei et heredis Richardi Beauchampe militis, qui quidem Thomas cepit in uxorem Dorotheam, filiam Henrici Heydon militis; et habuerunt exitum intereos, septem filios, et sex filias, et predicta Dorothea obiit . . . . et predictus Thomas cepit in uxorem Dorotheam Sowthewel viduam, que obiit sine exitu; et postea cepit in uxorem Elizabetham Harte et habuerunt nullum exitum inter eos; qui quidem Thomas obiit 19 Julii, 1529.
He is in the elaborate armour of the period, with skirt of mail, and broad-toed sabbatons, a chain with dependant cross suspended from the neck, an ornament found on many effigies about this date. The lady wears the pedimental head-dress of that era. The children are in two groups below. Arms, four shields at the corners, each charged alike with Brook, Cobham, Braybroke, and De la Pole—Azure, a fess between three leopards heads Or, an annulet for difference, being the bearings assigned to the younger branch of De la Pole.
Of his thirteen children, John, the eldest son, died in his father's lifetime; George, who became his heir, Thomas, William, and Edward. Of his daughters, Margaret was married to Sir John Fogge of Repton; Faith, to William Ockenden, Gentleman Porter of Calais; and Elizabeth, to Sir Thomas Wyatt of Allington Castle in Kent and afterward to Sir Edward Warner.
He was succeeded by his son, George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham.
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