Thomas Brooke

Sir Thomas Brooke (c.1355-1418) of Holditch in the parish of Thorncombe in Devon (since 1844 in Dorset) and of la Brooke in the parish of Ilchester in Somerset, was "by far the largest landowner in Somerset" and served 13 times as a Member of Parliament for Somerset (between 1386 and 1413). He was the first prominent member of his family, largely due to the great wealth he acquired from his marriage to a wealthy widow. The monumental brass of Sir Thomas Brooke and his wife survives in Thorncombe Church. Origins He was the son and heir of Thomas Brooke (d.1367) of Holditch and la Brooke-juxta-Ilchester, by his wife Constance Markensfeld (or Markensfield). Marriage and children In about 1388 he married Joan Hanham (d.1437), the second daughter and co-heiress of Simon Hanham of Gloucestershire, and the widow of the Bristol cloth merchant Robert Cheddar (died 1384), MP and twice Mayor of Bristol, "whose wealth was proverbial", comprising "17 manors, five advowsons and very extensive properties scattered throughout Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire, besides 17 messuages, 21 shops, four cellars, 160 tenements and an advowson, all in Bristol". She held many of Cheddar's estates after his death as her dower and died seized of 20 manors in Somerset and others elsewhere. Her son Richard Cheddar, MP, signed over his large inheritance to his mother and stepfather Sir Thomas Brooke for their lives, due to the latter having "many times endured great travail and cost" in defending them during his minority. By his wife he had issue including: Sir Thomas Brooke (1391/2 - 1439), son and heir, a Member of Parliament for Dorset (once) and for Somerset (four times). His marriage to the great heiress Joan Braybrooke (1404-1442), suo jure 5th Baroness Cobham, seems to have been arranged in 1410 by his father with Joan's step-father the Lollard leader Sir John Oldcastle, both then in Parliament together. After the marriage Thomas moved to his wife's home at the manor of Cobham in Kent. His son was Edward Brooke, 6th Baron Cobham (died 1464), whose descendants attained much prominence as Barons Cobham and rebuilt that manor house into one of the largest and most important in Kent.