Anne (Scott) Bromley (abt. 1561 - bef. 1604)

Born about 1561 in Scot's Hall, Smeeth, Kent, England

Ancestors

Wife of Richard Knatchbull — married 14 Nov 1584 in Smeeth, Kent, England

Wife of Henry Bromley MP — married 28 Jun 1593 (to 1604) in Scot's Hall, Smeeth, Kent, England

Died before Jun 1604 before about age 43 in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Anne Scott was born in the early 1560s. She was the 2nd daughter of Sir. Thomas Scott and his first wife, Elizabeth Baker. She was most-likely born at the family estate at Scot's Hall, Smeeth, Kent, England.

Anne Scott married Richard Knatchbull II, Esquire, b: 1554, eldest son and heir of Richard Knatchbull, Esquire, and his 1st wife, Joan Sheaf, in November 1584 at Scot's Hall in Smeeth, Kent. The Knatchbull family were important gentry-level landowners at Mersham-Hatch, in Kent, and neighbors of Scot's Hall. They had a son:

1. Thomas Knatchbull, b: ca. 1586; he died unmarried, no heirs

Richard Knatchbull II, died on 20 January 1590 at just 36 years old at Mersham-Hatch, Kent, England. Anne survived her young husband's passing.

Three years later, on June 28, 1593, she married Sir Henry Bromley, b: 1560, the eldest son of England's Chancellor, Sir Thomas Bromley MP. It was her 2nd and his 3rd marriage. His 2nd wife, Elizabeth Verney, had died in March 1592. The "History of Parliament Online" says they had 3 sons, one of which "d.v.p.". [Decessit Vita Patris (Latin: Died in Father's Lifetime)]. The church at Upton-upon-Severn by Sir. Henry Bromley's home in Worcestershire, houses the tomb of his son, Henry Bromley, with this inscription:^[1]

"In the concave of this wall lyeth the body of Henry, son of Sir Henry Bromley, of Sharwardine Castle, in the County of Salop, not by the mother of Sir Thomas Bromley, his eldest son, but by Anne, the daughter of Sir Thomas Scott, of Scot's Hall, in the County of Kent, but who, being joint purchaser of the Manor of Upton before marriage, her son Henry enjoyed it, according to the settlement."

That, plus the fact that Sir Henry Bromley was noted in Sir Thomas Scott's 1594 will as "my sone in law," and given his pick of a prize horse in the will, proves that widow Anne (Scott) Knatchbull married Sir Henry Bromley and not his father, as has been erroneously repeated in many genealogies.

Anne Scott never married Sir Thomas Bromley, England's Chancellor, son of George Bromley. This is an error, perhaps first written down by Thomas Wotton in 1741 in his "The English Baronets, A Genealogical and Historical Account of their Families", Vol. II. and repeated in "The Peerage," online. ^[2]

It's not known exactly when Anne (Scott) Bromley passed away but it was between 1595, when her husband is mentioned in her father's will, and June 1604, when Sir Henry married his 4th wife, Anne Beswick, recent widow of William Offley. As she had 3 sons with Sir. Henry Bromley, a death close to 1604 is likely.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Sir Henry Bromley 1560-1615 Article on History of Parliament Online
2. ↑ "The English Baronets, A Genealogical and Historical Account of their Families," by Thomas Wotton; Vol. II, London: 1741; pages. 230-31.
3. ↑ Sir Henry Bromley 1560-1615 Article on History of Parliament Online

• "The Peerage," by Darryl Lundy, New Zealand Spells her name as "Scot" when most other sources for her father and his lineage spell it "Scott". Only their family estate was known as "Scot's Hall" (one "t").

• "The English Baronets, A Genealogical and Historical Account of their Families," by Thomas Wotton; Vol. II, London: 1741; pages. 230-31. It erroneously states Anne Scott married Sir Thomas Bromley, Knight, after the death of Richard Knatchbull II. However, as Sir Thomas Bromley died in 1587 and Richard Knatchbull II died in 1590, this is impossible. Both deaths are well documented. Sir Thomas Bromley, England's Chancellor, who presided over the Trial and Condemnation of Mary, Queen of Scotts, in 1586-87, was married to Elizabeth Fortescue, who survived his passing in April 1587, so it's impossible for Anne Scott to have married him before Richard Knatchbull II either. In fact, widow Anne (Scott) Knatchbull married the eldest son of Sir Thomas Bromley, who was Sir Henry Bromley (Notes by Chet Snow, Feb. 5, 2017.