Sir Robert), lord chief justice of the common pleas, was the son of Thomas Broke, Esq.; of Claverly in Shropshire, and educated at Oxford; from whence he removed to the Middle Temple, and soon became a very eminent lawyer. In the year 1542, he was chosen summer reader, and double reader in 1550. In 1552, he was made serjeant at law; and the year following (first of queen Mary), lord chief justice of the common pleas; about which time he received the honour of knighthood. Stow says he was recorder of London and speaker of the house of commons; which is confirmed by a manuscript in the Ashmolean library. He died and was buried at Claverly in Shropshire, the place of his nativity, in 1558. Wood gives him the character of a great lawyer and an upright judge. His works are, 1. An abridgment containing an abstract of the year-books till the time of queen Mary. 2. Certain causes adjudged in the reign of Henry VIII. Edward VI. and queen Mary. 3. Reading on the statute of limitations, 32 Hen. VIII. c. 2.