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 BROKEN wind, among farriers. See Farriery.

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