Herbert Broom, Esq.
(1815-1882)
7 February 1862

Volume 6, page 28, sitting number 6982.

Born on 15 February 1815 at Kidderminster in Worcestershire, Herbert Broom was the son of Herbert Broom of Kidderminster, a Protestant Non-Conformist.

He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (BA, 1837; MA, 1854; LLD, 1864). He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1840 and practised on the home circuit. For many years he occupied the post of reader of Common Law at the Inner Temple.

He wrote extensively on legal matters. His entry in the Dictionary of National Biography lists eight of his works on different branches of the law. He also wrote two novels: The Missing Will (1877) and The Unjust Steward (1879).

On 26 March1846 at Kendal ‘Herbert Broom, Esq., of the Inner Temple, and of the Oxford Circuit, barrister-at-law’ married Ellen Thornthwaite Thomson, elder daughter of the late John Thomson, MD, of Leeds (Hereford Journal, 8 April 1846).

Herbert Broom died, aged 67, on 2 May 1882, leaving an estate valued at £3139.

‘Mr Herbert Broom, LL.D., late Professor of Common Law to the Inns of Court, died last week, at his residence, The Priory, Orpington, Kent. The deceased, who was in his 68th year, was the only son of the late Mr Herbert Broom, of Kidderminster, by his marriage with Rebecca, daughter of the late Mr Richard Watson, of that town. Mr Broom graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking his bachelor’s degree in 1837, and becoming LL.D. in 1864. He was called to the Bar by the honourable society of the Inner Temple in 1840, and held the professorship of Common Law in the Inns of Court for some years. He was the author of several well-known legal works, including one on “Legal Maxims.” Mr Broom married, in 1846, Ellen Thornthwaite, daughter of the late Mr John Thomson, M.D., of Halifax, Yorkshire’ (Worcester Journal, 13 May 1882).