Frederic Boase - Modern English Biography (volume 1 of 4) A-H

BROKE, Sir William de Capell, 3 Baronet. b. Deal, Kent 12 June 1801; ed. at Rugby and Brasn. coll. Ox., B.A. 1822, M.A. 1835; barrister I.T. 25 May 1827; sheriff of Rutland 1852; succeeded 6 Dec. 1858. d. The Elms, Market Harborough 8 March 1886. Law Times lxxx , 364 (1886).

BROMBY, Rev. John Healey. b. 1771; ed. at Hull gr. sch. and Sid. Suss. coll. Cam., 17 wrangler 1792, B.A. 1792, M.A. 1795, fellow of his coll.; V. of Trinity, Hull 1797–1866; V. of Cheswardine, Salop 1821–67; master of the Charterhouse, Hull 1849 to death; author of various sermons, essays and lectures published in Hull. d. Hull 25 March 1868, the oldest clergyman in Church of England.

BROME, Frederick. Governor of military prison on Windmill hill, Gibraltar 1846 to Dec. 1868, and of military prison at Weedon Northampton 1869 which was abolished same year; well known as a palæontologist. d. 4 March 1870. Nature i , 509 (1870).

BROMEHEAD, Rev. William Crawford ( youngest son of Rev. A. C. Bromehead of Newbold, Warws. ) Educ. at Repton and Trin. coll. Cam., scholar, B.A. 1849, M.A. 1853, B.D. 1879, chaplain of his college 1857–9; chaplain in Bengal 1859–79; one of founders of Indian church aid association and the first hon. sec.; chaplain in ord. at Kensington palace, London 8 July 1879 to death; author of A short account of the lives of the bishops of Calcutta 1876; Step by step or the devout communicant led through the Church to the vision of God 1878. d. Kensington palace 6 May 1884 aged 59.

BROMFIELD, William Arnold ( son of Rev. John Arnold Bromfield of Boldre in the New Forest who d. 1801 ). b. Boldre 1801; entered Univ. of Glasgow 1821, M.D. 1823; travelled through Germany, Italy and France 1826–30; went to West Indies 1844 and to North America 1846; embarked for the East, Sep. 1850; author of List of plants likely to be found wild in the Isle of Wight 1840; Botanico-topographical map of the Isle of Wight 1850; Letters from Egypt and Syria 1856. d. of malignant typhus fever at Damascus 9 Oct. 1851. Hooker’s Kew garden miscell. iii , 373–82 (1851); Proc. of Linnæan Soc. ii , 182–3 (1855); W. A. Bromfield’s Flora Vectensis 1856, portrait .

BROMHEAD, Sir Edmund Gonville, 3 Baronet. b. Birch grove, Ballinasloe 22 Jany. 1791; ensign 8 Foot 18 Jany. 1808; lieut. 54 Foot 23 March 1809; captain 19 Foot 21 Nov. 1822 to 13 May 1826 when placed on h.p. as major; served in Walcheren expedition, the Peninsula and at Waterloo; led the forlorn hope at Cambray 24 June 1815; succeeded 14 March 1855. d. Thurlby hall near Lincoln 25 Oct 1870.

BROMHEAD, Sir Edward Thomas Ffrench, 2 Baronet ( eldest son of Sir Gonville Bromhead, 1 baronet 1758–1822 ). b. Dublin 26 March 1789; ed. at Gonville and Caius. coll. Cam., B.A. 1812, M.A. 1815; barrister I.T. 28 May 1813; succeeded 11 May 1822; F.R.S. 13 March 1817, F.L.S. 1844. d. Thurlby hall 14 March 1855.

BROMLEY, Sir Richard Madox ( 2 son of Samuel Bromley, Surgeon R.N. who d. 1835 ). b. 11 June 1813; ed. at Lewisham gr. sch.; entered Admiralty department of Civil service 1829; sec. to Comrs. for auditing public accounts 6 June 1848 to Feb. 1854; accountant general of the Navy Feb. 1854 to March 1863; comr. of Greenwich hospital 28 March 1863 to death; C.B. 13 Sep. 1854, K.C.B. 6 Sep. 1858. d. The Marina, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea 30 Nov. 1865.

BROMLEY, Sir Robert Howe, 3 Baronet ( only son of Sir George Smith, 2 baronet 1753–1808, who assumed surname of Bromley 1778 ). b. Stoke near Newark 28 Nov. 1778; entered navy 26 Dec. 1791; captain 28 April 1802; placed on h.p. 1809; admiral 17 Aug. 1851; succeeded his father 17 Aug. 1808. d. Stoke 8 July 1857.

BROMLEY, Valentine Walter ( eld. son of Wm. Bromley of St. John’s Wood, London ). b. London 14 Feb. 1848; contributed many illustrations to Illustrated London News ; an associate of Institute of painters in water colours; exhibited 5 pictures at R.A. and 22 at Suffolk st. gallery 1865–77; his picture of Troilus and Cressida is engraved in Art Journal 1873. d. Fallows Green, Harpenden 30 April 1877. I.L.N. lxx , 469 (1877), portrait .

BROMLEY-DAVENPORT, William ( eld. son of Rev. Walter Davenport-Bromley of Wooton hall, Staffs. 1787–1862 ). b. Capesthorn near Crewe 20 Aug. 1821; ed. at Harrow and Ch. Ch. Ox.; lieut. col. Staffordshire yeomanry cavalry 13 July 1864 to death; M.P. for North Warwickshire Dec. 1864 to death; assumed name of Bromley-Davenport in lieu of Davenport-Bromley 1868; aide-de-camp to the Queen 15 Aug. 1883 to death; author of many hunting songs and of an article entitled Fox hunting in The Nineteenth Century June 1883 . d. Lichfield 15 June 1884. Waagen’s Treasures of art iii , 371–80 (1854); I.L.N. lxxxv , 629 (1884), portrait ; Baily’s Mag. xlii , 385 (1884).

BRONTE, Charlotte Mary Hood, Duchess of ( only dau. of Wm. Nelson, 1 Earl Nelson 1757–1835 ). b. 20 Sep. 1787; succeeded her father as Duchess of Bronte in Sicily 28 Feb. 1835. ( m. 3 July 1810 Samuel Hood, 2 Baron Bridport 1788–1868). d. Cricket, St. Thomas 29 Jany. 1873. Earl Nelson v. Lord Bridport, 6 Beavan, Reports in Chancery 295–305 (1845); 7 Beavan 195–202 (1846); 8 Beavan 527–74 (1847).

BRONTE, Charlotte ( 3 child of the succeeding ). b. Hartshead 21 April 1816; ed. at Cowan’s Bridge, Yorkshire 1824–5, and at Miss Wooler’s school Roehead, Yorkshire 1831–2 where she was teacher 29 July 1835 to Dec. 1837; learnt French in Brussels 1842–3. ( m. 19 June 1854 Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls, C. of Haworth); author with her sisters Emily and Anne of Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell 1846; Jane Eyre an autobiography edited by Currer Bell 3 vols. 1847; Shirley, a tale by Currer Bell 3 vols. 1849; Villette by Currer Bell 3 vols. 1853; The professor, a tale [ edited by A. B. Nicholls ] 2 vols. 1857. d. Haworth parsonage 31 March 1855. Mrs. Gaskell’s Life of C. Bronte 2 vols. 1857, portrait ; C. Bronte, a monograph by T. W. Reid 1877; The Bronte family by F. A. Leyland 1886; G. B. Smith’s Poets and novelists (1875) 207–50; W. Smith’s Old Yorkshire (1883) 124–30, portrait ; P. Bayne’s Two great Englishwomen (1881) 155–340; Illust. Review iv , 257–65, portrait .

BRONTE, Rev. Patrick ( son of Hugh Prunty of Ahaderg, Downshire ). b. Ahaderg 17 March 1777; opened a school at Drumgooland, Downshire 1793; changed his name to Bronte about 1801; entered St. John’s coll. Cam. Oct. 1802, B.A. 1806; ordained to a curacy in Essex; C. of Hartshead, Yorkshire 1811; P.C. of Thornton near Bradford 1814–20; Inc. of Haworth near Bradford 25 Feb. 1820 to death; author of Cottage poems 1811; The rural minstrel 1813 and of a tract called, The cottage in a wood, or the art of becoming rich and happy 1818 reprinted 1859, he is partly represented as Mr. Helstone in his daughter’s novel Shirley . d. Haworth parsonage 7 June 1861. Dict, of nat. biog. vi , 406–13 (1886).

BROOK, Charles ( son of James Brook of Huddersfield, banker and cotton spinner at Meltham ). b. Upperhead row, Huddersfield 18 Nov. 1814; partner with his father 1840; made many improvements in machinery; founded Convalescent Home at Huddersfield at cost of £40,000 where there is a portrait of him by Samuel Howell; purchased Enderby hall near Leicester 1865 at cost of £150,000; rebuilt Enderby church 1865. d. Enderby hall 10 July 1872.