298 
THE BROME FAMILY, 
switch or “cat,” and the prisoner (naked to the waist) marched through 
the interval, preceded by a N.-C.O. with reversed halbert, each soldier 
giving a stroke : or, halberts were fixed triangularly and one trans¬ 
versely, to which the prisoner was secured, and the soldiers, in marching 
past from the right, each, with a “cat,” delivered his stroke. 
Only some 40 years prior to Charles Brome’s enlistment, in 1698, had 
lows and arrows ceased to dispute with gunpowder arms, 1 2 and with the 
leather guns of Gustavus Adolphus 3 the Lord General “ thundered with 
his ordnance ; 3 while the bayonet has been shown to have replaced the 
dagger , in the Line 1690, and in the Artillery only in 1715; 4 and the 
iron ramrod , which was to work wonders for Frederick the Great, was 
not brought into use (in lieu of the wooden ramrod with bone button) 
for some 40 years afterwards 5 —although the breech-loading ordnance, 
of 1338, in England and France 6 had been “invented,” in 1645, by 
Captain Peter Cannon of the artillery; 7 and, in 1681, Captain Leake 
(Master-Gunner of England) had “invented” the red hot shot , of Julius 
1 In 1643, the Earl of Essex had raised companies of Roundhead archers. Grose, Yol. II., p. 
273. The last occasion on which the Bow and Arrow were employed in the English army is thus 
narrated by the eye-witness, Gwynne, in his “Memoirs of the Great Civil Wars 5 ’ (Ed. by Sir 
Walter Scott, 4to, 1822, p. 39):—“ I, having the guard by the river side (Devizes, Wilts), and 
“ standing by Sir Jacob Ashley, a bearded arrow stuck into the ground betwixt his legs. He 
“ pluckt it out with both hands, exclaiming, { You rogue, you missed your aim. 5 5 5 The late 
General Sir Alexander Dickson added the following comment on this :—“This is perhaps the last 
“ mention of the use of the Bow and Arrow, in England, in actual battle. 55 
2 One of these leather guns is in the Rotunda at Woolwich, Ho. 761. 
3 Cust’s “Civil Wars and Gwynne (eye-witness), p. 42, describes the last use of leather guns 
thus :—“ At Copredy Bridge, and thereabouts, we overtook Waller’s army, which we engaged and 
“beat, took Weemes, General of their Artillery, prisoner, and withal took his leather guns, which 
“proved very serviceable .” (Note. —These small brass or copper and leather guns, seven in num¬ 
ber, were mounted in barricadoes of wood, each of which stood on wheels, drawn by horses ; and 
thus formed a species of moving battery of light or flying artillery. Clarendon's History, p. 522). 
And, on p. 55 :—2nd battle of Newberry. . . . “ Sir Richard Page needed no such orders— 
“ for they came near to him as they moved by : nor could they come to charge Sir George Lyle 
“ but thro 5 the enemy’s fire—for Sir R. Page, with his leather guns, loaden with key shot, and his 
“ 400 musketters in the dry moate, played between the pailes upon the flanks of them.” (Note. — 
Sir R. Page was advantageously posted in a castellated and moated mansion called “ Stonehouse,” 
which Cromwell’s and Manchester’s forces were compelled to pass in advancing to the attack). 
4 Vide Note 1 on page 297 hereof. 
5 “Frederick the Great ” (Longman), p. 16— ibid. (Brackenbury), p. 44, in which latter Colonel 
C. B. Brackenbury, R.A., terms the rapidity and efficacy of loading a very “trifling development;” 
yet shows (p. 65) that the iron ramrod was a potent factor m the defeat of the Austrian cavalry at 
’Mollwitz, and (p. 128) at Lobositz the Prussian cavalry, in their two desperate charges, were 
taught the lesson of the iron ramrod—viz., that unarmoured cavalry may not approach infantry 
when rapidly and efficaciously served. At this time Marshal Saxe (“Memoirs on the Art of 
War,” page 45) “ invented” body armour which was proof against pike, and musket ball that had 
not been “ well rammed down.” At Waterloo, even with the improved musket, ramrod and fixed 
cartridges, the French cavalry coolly “ walked their horses round the British squares but these 
were cuirassiers, who were defended by their armour.” Felly’s “ Waterloo,” p. 49. 
Note. —During the Parliamentary Wars, Hazlerigg’s “Lobster” Regiment were cuirassiers. 
6 “Ancient Cannon in Europe,” pp. 291, 297, by Lieutenant (now General) H. Brackenbury, 
R.A. 
7 Extract from the Royal Commission Report, dated 26th September, 1645: —“Petition of 
“Captain Peter Cannon.” “Petitioner was one of y e first employed to provide y e trayne of 
“ Artillery for y e State: and to show his fidelity to y e cause of God maintained by Parliament, he 
“ has spent much time and money in inventing iron and brass ordnance to be loaded at y e britche, 
“ as others are at y e mouth. In this way they may be loaded and discharged much oftener than 
“ others, and are more secure by sea and land, to the saving of gunners killed in loading and 
“ spunging other ordn ce at y e mouth.” 
Note. —Specimens of early breech-loading cannon are at the Rotunda, at Woolwich. They were 
extensively employed by the Navy. 
