304 
THE BROME FAMILY. 
lies before me) Richard Hickes (2nd) bequeathed the reversion of his 
estates to the te son, Joseph, now in the Island of Minorca . . .” of 
his favorite sister. Mary Walton, the widow who had married Charles 
Brome of the Royal Artillery. 1 2 (Walford gives the rental at £2000 
a-year). 
For many years, however, the Brome’s remained in Minorca in 
obscurity; and promotions out of the ranks averaged only one per 
annum, several of which were appropriated by the Borgard family and 
their connections. In ] 720, two drummers were sanctioned for the 
Royal Artilleiy, by Royal Warrant of 11th June, 1720, for Minorca— 
who enjoyed the privilege of Royal Regiments of weariug red coats ; 3 
and the first drummer enlisted was Mary Walton’s little boy, then 
aged 8, who, however, first appears in the regimental pay-list of 1721 3 
as “Drummer Joseph Brome/’ and subsequently as “ Gunner Joseph 
Brome alias Walton (1732-3 only), after twelve months furlough to 
England.” 
In an age when British Artillery was yet an operative art, when skill 
in the nse of the recently revived mortars was sparsely diffused, and 
the processes of refining saltpetre and manufacture of gunpowder and 
cartridges had to be carried out at the station, the value of Gunner 
Charles Brome, fresh from Major Borgard’s laboratory and arsenal in 
the Woolwich Warren, was appreciated in Minorca—where were still 
surviving many of the gallant veteran Trayne (the company was not 
relieved until 1 749), whom under Master-Gunner and Captain Silver, 
with Charles Brome as one of its matrosses, Borgard had captured 
Minorca and its garrison of 1000 French and Spaniards, after a siege 
from 25th August to 19th September, 1708. 4 “ Captain and Master- 
Gunner ” Leonard Jackson, then commanding the Artillery in Minorca, 5 
at once promoted Brome to Bombardier ; and Brome was further pro¬ 
moted, with exceptional rapidity, to the newly created grade of Corporal 
in 1722, to the newly revived grade of Sergeant in 1737, and to Garri¬ 
son Sergeant of Mahon in 1830, a position which he retained until, on 
the breaking out of war, he was commissioned, on 1st July, 1740, as 
“Lieutenant Fireworker,” in the 58fch year of his age and after 42 
years of continuous service. That Brome was a man of extraordinary 
vigour is evidenced by his subsequent war services. 
Of the two Mediterranean Garrisons—Gibraltar (captured 1704), and 
Minorca (captured 1708)—the former was ever held in secondary 
1 The present Eight Hon. Sir Michael Hickes-Beach, M.P., is a member of this branch of the 
Hickes family. 
2 Eed coats for R.A. drummers were abolished in 1851. Vide Colonel Miller’s “ Essays,” p. 23. 
3 Some preceding pay-lists are noted, in the bound volume, as “ Wanteing,” owing, probably, to 
their having been impounded by the Law Courts, some years afterwards, when Joseph Brome in¬ 
herited the estates of his uncle, Bichard Hickes (2nd). 
4 The History of the E.A. in Minorca requires to be re-written. A whole chapter (XXVI.) is 
devoted to eloquent portrayal of the gallant defence of 1781-2 (when Charles Brome’s grand¬ 
son, Capt. Joseph Walton, commanded E.A.), for which the Governor, Sir George Murray, was 
court-martiall’d; but no account is given of the brilliant defence of 1756 (for which General 
Pakenham was given a Peerage); m r of its original capture in 1708 by Borgard’s mortars and 
howitzers. 1STor have we details of the re-captures in 1756 and 1782. 
5 As Master- Gunner, the Captain of the Company was responsible to the Lieut.-General and 
Board for armament, &c.; and as Captain, to the Master-General for personnel and discipline_ 
hence the composite rank, which Captain Jackson was the last to hold. Captain Jackson is, of 
course, not in Kane. 
