234 
THE BROME-WALTON FAMILY. 
of Minister of National Defence appear to have been chiefly directed 
towards reviving the spirit of the nation by vigorous and sensational 
measures for home defences :—the Hanoverians and Hessians were 
sent out of England ; an army of 12,000 and armaments sent to Ireland ; 
redoubts and forts built or re-armed along the coasts of England and 
Scotland; Milford Haven defences and harbour constructed; the Channel 
Islands forts repaired and re-armed; army and artillery camps formed 
at Hyde Park, Woolwich, Portsmouth, Byfleet (near Maidstone), Chat¬ 
ham Lines, Barham Downs, Dorchester, &c.; and the militia of the 
kingdom mobilised. At this time two twigs had been cut off from the 
venerable yet vigorous artillery corps—one for Ireland (Lieutenant 
Stratton and 24 gunners), now 3rd Field Battery R.A. 1 2 —as nucleus of 
the Royal Irish Artillery ; and one for India (Company R.A.) ns nucleus 
of the artillery of the East India Company. 3 
But Pitt's chef d’oeuvre was the Royal Camp at Byfleet, from July 
to October 1756, where the Home Defence Army lay encamped during* 
imminence of invasion. Following the precedent set by Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, the King and the Duke of Cumberland (not yet gone to Hanover) 
were constantly reviewing the camp, which was under command-in- 
cliief of Charles, Duke of Marlborough (Master-Generalof the Ordnance), 
with Lieut.-Colonel Desaguliers, R.A., as A.-D.-C.—his second in 
command being the Right Hon. Sir John Ligonier (Lieut.-General of 
the Ordnance), with Captain Phillips, R.A., as A.-D.-C. Colonel 
Belford commanded Royal Artillery, with Forbes Macbean as Adjutant. 
The battalion guns were wholly composed of light 6-prs. (brass) ; the 
guns of position, of brass 24-prs. and heavy 12-prs.,with 13-in. and 10-in. 
mortars; the field guns of light 12-prs. and heavy 6-prs. (brass) ; the 
whole were brigaded as follows : 3 — 
1st Brigade—Captain Godwin, It.A., four 21-prs.; Captain Hussey, five 12-prs.; Captain 
Hay, five 6-prs. and 3 howitzers. 
2nd Brigade—Major Cleaveland, four 21-prs.; Captain Strachey, five 12-prs.; Captain Stephens, 
five 6-prs. and three howitzers. 
3rd Brigade—Captain Joseph Drome, three 24-prs.; Captain Smith, four 12-prs.; Captain- 
Lieutenant Yorke, five 6-prs. 
4th Brigade—Captain-Lieutenant Anderson, five 12-prs. 
Cavalry—Six 3-pr. Gallopers, under command of Captain-Lieutenant Drummond (why not call 
these “ Itoyal Horse Artillery?”) 
Howitzers of 1st and 2nd Brigade under Captain Ab. Tovey and Lieutenant Chas. Torriano. 
These names bring pleasant recollections to the artillery student. 
Here were the lion-hearted George II., Cumberland, Ligonier, and 
Joseph Brome, sole survivors of Te Deum Dettingen ( see Chapter II.) ; 
Marlborough, of St. Malo celebrity, who was to lead the conjoint 
expedition of 1758 against the coasts of France, and, again in 1758, to 
land the British army in Germany; Belford, of Fontenoy and first hero 
of Culloden; Desaguliers, of Belle Isle, and first gunner to earn the 
blue ribbon of science; Godwin, of Prestonpans, Falkirk, Culloden, 
1 Lieutenant Stratton’s detachment developed into a company of Itoyal Irish Artillery, -which 
came hack to the Royal Artillery in 1801 as Ho. 1 Company 7th Battalion. Lieutenant Stratton 
became a General Officer in the Royal Irish Artillery, and at the Act of Union came back to It.A. 
as Lieut.-General, Colonel-Commandant, of the 7th Battalion It. A. 
2 The Artillery of the Honourable East India Companv amalgamated with the Eoyal Artillery 
by the Act of November 1859, and assumed It.A. designations on 1st May, 1862. 
3 c£ Cleaveland MSS.,” p. 255. “History of the Royal Artillery” (Duncan), Vol. I., p. 150; 
original official MSS. (12 folios) of 1756 with Dickson MSS , 
