454 
THE BROME-WALTON FAMILY. 
of Granby. Lieut.-General (afterwards Field-Marshal) Henry Seymour 
Conway, the courtier and warrior, at first refused to serve under him 
as Lieut.-General of the Ordnance, 1 and then applied for and obtained 
Colonel Brome as his A.-D.-C. Of Lord George's administration of the 
personnel of the Ordnance, as Master-General, we have but few and 
uninteresting records: and beyond the “Townshend" cannon in the 
Museum of Artillery at Woolwich, which bears the significant inscrip¬ 
tion :— 
Fidelity , fidelity. 
Hath won these honors. 
he is best remembered as the Master-General who abolished commis¬ 
sions from the ranks to lieutenancy in the Royal Artillery, yet was he 
known to the end as Patron to Brigadier-General Samuel Cleaveland. 
In 1771 he created the 4th battalion ; abolished the grade of Lieutenant- 
Fireworker , which had existed since Henry VIII. ; and in 1774, 
conjointly with General Conway, took over the cost of the R.A. Band 
(which had been maintained by the officers of the battalion at Wool¬ 
wich) ; * 3 while in politics he was one of the most prominent and 
persistent advocates of the civil war with the Americans. 
General Conway was not suffered to retain Colonel Brome on his 
staff beyond a few months, as, in December 1770, Brome's promotion 
to the regimental Majority at Woolwich separated him from his patron 
and friend. They had fought together at Dettingen, Fontenoy, Ghent, 
Ostend, Val, and in the last year of the Seven Years War, when Con¬ 
way was second in command to the Marquis of Granby; were both of 
the “Martinet" or “ Cumberland" school; and their friendship remained 
constant up to the death of the Field-Marshal in 1795, in London. 
On parting with Colonel Brome, General Conway obtained for him a 
distinguished service reward of £182 10s. per annum (Royal Warrant 
13/11/71) in recognition of his service on the staff throughout the Seven 
Years War: this, with the 52 guineas per annum which Colonel 
Brome enjoyed as Master-Gunner of England, granted for the cam¬ 
paign of 1758, amounted to a total distinguished service reward of 
£237. Good old times ! 
Lieutenant Blomefield (afterwards Sir Thomas Blomefield, Bart., for 
the siege of Copenhagen) had the fortune to succeed Colonel Brome on 
the staff; and original letters (about to be deposited in R.A. Institution) 
afford insight into the lax orthography of proper names and into the 
secrecy attending these appointments. Dating from St. James's Park, 
on 21st December, 1770, to Lieutenant “Bromfield," Colonel Brome 
writes:— . . . the staff is fixed (i.e., new 4th battalion) . . . 
there is something better for you, I cannot mention it here ; call on 
me here, when I shall be able to tell you .... Colonel Thos. 
Ord (of Genl. Braddock's disastrous expedition) writes, from Shooters' 
Hill, on same day:— . . . Dear “ Bloomfield" . . . . The 
Fates have decreed something better for you . I suppose you will soon 
hear from Colonel “ Brome "....; and directs his letter to 
Capt. “Bloomefield": while General Conway, dating from Park Place, 
1 “ Dictionary of National Biography,” art. Conway, p. 63. 
3 “Cleayeland MSS.,” anno. 1771, also 1774. 
