458 
THE BROME-WALTON FAMILY. 
JOSEPH BROME (2nd). 
The last artillery Brome emerged from the Royal Military Academy, 
as Second Lieutenant, on 14th August, 1794—the date of creation of 
the 5th battalion R.A., to which he was posted at Woolwich—and 
combined in his services the varied experiences of his distinguished 
ancestors. With him expired the family torch which, in the hands of 
Charles Brome, Joseph Brome (1st), and Joseph Walton , had lighted 
us through the dark jungle of artillery history in XVII. and XVIII. 
centuries, when every gunner was a hero with but a handful of such 
corn in the earth. 
To write a Memoir of the war services, by sea and land, of Joseph 
Brome (2nd) would involve a review of artillery history from the 
Expedition to the Helder in 1797, under H.R.H. the Duke of York, to 
the crowning episode of Waterloo, under the Immortal Duke, including 
the naval actions, under Admiral Nelson, in which Brome fought in 
command of Bomb-ships, until 1802; and would require a “just pro¬ 
portion ” to be devoted to the abundant crop of his brilliant contem¬ 
porary gunners of the Macleod, Cuppage, Congreve, Shrapnel, Robe, 
Adye, Dickson, Gardiner, May, Lloyd, Wood, and Whinyates families. 
Lurid is the light thrown over this period by the historians of the 
Royal Artillery: yet is there need for all the side lights of personal 
Memoirs of these illustrious families, in their respective orbits, which 
can alone help us to disperse the shadows of general regimental history. 
The author of the present Memoirs had originally intended—from 
such meagre and imperfect sources as muster-rolls, ordnance records, 
monthly returns, &c. (in R.A. record office), and gazettes and despatches 
(in the national record office)—to devote two or three chapters to the last 
of the artillery Bromes, in order to review artillery operations under the 
above-named triumvirate, to whom were committed the destinies of our 
nation, from the breaking out of the great French Revolution up to the 
withdrawal from France of the Armies of Occupation; but it has since 
come to his knowledge that (owing to an act of munificent generosity) 
the Committee of the R.A. Institution has become possessed of vast 
collections of original MSS., official and semi-official, collected and 
preserved by an eminent Peninsular and Waterloo officer, which will 
throw a flood of light authoratively upon the whole period covered by 
the life of the last of the artillery Broities' whose individual importance 
was relatively that of the proverbial “fly upon the wheel B 
It must therefore suffice to close these Memoirs by briefly summar¬ 
ising the services of 
Joseph Brome (2nd). 
14th August, 1794 Commissioned 2nd Lieut. R.A. in 5th battalion at 
Woolwich. 
22nd Sept., ,, Promoted 1st Lieut.; and ordered to Erith, as 
second in command of Royal Artillery detach¬ 
ments for East Indies. 
8th June, 1797 Returned to England; and appointed to command 
of H.M. Bomb-Tender, Judith, in the Downs. 
