284 
THE MASTER-GUNNERS OF ENGLAND. 
SUCCESSION LIST OF THE MASTER-GUNNELS OE ENGLAND. 
Reign. 
Wm. and 
Mary 
(Conid.) 
Date of 
Appt. 
Name. 
War Services, &c. 
''has continued to the present day, with the one 
exception of Captain Thomas Silver (for whom 
the distinctive appointment of Master-Gunner 
of England, without other office, was revived 
in 1702). Hitherto this ancient and honor¬ 
able post — the primus ordinatus or senior 
grade of Artillery—had been conferred upon 
a Master-Gunner, by selection, for distin¬ 
guished services, who had graduated from 
Gunner. 
The old order now changes, 
Giving 'place to new. 
1696 
Anne. 
1702-1714 
Lieut.-Col, 
George 
Browne. 
Captain 
Thos. Silver. 
The venerable incumbent of the office 
(Captain Leake) had remained in England, and 
although represented on land and at sea by his 
deputies, Master-Gunners Dodge and Silver, 
Lieut.-Col. Browne was de facto the Master- 
Gunner of England with Marlborough’s army, 
and his artillery had developed and become 
distinguished beyond all precedent (so many 
as 120 pieces of cannon and mortars having 
been directed by him alone at the siege of 
Huy). The Duke of Marlborough therefore 
secured the nomination of his senior Lieut.- 
Colonel Commanding the Artillery; and the 
Loyal Warrant of 20th October, in the eighth 
of William and Mary, in reciting the incum¬ 
bents of the office (since temp. Henry YIIL), 
conferred upon Colonel Browne the “power 
and emoluments” enjoyed by his predecessors. 
Although described in the Loyal Warrant 
merely as George Browne, Esqre., the new 
incumbent was the Artillery Lieut.-Colonel 
(since 1691): in 1700 Lieut.-Colonel Browne’s 
pay with the Train is recorded as £300 per 
annum, and in the quarter-books for 1700 as 
Master-Gunner of England at £190 : in 1702 
he was promoted Colonel from 1 April, 1702, 
at £1 5s. per diem., and would appear to 
l^have died in that month, 
f The last of the Incas ! Captain Silver was 
originally appointed Gunner on 4 Oct. 1663 ; 
. promoted Master-Gunner about 1670 ; Chief 
' Master-Gunner of the Fleet, with the bomb 
vessels ordered with the expedition to Flanders 
^in 1693; in 1696 promoted deputy or “mate” 
