Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/410

 Bromfield public procurator not only for the establishment at Bury St. Edmunds, but for the whole Benedictine order, a promise being at the same time extorted from him that he would seek no preferment in his own community. His reputation for learning followed him to Rome, where he was appointed to lecture on divinity. On the death of the abbot of Bury St. Edmunds he sought and obtained the appointment from the pope in spite of his oath. The monks, however, with the sanction of King Richard II, chose John Timworth for abbot, and on Bromfield's arrival in England to claim his appointment he was seized and imprisoned on a charge of violating the statute of Provisors, a precursor of the statute of Præmunire. The pope did not interfere, but after an imprisonment of nearly ten years Bromfield was released, and, with the king's concurrence, appointed bishop of Llandaff in 1389 on the translation of William Bottesham to Rochester. In the royal brief confirming to him the temporalities of the see Bromfield is designated abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Silva Major in the diocese of Bordeaux, and 'Scholarum Palatii Apostolici in sacra theologia magister.' Bromfield died in 1393, and was buried in Llandaff Cathedral. He is said to have been the author of several works, but not even the titles of any of them are now extant.

[Godwin, De Præsulibus (1743), p. 608; Willis's Survey of Cathedral Church of Llandaff, p. 55; Ziegelbauer's Historia rei lit. Ord. S. Benedicti, pt. ii. p. 89; Pits's Rel. Hist. de rebus Anglicis, p. 834; Leland's Comm. de Scriptoribus Britannicis, p. 378.]  BROMFIELD, WILLIAM (1712–1792), surgeon, was born in London in 1712, and, after some years' instruction under a surgeon, commenced at an early period to practise on his own account. In 1741 he began a course of lectures on anatomy and surgery which attracted a large attendance of pupils. Some' years afterwards he formed, along with Mr. Martin Madan, the plan of the Lock Hospital for the treatment of venereal disease, to which he was appointed surgeon. For a theatrical performance in aid of its funds he altered an old comedy, the 'City Match,' written in 1639 by Jaspar Maine, which in 1755 was acted at Drury Lane. He was also elected one of the surgeons of St. George's Hospital. In 1761 he was appointed one of the suite to attend the Princess of Mecklenburg on her journey to England to be wedded to George III, and after the marriage he was appointed surgeon to her majesty's household. Besides contributing some papers to the 'Transactions of the Royal Society,' he was the author of: 1. 'An Account of English Nightshades,' 1757. 2. 'Narrative of a Physical Transaction with Mr. Aylet, surgeon at Windsor,' 1759. 3. 'Thoughts concerning the present peculiar Method of treating persons inoculated for the Small-pox,' 1767. 4. 'Chirurgical Cases and Observations,' 2 vols., 1773. In his later years he retired from his profession, and resided in a house which he had built for himself in Chelsea Park. He died on 24 Nov. 1792.

[Rees's Encyclopædia, vol. v.; Brit. Mus. Catalogue.]  BROMFIELD, WILLIAM ARNOLD (1801–1851), (1801–1851), botanist, was born at Boldre, in the New Forest, Hampshire, in 1801, his father, the Rev. John Arnold Bromfield, dying in the same year. He received his early training under Dr. Knox of Tunbridge, Dr. Nicholas of Ealing, and Rev. Mr. Phipps, a Warwickshire clergyman. He entered Glasgow University in 1821, and two years later he took his degree in medicine. During his university career he first showed a liking for botany, and made an excursion into the Scottish highlands in quest of plants.

He left Scotland in 1826, and, being independent of professional earnings, travelled through Germany, Italy, and France, returning to England in 1830. His mother died shortly afterwards, and he lived with his sister at Hastings and at Southampton, and finally settled at Ryde in 1836. He published in the ‘Phytologist’ some observations on Hampshire plants, and then began to amass materials for a Flora of the Isle of Wight, which he did not consider complete even after fourteen years of assiduous labour. In 1842 he spent some weeks in Ireland, and in January 1844 he started for a six months' tour to the West India Islands, spending most of the time in Trinidad and Jamaica. Two years later he visited North America, publishing some remarks in Hooker's ‘Journal of Botany.’

In September 1850 he embarked for the East, and spent some time in Egypt, penetrating as far as Khartoum, which he described in a letter as a ‘region of dust, dirt, and barbarism.’ Here he lost two of his companions, victims to the climate, and he returned to Cairo in the following June, after an absence of seven months. Continuing his journey, he passed by Jaffa, and stated his intention of leaving Constantinople for Southampton in September, but his last letter was dated ‘Bairout, 22 Sept.,’ when he was expecting a friend to join him on a trip to Baalbec and Damascus. At the latter place