Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/107

 Gomersall Dr. Jeune, the vice-chancellor, and this provoked: 7. ‘A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Jeune, in vindication of the Handbill by Rev. C. P. Golightly,’ 1861. A second letter to Dr. Jeune, 1861. Still undaunted, he wrote: 8. ‘The position of Bishop Wilberforce in reference to Ritualism, together with a Prefatory Account of the Romeward Movement in the Church of England in the days of Archbishop Laud. By a Senior Resident Member of the University,’ 1867. He returned to the subject with: 9. ‘A Solemn Warning against Cuddesdon College,’ 1878, in connection with which should be read ‘An Address respecting Cuddesdon College by Rev. E. A. Knox’ (1878), the ‘Address of the Old Students of the College to the Bishop of Oxford,’ and the ‘Report for the five years ending Trinity Term 1878, by Rev. C. W. Furse, Principal.’ In the same year Golightly reissued in separate form, and with his name, his ‘Brief Account of Romeward Movement in Days of Laud.’ The attack on Cuddesdon College was the subject of pp. 358–66, 415–18, vol. ii. of the ‘Life of Bishop Wilberforce,’ and Golightly retorted with ‘A Letter to the Very Reverend the Dean of Ripon, containing Strictures on the Life of Bishop Wilberforce,’ 1881.

[Mozley's Reminiscences, ii. 108–14; Burgon's Twelve Good Men, i. xxiv–viii, ii. 79–87; Stapylton's Eton Lists, 2nd ed. pp. 108 a, 113 a; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Churchman, 1886, xiv. 70–6, by the Rev. R. S. Mylne; Guardian, 6 Jan. 1886, p. 26.]  GOMERSALL, ROBERT (1602–1646?), dramatist and divine, was born in London in 1602. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, 19 April 1616 (Wood's date 1614 is wrong), proceeded B.A. 19 Dec. 1618, M.A. 14 June 1621, and B.D. 11 Nov. 1628 (Reg. Univ. Oxon. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 369, pt. ii. p. 348). Having taken holy orders he ‘became a very florid preacher in the university’. In 1628 he published ‘The Tragedie of Lodovick Sforza, Duke of Millan,’ 8vo, a somewhat stiffly written play, which may have been privately acted at Oxford by students, but does not appear to have been put on the stage by any regular company. It was dedicated to Francis Hide of Christ Church. In the same year appeared a poem, ‘The Levites Revenge: containing Poeticall Meditations upon the 19 and 20 Chapters of Judges,’ 8vo, dedicated to Dr. Barten Holiday. Both volumes contain curious engraved frontispieces. The two pieces were reprinted together in ‘Poems,’ 1633, 8vo, with the addition of a small collection of miscellaneous verses. Some of the poetical epistles are dated 1625 from Flower in Northamptonshire. John Marriot the publisher, in an address to the reader, writes: ‘from hence forward you must expect nothing from him [Gomersall] but what shall relish of a bearded and austere Devotion. And this, I trust, will be no small incitement to thy approbatiō of the worke since it is the last.’ In Harl. MS. 6931 a short poem of Gomersall is preserved. His last work was a collection of ‘Sermons on 1 Pet. cap. ii. vv. 13, 14, 15, 16,’ London, 1634, 4to, dedicated to Sir John Strangwayes of Melbury, Dorsetshire. In 1639[–40] he prefixed to Fuller's ‘History of the Holy Warre’ a copy of commendatory verses signed ‘Robert Gomersall, Vicar of Thorncombe in Devon.’ Wood notices that ‘one Rob. Gomersall, who seems to be a Devonian born, died 1646, leaving then by his will 1,000l. to his son Robert.’

[Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, ii. 590; Addit. MS. 24489, fol. 91 (Hunter's Chorus Vatum); Langbaine's Dram. Poets; Corser's Collectanea.] 

GOMM, WILLIAM MAYNARD (1784–1875), field marshal, G.C.B., eldest son of Lieutenant-colonel William Gomm of the 55th regiment, and Mary Alleyne, daughter of Joseph Maynard, esq., of Barbadoes, was born in Barbadoes, West Indies, in 1784. His father was killed at the storming of Pointe à Petre in the island of Guadeloupe, West Indies, in 1794. His mother died at Penzance two years after, leaving three sons and a daughter. One son died in childhood, the other three children were brought up by their aunt, Miss Jane Gomm, and her friend Miss M. C. Goldsworthy, who had both been governesses to the daughters of George III. William Maynard Gomm was gazetted an ensign in the 9th regiment on 24 May and a lieutenant on 16 Nov. 1794, before he was ten years of age, in recognition of his father's services. He remained at Woolwich prosecuting his studies till the summer of 1799, when he joined his regiment and embarked for Holland with the expedition under the Duke of York. At the early age of fifteen he took part in the operations on the Helder, and in the engagements of Bergen, Alkmar, and Egmont, and, on the termination of the short campaign in October, he returned to England and remained with his regiment at Norwich until August 1800, when he embarked with it for foreign service under Sir James Pulteney. Proceeding to the Spanish coast, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Ferrol, and, after a visit to Gibraltar and Lisbon, the expedition returned to England at the commencement of 1801. Gomm was now appointed aide-de-camp to General Benson at