Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/190

 died there, aged 54, on 11 April 1868, and was buried in Brompton cemetery.

Her brother, Frank Romer, musical composer and member of a publishing firm, died in 1889. Her sister Helen (d. 1890) was wife of Mark Lemon [q. v.] Ann Romer (d. 1852), the vocalist, who married William Brough [q. v.], was Emma Romer's first cousin.

[Grove's Dict. iii. 154; Musical World, 1868, pp. 269, 285; Theatrical Observer, 1830–7, passim; Phillips's Recollections, i. 190; Fitzball's Dramatic Life, passim.]  ROMER, ISABELLA FRANCES (d. 1852), miscellaneous writer, was the youngest daughter of Major-general John Augustus Romer by his wife, Marianne Cuthbert. She married Major Hamerton of the 7th fusiliers in December 1818, but separated from him in 1827, and resumed her maiden name. She was a firm believer in mesmerism and animal magnetism, and in 1841 published, in three volumes, ‘Sturmer, a Tale of Mesmerism, with other Sketches from Life.’ She next turned her attention to travel, and brought out in 1843, in two volumes, ‘The Rhone, the Darro, and the Guadalquivir, a Summer Ramble in 1842.’ Another edition appeared in 1847. The ‘Quarterly Review’ (lxxvi. 119) characterised it as ‘well written.’

She died at Chester Square, London, 27 April 1852, while at work on her last book, ‘Filia Dolorosa, Memoirs of Marie Thérèse Charlotte, Duchess d'Angoulême’ [Madame Royale]. It was completed by Dr. John Doran [q. v.], and published in two volumes in 1852. Other works by Miss Romer are: 1. ‘A Pilgrimage to the Temples and Tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine in 1845–6,’ 2 vols. 1846; 2nd ed. 1847. 2. ‘The Bird of Passage, or Flying Glimpses of many Lands,’ 3 vols. 1849; some of the tales and sketches here printed had been published previously.

[Allibone's Dict. ii. 1860; Gent. Mag. 1852, i. 636.]  ROMER, WOLFGANG WILLIAM (1640–1713), military engineer, born at The Hague on 23 April 1640, was third son, in a family of six sons and five daughters, of Mathias Römer of Dusseldorf and Anna Duppengiezeer, who were married at Aix-la-Chapelle on 2 Jan. 1637. His father was ambassador to Holland from the elector palatine, who stood godfather to young Wolfgang at his baptism on 17 May 1640. Romer entered the service of the prince of Orange as a military engineer, and saw much service before 1688, when he accompanied Prince William to England. At that time he held the rank of colonel.

By royal warrant of 13 May 1690 he was appointed engineer in Ireland at 20s. a day, to commence from 1 March 1689. He took part in the campaigns of 1690 and 1691, and was employed on the fortifications of Cork, Longford, and Thurles. He remained in Ireland until 1692, when he was appointed by royal warrant of 7 July chief engineer of the artillery train fitted out at St. Helen's for the expedition against the coast of France. On 26 July he embarked with fourteen thousand troops in transports, and joined the fleet at Portland, when the expedition was abandoned. In 1693 he was chief engineer of the ordnance train of the expedition to the Mediterranean; he served under Lord Bellamont [see ], and embarked in the fleet under Delaval, Killigrew, and Rooke, to convoy the so-called Smyrna fleet. On 8 May 1694 he was directed by royal warrant to report on the defences of Guernsey, and to lay out any additional works which were urgent, with a special allowance of 20s. a day. A plan of Castle Cornet, drawn by Romer when on this duty, is in the British Museum.

At the beginning of 1697 Romer was ordered to New York, but objected to go on the proposed salary of 20s. per diem. The board of ordnance recommended that his warrant should be cancelled, and that he should be discharged from the king's service. The king was, however, well acquainted with his value, and although the board had suspended him in February, in August the suspension was removed, ‘from the time of its being first laid on,’ and Romer accompanied Lord Bellamont, the newly appointed governor, to New York as chief engineer and with pay of 30s. a day. Bellamont had so high an opinion of Romer that he was specially allowed to retain his services beyond the term arranged.

Romer made a plan of the Hudson River, New York, and the adjoining country. In 1700 he explored the territories of the five Indian nations confederated with the British, and made a map of his journey among them. These maps are in the British Museum. From 1701 to 1703 he was engaged in fortifying Boston harbour. He built on Castle Island a formidable work of defence, called Fort William, mounting one hundred guns. It was destroyed on 17 March 1776, when the British evacuated Boston. Many years afterwards a slate slab with a Latin inscription was found among the ruins, giving the dates when the work was commenced and