Author: GOMM, William Maynard
Biography:
GOMM, William Maynard (1784-1875: ODNB)
The copy of Poems and Translations from Schiller held by Princeton U is attributed to Sir William Gomm in a note on the title page. Proof that Gomm was the author and translator is no more than circumstantial. The book includes verse with first-hand recollections of various military encounters including the battle of Waterloo and these are consistent with the history of Gomm’s military career. It is known from his letters and journals that he wrote occasional verse and he certainly would have been able to translate the poems by Schiller from German. He was the eldest son of Lt. Col. William Gomm and his wife Mary Alleyne Maynard of Barbados. He was born in Barbados on 10 Nov. 1784 and baptised at West Dean, Wiltshire, on 17 Aug. 1785. His father was killed at Guadeloupe in 1794 and his mother died in 1796. Gomm and his siblings were raised by an aunt, Jane Gomm, and her friend, M. C. Goldsworthy; the two women had been governesses to the daughters of George III. In recognition of his father’s military service, he was gazetted ensign in the 9th regiment of foot on 24 May 1794 and promoted lieutenant on 16 Nov. Gomm had a long and very distinguished military career and rose steadily through the ranks: he served with distinction at many major battles, including in the Peninsular wars and at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. He was transferred to the Coldstream guards and made a KCB in 1815. On 23 Oct. 1818 he married Sophia Penn (b 1794), a direct descendent of William Penn of Pennsylvania, at St. George’s, Hanover Square. Sophia died in 1827 and on 3 Jan. 1830 in Edinburgh he married Elizabeth Anne Kerr, daughter of Sir Robert Kerr of Newbattle Abbey. There were no children from either marriage. On the death of his aunt he inherited her property and became lord of the manor of Rotherhithe in 1822. He commanded the British troops in Jamaica in 1839-41, was governor of Mauritius 1842-49, and commander-in-chief in India 1850-55. He retired to England where he died at Brunswick Terrace, Brighton, on 15 Mar. 1875. At the time of his death he was a field marshal and held honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. His wife, who died in 1877, left an estate of under £90,000 and endowed five scholarships named for her husband at Keble College, Oxford. (ODNB 21 Oct. 2024; ancestry.co.uk 21 Oct. 2024; ACAD; Francis Culling Carr-Gomm, ed., Letters and Journals of Field Marshall Sir William Maynard Gomm [1881]) SR