John Edward Bromby

Who was John Edward Bromby?

John Edward Bromby was an Australian schoolmaster and Anglican cleric.

Bromby was born in Hull, England, the son of the Reverend John Healey Bromby and his wife Jane, née Amis. His brother was Charles Henry Bromby, later Bishop of Tasmania. Bromby was educated at Hull Grammar School, Uppingham. At 18 he entered St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated ninth wrangler and third in the second class of the classics tripos in 1832. He was elected a fellow of St John's College.

Bromby was ordained deacon in 1834 and priest in 1836. He was appointed second master at Bristol College in 1836 and then for some years conducted a private school at Clifton. From 1847 to 1854 he was principal of Elizabeth College, Guernsey, was university preacher at Cambridge in 1850, obtaining the degree of D.D., and after 1854 was curate for two or three years to his father at Hull. He was then appointed headmaster of the newly founded Church of England Grammar School at Melbourne, where he arrived in February 1858 with his wife and nine children.

The school opened on 7 April 1858 with 86 students and the number of boys soon began to grow rapidly.