Captain Housman Broadley

During the research for writing my novel, War on the Inland Sea, I read every scrap of first hand information related to the British effort at Oswego (1755-56). One of those that helped the most was the transcribed letters of Housman Broadley to his commanding officer. Initially this seems to have been Commodore Keppel, then subsequently Admiral Boscawen. Broadley was appointed by Keppel as Master and Commander of the HMS Oswego and commanding officer of the squadron to be built on Lake Ontario in 1755. I’ve discussed elsewhere, but reiterate that all those that commanded a ship used the courtesy title Captain. While the Royal Navy rank of “Master and Commander” was the nebulous rank between lieutenant and post-captain. It was reserved as the first step for those that commanded ships that were too small for a post-captain and too large for a lieutenant.

Portrait of Captain Edward Knowles, R.N. ca. 1762 by Francis Cotes

Broadley’s correspondence gives a strong sense of the man, who I should say up front comes across as slightly incompetent and more than a little full of himself. Nonetheless, I wanted to know more about his history, though it might never make it into my characterization of him. He was born on or about 1722 and there’s little to know of his background. His place of birth and family are unknown, though he did have a relative in the Royal Navy as well. A Captain James Broadley, whose journal from his time commanding the fire ship Blaze was held by Housman Broadley at some point. I suspect, with no real proof other than the dates of their respective commissions, that James was Housman’s elder brother.

Broadley passed his lieutenant’s exam in February of 1745 and was promoted to lieutenant in May of that year. His career is a mystery before 1755 when Keppel promoted him and sent him on the expedition into the wilderness. Two incidents from his correspondence at Oswego though gave me the idea of who he was as a man. Though in fairness, it’s who I imagine him to be, not who the actual man probably was. Broadley was promoted into the yet unbuilt schooner HMS Oswego, nominally of ten guns. The other vessels that would be built on Lake Ontario by the British included the sloop, HMS Ontario, also nominally of ten guns, and the small schooners George and Lively (six swivels each).

The first action that I think is defining is when the ships were laid up for the winter of 1755-56 and Broadley decided to leave his subordinate to winter over in the north and look after them. I inserted my main character, Robert Marshal, into this historical narrative to have him winter over as well. While Laforey suffered deproivation and disease in the north, Broadley went to New York City, ostensibly to recruit more sailors and gain necessary supplies. In reading the letters, it came across to me as vindictive and a failure of leadership. John Laforey, the said subordinate, had been given command of the HMS Ontario and been promoted to Master and Commander by Commodore Keppel, which I think annoyed Broadley. Laforey would certainly have been able to do any of the recruiting necessary, but such was not the case. The concept of don’t order subordinates to do something you’re unwilling to do was apparently lost on Broadley.

The second incident, and I think the more damning one, was in June of 1756 when the HMS Oswego, Ontario and the George were patrolling the lake. A force of four French schooners gave chase to the small British squadron and the small schooner George was unable to keep up with the larger vessels. The shallow draft of the schooner allowed her to explore shorelines that the Oswego and Ontario couldn’t, but it also meant that she made more leeway. She drifted off course further and faster than the other vessels did. Broadley’s orders to her commander, Lieutenant Jasper Farmer, were to fall off and make her own way back to the anchorage at Fort Oswego. To make a finer point of it, he left the smaller, poorly armed vessel to face the French squadron alone. There was no way they could escape the French squadron and though the fate of the crew was unknown at the time, the captured schooner is known to have been later added to the French fleet. Broadley glosses over this in his correspondence, but I will reiterate, Broadley sacrificed one of his ships and its crew in order to escape, rather than engage the French ships.

After the capture of the forts and fleet at Oswego in August of 1756, Broadley and the other British officers were sent to Europe. After his exchange, Broadley was given command of the eight gun brig HMS Hawk. He was at the Lousibourg Expedition in 1757 and was subsequently given command was the ten gun brig, HMS Viper. He died aboard her of unknown causes in January of 1759. There are no paintings or descriptions of Housman Broadley that I was able to find. The painting above is of the equally unfortunate Captain Edward Knowles, whose ship was lost at sea with all hands in 1761. The painting though captures how I picture Broadley in my mind’s eye.

REF:

Broadley, J. “Journal kept on board H.M. fireship Blaze, capt. James Broadley, chiefly while lying in the Downs, by Housman Broadley, 13 Mar 1741–25 Jan 1742.” Bodleian Archives and Manuscripts.

Correspondence of Housman Broadley. Grant, W.L. & Broadley, H. (1914). The Capture of Oswego in 1756. Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, Vol. 13, 339-367.

Correspondence of Major Bradstreet to General Shirley. Waterbury, E.M. (April 1951). Naval Activities During Montcalm’s Capture of Oswego. Paper presented at the Oswego County Historical Society, Oswego, NY.

Housman Broadley. Three Decks: Warships in the Age of Sail. https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_crewman&id=3901

Map by Pierre Boucher de la Broquerie, 4 October 1757. British Library Collection

Portrait of Captain Edward Knowles, R.N. ca. 1762 by Francis Cotes. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.