Massey Bromley (1847-1884)
Died in the Penistone Railway Accident
1884 Obituary [1]
MASSEY BROMLEY, son of the Rev. T. Bromley, vicar of St. Mary's, Leamington, was born at Wolverhampton in 1846, educated at Leamington College, and afterwards at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. in 1872.
In February 1869 he went to Stratford, London, as pupil to Mr. Samuel W. Johnson in the locomotive works of the Great Eastern Railway, and passed through the shops, running shed, and drawing office; and during 1872-73 was sent as inspector of the building of locomotives for that railway at the Avonside Engine Works, Bristol.
In 1873 he was appointed running-shed foreman for a time.
From 1874 to 1878 he was works-manager under Mr. William Adams; and in 1878 succeeded Mr. Adams as locomotive superintendent, which position he held until 1881, when he resigned.
In June 1882 he joined Mr. John C. Wilson in business in Westminster, and was with him until his death, which took place on 16th July 1884, at the age of thirty-seven, when he was one of the passengers killed in the railway accident at Penistone.
In 1873 he devised some improvements in lathes for facing and turning tyres, &c.
He became a Member of the Institution in 1877.
1885 Obituary [2]
. . . . . Mr. Bromley shortly afterwards entered into partnership with Mr. John C. Wilson. The firm of Messrs. Wilson and Bromley had established a good practice as general and consulting engineers, and Mr. Bromley was fast gaining an excellent reputation as a scientific witness in railway cases, when his career was suddenly cut short by death on the 16th of July, 1884. The crank axle of the engine of the train in which Mr. Bromley was travelling broke, while the train was running at full speed down an incline near Penistone, on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. The driving-wheel tore up the rails, and the carriages were precipitated down the embankment near the Bull’s Bridge Colliery. Nineteen passengers were killed on the spot, and sixty injured, several of whom were mortally hurt. Mr. Bromley was apparently killed instantly, but his injury was hardly perceptible, and his face wore a calm and placid expression. . . . . [more]
1884 Obituary [3]
MASSEY BROMLEY, who was one of the passengers killed by the unfortunate railway accident that took place at Penistone, near Sheffield, on the 16th July 1884, was born at Wolverhampton in 1846. His father was the Rev. T. Bromley, Vicar of St. Mary's, Leamington, in which town the deceased received his education until he proceeded to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. in 1872.
Having a liking for engineering, Mr. Bromley, in 1869, became a pupil of Mr. S. W. Johnston on the locomotive works of the Great Eastern Railway at Stratford. After passing through the shops and drawing-offices there, he became inspector of the building of locomotives for the Great Eastern Railway at the Avonside Works, Bristol. Between 1874 and 1878 he was works manager at these works under Mr. William Adams.
In 1878 he succeeded Mr. Adams as locomotive superintendent. In 1882 he commenced business as a consulting engineer at Westminster, in conjunction with Mr. J. C. Wilson.
Mr. Bromley became a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1877. In the same year he joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.