| Description | Large volume containing brief mss notes and news cuttings collated by Frederick Brome on the subject of Gibraltar, 1863-1867. Most of the volume is empty, with only the first few pages at the front and back with content. Comprises:
Front:
1) "The Bone Cave at Windmill Hill" by George Busk, news cutting from the 'Gibraltar Chronicle Commercial Intelligencer', 20 February 1864.
2) 'Altitudes of some of the principal features and places on the Rock of Gibraltar taken during the Survey made in the Year 1863-1864', mss list recording various heights taken around buildings and features in Gibraltar by unknown author.
3) Brief mss notes made by Brome on the geography of Gibraltar with notes on altitudes taken from the list above, [1864].
4) 'Plano de Gibraltar en 1627', printed copy of a plan of Gibraltar which Brome has annotated "from an old plan in the British Museum reengraved for Montero's 'Historia de Gibraltar' which was presented [to] me by the author." [The book is: Francisco Maria Montero, Historia de Gibraltar y de su campo (1860)]
5) Mss notes on Martin's Cave, Gibraltar, briefly referencing George Busk and the excavations undertaken by the prisoners under Brome's supervision.
6) Two loose items, one is a short mss note recording the discovery of a tooth from the upper jaw of a rhinoceros found in a fissure in W M Hill [Windmill Hill Cave] on Saturday 16 July 1864. The other item is a watercolour study presumably of the tooth.
Back:
7) Obituary of Hugh Falconer, news cutting taken from 'The Reader', 11 February 1865.
8) Mss list recording the locations which "Geological specimens from the Genista Caves & Fissures have been sent..."
9) Transcript of a small number of humorous letters and excerpt from a printed source relating to a presentation of wooden razor to Brome in 1863.
10) Paragraph of mss notes on the cure for hydrophobia [rabies] copied from John Bull magazine[?], 7 May 1867. |
| Administrative History | Joseph Frederick Brome (c.1821-1870) was the governor of the military prison on Windmill Hill, Gibraltar, between 1846-1868. Using the prisoners as a workforce, Brome excavated cave deposits on the island between 1863-1867.
Brome's archaeological activities began after the discovery of the Genista series of caves in 1863 whilst excavating for a water tank for the prison. The finds included human and animal remains, such as marine shells, flint heads and jewellery. A report on the discoveries was sent to the Geological Society seeking its opinion on their importance and whether the excavations should continue as Brome was using the prisoners as labour. Some of the finds were also sent to experts in the field Hugh Falconer (1808-1865) and George Busk (1807-1886) who, convinced of their importance, visited Gibraltar in September 1864. Impressed with Busk's finds and work, they recommended the excavations to continue.
Busk and Falconer published the first accounts of the findings in Gibraltar which were based on Brome's reports and letters [Busk, G and H Falconer, "On the fossil contents of the Genista Cave in Gibraltar", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol 21 (1865), pp364-370]. Following further excavations the War Office abruptly ordered that prisoners were no longer to be used in excavations. Brome was apparently dismissed from his post in connection with the issue, finally leaving Gibraltar some time in the summer of 1868. |
| ArchNote | Source: Rose, E P F, "British Pioneers of the geology of Gibraltar, part 2: Cave archaeology and geological survey of the rock, 1863-1878", Earth Sciences History, vol 33 (2014), pp26-58. Description by Caroline Lam |