GOMM, SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD British soldier, was gazetted to the 9th Foot at the age of ten, in recognition of the services of his father, Lieut.-Colonel William Gomm, who was killed in the attack on Guadaloupe (1794) . He joined his regiment in 1799, and fought in Holland under the duke of York, and subsequently was with Pulteney's Ferrol expedition. On the general staff he was with Cathcart at Copen hagen, with Wellington in the Peninsula, and on Moore's staff at Corunna. He was also on Chatham's staff in the disastrous Walcheren expedition of 1809. In 1810 he rejoined the Penin sular army as Leith's staff officer, and took part in all the battles of 181o, 1811 and 1812, winning his majority after Fuentes d'Onor and his lieutenant-colonelcy at Salamanca. His careful reconnaissances and skilful leading were invaluable to Welling ton in the Vittoria campaign, and to the end of the war he was one of the most trusted men of his staff. His reward was a trans fer to the Coldstream Guards and the K.C.B. In the Waterloo campaign he served on the staff of the 5th British Division. From 1839 to 1842 he commanded the troops in Jamaica. He was sent out to be commander-in-chief in India in 1846, arriving only to find that his appointment had been cancelled in favour of Sir Charles Napier, whom, however, he eventually succeeded (1850-55). In 1854 he became general and in 1868 field marshal. In 1872 he was appointed constable of the Tower, and he died in 1875. Five "Field Marshal Gomm" scholarships were after wards founded in his memory at Keble college, Oxford.
See his Letters and Journals (ed. F. C. Carr-Gomm, 1881).