b. 1801-04-22
d. 1858-12-10
Richard Broun was born
22 April 1801 in Lochmaben, Scotland.
1 Broun succeeded his father as eighth baronet of
Nova Scotia in
1844.
2 Not much is known about Broun’s private life, however he maintained an infamous reputation
in English political circles.
3
Broun was largely known as schemer, and later as a scammer.
4 Broun was particularly interested in railway schemes throughout Europe, Asia and
North America.
5 Broun was interested in connecting Europe and Asia for the purposes of trade and
colonial development;
6 however, he wanted to do so through the construction of railway systems in North
America.
7 In addition, he hoped that all vacant land touched by the proposed railway systems
would be colonized by England.
8 In
1858, Broun published a pamphlet entitled,
European and Asiatic Intercourse via British Columbia by means of a Main Through Trunk
Railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
9 Broun subsequently wrote
Lytton proposing a meeting; but was dismissed by
Merivale as a “monomania[c].”
10 Broun was later the director of the Paris-Dieppe Railway.
11
In 1842, Broun joined the British-American Association for Emigration and Colonization.12 The association aimed to provide funds for British subjects travelling to North America.13 However, in 1842, the same year Broun joined, the association collapsed.14 The Globe speculated that Broun had played a role in the failure, and was subsequently
sued by Broun.15 At the trial, it was found that Broun had taken funds from the association from loans
he personally secured.16 It was also discovered that Broun had not been previously knighted, and thus had
no grounds to be called “Sir.”17 Broun did not win the case against the newspaper.18
Broun spent some time as the honorary secretary for the Royal Agricultural Association
of England in 1840.19 Then, in the 1850s, Broun introduced a proposal for a cemetery.20 England faced increasing amounts of corpses due to large cholera outbreaks.21 Broun suggested the construction of a necropolis in Surrey, England accessed via
railway.22 The proposal led to the construction of Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, the largest
in the United Kingdom today.23 Broun died 10 December 1858 in Chelsea, apparently impoverished and unwed.24
- 1. Anita McConnell. Broun, Sir Richard, Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography.
- 2. Ibid.
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. Ibid.
- 5. Ibid.
- 6. Ibid.
- 7. Ibid.
- 8. Ibid.
- 9. Broun to Lytton, 6 October 1858, 10221, CO 60/2, p. 512.
- 10. Broun to Lytton, 2 October 1858, 10130, CO 60/2, p. 476.
- 11. McConnell, Broun.
- 12. Ibid.
- 13. Ibid.
- 14. bid.
- 15. Ibid.
- 16. Ibid.
- 17. Ibid.
- 18. Ibid.
- 19. Ibid.
- 20. Ibid.
- 21. Ibid.
- 22. Ibid.
- 23. Banerjee, Jacqueline. Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, Surrey: A Brief History, The Victorian Web.
- 24. McConnell, Broun.