Queen Mary's reign. In his preface to the 'Monasticon Britannicum' he claims descent from the ancient family of Broughton of Broughton Towers in Lancashire.
After studying for a time at Oxford, where however he was not entered as a student, Broughton proceeded to the English college at Rheims. Here he devoted himself chiefly to the study of Hebrew and English antiquities, and theology. On 24 Feb. 1592 he was admitted into deacon's orders, and was ordained priest on 4 May 1593, the same year in which the English college quitted Rheims and returned to their old home at Douay after an absence of fifteen years. Soon after this he was sent to England for the purpose of making converts to the Roman catholic church, and of furthering the political schemes of the Jesuits. John Pits, a contemporary of his, speaks of him as being 'most diligent in gathering fruit into the granary of Christ,' and the same writer, alluding to his literary acquirements, says that he was 'no less familiar with literature than learned in Greek and Hebrew.' Dodd, writing of him a century later, says 'he was in great esteem among his brethren, an assistant to the archpriest, a canon of the chapter, and vicar-general to Dr. Smith, bishop of Calcedon.' At one time he was secretary to the Duchess of Buckingham, and it is to her and her mother, the Countess of Rutland, that his 'Ecclesiasticall Historie' is dedicated. In 1626 we find him 'sojourner' at Oxford. He died on 15 Feb. 1634, and was buried by the side of his father and mother at Great Stukeley, as we learn from his epitaph: 'Quo cum matre, patre sub saxo conditur uno.'
As a writer he was dull, painstaking, laborious, inaccurate, and credulous to a degree rare even for the age in which he lived. Among his principal works are: 1. 'A New Manual of Old Catholic Meditations,' 1617. 2. 'The Judgment of the Apostles,' Douay, 1632, dedicated to Queen Marie, wife of Charles I. These two works are published under the initials 'R. B.' The letter elicited an indignant pamphlet from one 'P. H.,' entitled 'A Detection or Discovery of a Notable Fraud committed by R. B., a Seminarie Priest,' in which Broughton's manner of treating Nos. 23 and 36 of the Thirty-nine Articles is strongly assailed. 3. 'The Ecclesiastical Historie of Great Brittaine,' Douay, 1633. 4. 'A True Memorial of the Ancient, most Holy, and Religious State of Great Britaine,' 1650. In a later edition (1654), the title runs 'Monasticon Britannicum, or a Historical Narration of the first Founding and Flourishing State of the Antient Monasteries, Religious Rules, and Orders of Great Brittaine.' 5. 'An Apologetic Epistle in answer to a Book that undertakes to prove that Catholics cannot be good Subjects.' 6. 'A Continuation of the Catholic Apology taken from Christian Authors.'
[Records of the English Catholics under the Penal Laws, chiefly from the Archives of the See of Westminster, 1878; Wood's Fasti (Bliss), i. 428; Wood's History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford; Dodd's Church History; Fuller's Worthies; Pits, De Rebus Anglicis, 1619; Histoire du College de Douay, 1672; Foley's Records, vi. 181.]
BROUGHTON, SAMUEL DANIEL (1787–1837), army surgeon, was son of the Rev. Thomas Broughton, M.A., who became rector of St. Peter's, Bristol, in 1781. He was born in Bristol in July 1787, and was educated at the grammar school there, under the care of the Rev. S. Seyer, author of 'Memorials of Bristol.' After studying at St. George's Hospital he became assistant-surgeon of the Dorsetshire militia, and in October 1812 was appointed assistant-surgeon of the 2nd life guards, of which Mr. J. Carrick Moore, elder brother of the late General Sir John Moore, was then surgeon. Immediately afterwards Broughton was appointed additional surgeon with temporary rank, and placed in medical charge of the service squadrons of the regiment ordered abroad, with which he was present in the Peninsula and south of France to the end of the war. His campaigning experiences from Lisbon to Boulogne he related in a volume of 'Letters from Portugal, Spain, and France in 1812, 1813, and 1814' (London, 8vo, 1815). He was also with his regiment at the battle of Waterloo. In July 1821 he succeeded to the surgeoncy of the regiment on the resignation of Mr. Moore, who had just been granted a pension of 1,000l. a year in recognition of the distinguished services of his late brother. Residing constantly in London with his regiment, Broughton devoted himself with great assiduity to professional and scientific studies. A list of original papers, chiefly relating to physiological research, contributed by him to various scientific journals, will be found in the Royal Society's 'Catalogue of Scientific Papers,' 1800-63, vol. i. In conjunction with Mr. Wilcox, barrister-at-law, he produced and delivered some valuable lectures on forensic medicine and toxicology. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Geological Society. In 1836 Broughton received an injury in the leg, caused by a fall, which resulted in disease of the ankle-joint,
