William Brough ( 28 April 1826 – 13 March 1870) was an English writer.
Brough was born in London, the son of Barnabas Brough (died 1854), a brewer, publican, wine merchant and later dramatist, and his wife Frances Whiteside, a poet and novelist.[1] He was the brother of writer Robert, actor Lionel and science writer John Cargill Brough (1834–1872). His father was briefly kidnapped by the Chartists in 1839 and was a prosecution witness at the trial of the Chartist leader John Frost, which resulted in Frost's deportation to Australia. The family was ostracised and ruined financially as a result, and they moved to Manchester in 1843.[2] Brough was educated at Newport, Monmouthshire, and apprenticed to a printer at Brecon.[3]
To the Liverpool Lion, a venture of his brother Robert, whom he joined in Liverpool, William Brough contributed his first literary effort, a series of papers called Hints upon Heraldry. Like his brother, whose reputation has overshadowed his own, Brough wrote in many periodical publications. His dramatic works, chiefly Victorian burlesques, were seen at many of the London theatres. He also wrote the first of the quasi-dramatic entertainments given by Mr. and Mrs. German Reed.[3]
He married Ann Romer, known as a singer, who died a year after her marriage, leaving him one child. He subsequently remarried, and died at age 43, leaving a widow and six children.[3]