'' (1865) Brough was born in London, the son of
Barnabas Brough, a brewer, publican, wine merchant and later dramatist, and his wife Frances Whiteside, a poet and novelist. He was the brother of writer
Robert (father of actress
Fanny Brough), actor
Lionel and science writer
John Cargill Brough. 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. Brough was educated at
Newport, Monmouthshire, and apprenticed to a printer at
Brecon. To the
Liverpool Lion, a venture of his brother Robert, whom he joined in
Liverpool, 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. These included
Pygmalion; or, The Statue Fair and
The Gnome King (1868) at the
Queen's Theatre, Long Acre. In partnership with
Andrew Halliday he wrote the
Pretty Horsebreaker, the
Census, the
Area Belle, and several other farces. He also wrote some of the
dramatic entertainments given by Mr. and
Mrs. German Reed in the 1850s and 60s, with music composed or arranged by
Thomas German Reed.
A Month from Home (1857),
Our Home Circuit (1859),
Seaside Studies (1861),
The Rival Composers (1861),
The Bard and his Birthday (1864), and
A Peculiar Family (1865). With
Madge Robinson and
Samuel Phelps, he toured the provinces, stopping in 1866 at the Theatre Royal, Hull. ==Personal life; death==