Andrew Bromwich

Andrew Bromwich ( c.1640-1702 ) was an English Roman Catholic priest. He was a survivor of the Popish Plot, and the founder of the Oscott Mission, which later developed into St. Mary's College, Oscott.

He was born at Old Oscott in Staffordshire, to a Roman Catholic farming family which, according to local tradition, had already produced several priests. He entered the English College, Lisbon in 1668, was ordained about 1672, and returned to Staffordshire to take up his mission. His home county had one of the strongest Catholic communities in England, and it had for many years enjoyed a certain degree of immunity from the Penal Laws due to the fact that Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar, a wealthy local landowner, was a Catholic who made little attempt to conceal his beliefs, and raised his children in the same faith.

Bromwich took the crucial precaution, which ultimately saved his life, of swearing the Oath of Supremacy and the Oath of Allegiance. Prior to the outbreak of the Popish Plot it was understood that priests who could prove that they had taken the oaths were to be left in peace, and even at the height of the hysteria caused by the Plot judges were often disposed to be merciful to them.

During the Popish Plot, Walter Aston, 3rd Lord Aston of Forfar, who had just succeeded to his father's title and estates in Staffordshire, and his unofficial role of protector of the local Catholic community became a target of the informers. He had dismissed his steward, Stephen Dugdale, for gambling and Dugdale in revenge turned informer. His intelligence, charm and superior social standing were a marked contrast to the unsavoury earlier informers like Titus Oates and William Bedloe, and as a result even King Charles II, who had previously been a complete sceptic on the subject, "began to think there was somewhat in the Plot". After some hesitation Dugdale directly accused Lord Aston of treason, and as a result Aston went to the Tower of London, though he was never brought to trial and was released on bail a year later. He did not return to prison. The removal of their powerful patron exposed the Staffordshire Catholics to the full rigours of the Popish Plot: Kenyon notes that once the initial hysteria abated, Staffordshire was one of the few parts of England outside London where the Plot really took hold.

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