Bernard de Gomme

Sir Bernard de Gomme (1620 – 23 November 1685) was a Dutch military engineer. By some he is considered the most important figure in 17th-century English military engineering.

De Gomme was born in Terneuzen, Zeeland as the son of Maria Huybrechts and Pieter de Gomme, who in 1631 was in charge of supplies at the Dutch fortresses of Lillo and Liefkenshoek on either side of the mouth of the Scheldt near Antwerp. In his youth he served in the campaigns of Frederick Henry, prince of Orange, for example in the Gennep campaign of 1641. He afterwards accompanied Prince Rupert to England, and was knighted by Charles I. He served with conspicuous ability in the royalist army as engineer and quartermaster-general from June 1642 to May 1646, leaving England after the 1646 defeats of the first English Civil War. His plan of the fortifications and castle of Liverpool, dated 1644, is preserved in the British Museum.

In 1646, Gomme returned to the Netherlands, where he worked as civil engineer, amongst others at the construction of polders in Flanders. On 15 June 1649, Gomme received a commission from Charles II, then at Breda, to be quartermaster-general of all forces to be raised in England and Wales. On 16 September 1654 at Middelburg he married Catharina van Deynse, widow of Johannes Beverland, by whom he had a daughter, Anna. Gomme was present as military engineer at the Battle of the Dunes near Dunkirk in 1658. After the English Restoration he was restored to favor in England and was appointed there Surveyor-General of Fortifications in 1660. A collection of 63 drawings by De Gomme of fortified towns in the Low Countries (The Netherlands and Flanders) is now kept in the British Library in London.

...
Wikipedia