Born the son of Lieutenant-Colonel William Gomm (who served in the 46th Foot during the American Revolutionary War[1] and was killed in the attack on Guadeloupe in April 1794) and Mary Alleyne Gomm (née Maynard), Gomm was commissioned as an ensign in the 9th Regiment of Foot on 24 May 1794,[2] at the age of nine, in recognition of the services rendered by his father.[3] Promoted to lieutenant on 14 April 1795,[4] he continued his full-time education at a private school in Woolwich.[5]
He was awarded the Russian Order of St. Anna, 2nd Class on 8 October 1815.[10] He acquired a property at 6 Upper Grosvenor Street in London in 1826.[11]
Gomm was promoted to colonel on 16 May 1829[12] and to major-general on 10 January 1837.[13] He became Commander of the troops in Jamaica in 1839 and in that role observed that yellow fever, a major cause of death among the British troops stationed in Jamaica, was far less prevalent in the mountains and he therefore established new barracks at Newcastle, Jamaica, high in the mountains.[14] He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Cambridge University in 1842.[15]
Gomm was briefly General officer commandingNorthern District in early 1842 before being appointed the Governor of Mauritius in June 1842.[16] Promoted to lieutenant-general on 9 November 1846,[17] he was sent out to India in Summer 1849 to become Commander-in-Chief, India arriving only to discover that his appointment had been cancelled in favour of Sir Charles Napier.[8] Gomm was then initially chosen to become Commander-in-chief of the Bombay Army with the local rank of general in September 1850[18] but, following Napier's resignation as Commander-in-Chief, India, Gomm succeeded him in December 1851.[8] In that role Gomm introduced promotion examinations for officers.[8]
In 1817 Gomm married Sophia Penn, great-granddaughter of William Penn; following the death of his first wife in 1827 he married Elizabeth Kerr, eldest daughter of Major-General Lord Robert Kerr, who was the son of William Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian, in 1830. He had no children by either marriage.[8]
Lady Elizabeth died in 1877, leaving £5000 to the Sir William and Lady Gomm Charity to benefit elderly people in Rotherhithe. This endowed the Lady Elizabeth Memorial Mission Hall and Accident Hospital in Hawkstone Road next to Southwark Park. The former hospital building survives as Lady Gomm House.[24]