Louis Egerton Broome was born in London, 20 April 1875, the son of Frederick Napier Broome and Mary Ann Stewart. He was brought up in South Africa, England and Australia and educated at Winchester College. He married Clara Kathleen (Aimée) Lake in 1897 (died 1948), with whom he had one son and one daughter.

He travelled in Australia, 1894-8, where he dabbled in gold prospecting before returning briefly to England, 1898. He settled in Seattle, United States, 1900-3, travelling to Cape Nome, Alaska, to stake a claim in the gold fields, 1899-1900, and manage a salmon canning factory at Taku, 1901. He moved to Detroit, United States, 1903, to work in an electrical plant, and to Camacho, Panama, to work on the construction of the Panama Canal and the Camacho Reservoir, 1904-9. He was a representative for Jardine Matheson in China, 1910-13, and an engineering adviser to the Chinese Government on the development of railway lines in the interior, 1913-14. He was briefly held as a prisoner by the Chinese, 1914-15.

He served in the Royal Engineers, 1916-20, in Egypt. He assisted Major Blake, 1922, and Major Stuart MacLaren, 1924, in their attempts to fly round the world, by mapping the route and establishing supply depots. In 1924, his aeroplane was forced down in a heavy fog over the Bering Sea and he was rescued by a Canadian destroyer and taken to Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada. He settled there and tried to establish himself as a writer and photographer, 1924-51. He lived separately from his wife and last saw her in 1924.

He died on 10 March 1951.

He was awarded a MBE, 1918.