Basil Brooke (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
Vice-Admiral
Basil Charles Barrington Brooke, CB
, CBE
, DL
, JP
(6 April 1895–20 January 1983) was an English admiral
and cricket
er, who also played for the Singapore national cricket team. He played twice for the Royal Navy Cricket Club
in first-class cricket
. A member of the Brooke family
which ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak
from 1841 to 1946, he commanded the battle cruiser HMS Renown
during the Second World War.
in Northamptonshire
, England
, the eldest son of John Charles Evelyn Hope Brooke (13 November 1858 - 19 June 1934), who was the grand-nephew of Sir James Brooke
, the first White Rajah of Sarawak
and who had been born there, and of The Hon. Violet Mary Barrington (9 May 1872 - 10 December 1938), who was the second daughter of the ninth Viscount Barrington
. His grandfather, John Brooke Johnson-Brooke (1823–1868), the elder brother of Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah, had been the heir apparent to the Sarawak throne from 1848 until 1863, when his uncle, the first Rajah, had banished him from Sarawak and disinherited him.
Brooke had nine other siblings: Anne Violet (1893–1950), Beryl Mary (1894–1969), Alaric (1897–1962), John (b. 1899), Rupert (b. 1900), Joan (b. 1902), Mollie Laura (b. 1903), Ruth (b. 1904) and Bruce (b. 1906)
, Brooke joined the Royal Navy
as a cadet in 1913, seeing service during the First World War. He received a promotion to Lieutenant
in March 1918 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in March 1926, after which he undertook the staff course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
On 16 April 1925, he married Nora Evelyn Toppin (d. 1981); the couple had four children: Peter Barrington (1926–1998), Isabel Ann (1929-), Julian Hope (1930-) and Jennifer (1932-).
Brooke was promoted to Commander
in 1931. From November 1933 until February 1936, he commanded the cruiser
HMS Philomel
, also serving as Naval Officer-in-Charge at Auckland
. He then commanded the new cruiser HMS Orion
on the America and West Indies station from August 1936 until June 1938, when he received a promotion to Captain
.
Just prior to the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, Brooke was assigned to the cruiser HMS Curlew
, which he commanded until it was sunk by the Luftwaffe
off Narvik
on 26 May 1940. He then became the captain of the light cruiser HMS Southampton from August of that year until it was also sunk of Malta by the Luftwaffe on 11 January 1941. He was promoted to Commodore in February 1943, commanding Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation 1 until that October.
In November, Brooke was given command of the battle cruiser HMS Renown
, and held this command until July 1945. After the war, he served as Commodore of the naval barracks at Chatham from January to April 1946. He was appointed a CBE in June 1946., and then was naval aide-de-camp
to George VI from January to July 1947; in that month, he was promoted to Rear-Admiral
. His last command was the shore establishment HMS Hawke
at Exbury
, Hampshire in 1948. Brooke was appointed a CB in the 1949 King's Birthday Honours, retiring in November. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral
on the retired list in December 1950.
and JP for East Lothian
. He died at Saffron Walden
, Essex
, on 20 January 1983, aged 87.
, taking the wicket of future England Test
player George Wood
. He played one more first-class match, also for the Royal Navy, against the British Army cricket team
in 1926. In 1927, he played twice for Singapore against WAS Oldfield's XI
.
Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)
Vice admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It equates to the NATO rank code OF-8 and is immediately superior to rear admiral and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.The Royal Navy has had vice admirals since at least the 16th century...
Basil Charles Barrington Brooke, CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, DL
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
, JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
(6 April 1895–20 January 1983) was an English admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er, who also played for the Singapore national cricket team. He played twice for the Royal Navy Cricket Club
Royal Navy Cricket Club
The Royal Navy Cricket Club is a cricket team representing the British Royal Navy and based at the United Services Recreation Ground, Portsmouth, Hampshire...
in first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
. A member of the Brooke family
Brooke family
The Brooke family is an English family that ruled Sarawak from 1841 until 1946.Rajahs of Sarawak:*James Brooke *Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke *Charles Vyner Brooke...
which ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak
Kingdom of Sarawak
The Kingdom of Sarawak was a state in Borneo established by Sir James Brooke in 1842 by receiving independent kingdom status from the Sultanate of Brunei as a reward for helping fight piracy and insurgency...
from 1841 to 1946, he commanded the battle cruiser HMS Renown
HMS Renown
Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Renown, whilst three others have borne the name at various stages in their construction:...
during the Second World War.
Early life and family
Brooke was born at Boddington House, ByfieldByfield, Northamptonshire
Byfield is a village and civil parish forming part of the Daventry district in Northamptonshire, England.- History :Byfield, with Westhorp, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has been close to many of the important events in history. During the Wars of the Roses, in 1469 the battle of Edgecote...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the eldest son of John Charles Evelyn Hope Brooke (13 November 1858 - 19 June 1934), who was the grand-nephew of Sir James Brooke
James Brooke
James, Rajah of Sarawak, KCB was the first White Rajah of Sarawak. His father, Thomas Brooke, was an English Judge Court of Appeal at Bareilly, British India; his mother, Anna Maria, born in Hertfordshire, was the illegitimate daughter of Scottish peer Colonel William Stuart, 9th Lord Blantyre,...
, the first White Rajah of Sarawak
Sarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
and who had been born there, and of The Hon. Violet Mary Barrington (9 May 1872 - 10 December 1938), who was the second daughter of the ninth Viscount Barrington
Viscount Barrington
Viscount Barrington, of Ardglass in the County of Down, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1720 for the lawyer, theologian and politician John Barrington. He was made Baron Barrington, of Newcastle in the County of Limerick, also in the Peerage of Ireland, at the same time...
. His grandfather, John Brooke Johnson-Brooke (1823–1868), the elder brother of Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah, had been the heir apparent to the Sarawak throne from 1848 until 1863, when his uncle, the first Rajah, had banished him from Sarawak and disinherited him.
Brooke had nine other siblings: Anne Violet (1893–1950), Beryl Mary (1894–1969), Alaric (1897–1962), John (b. 1899), Rupert (b. 1900), Joan (b. 1902), Mollie Laura (b. 1903), Ruth (b. 1904) and Bruce (b. 1906)
Naval career
Educated at Malvern CollegeMalvern College
Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...
, Brooke joined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as a cadet in 1913, seeing service during the First World War. He received a promotion to Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in March 1918 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in March 1926, after which he undertook the staff course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
On 16 April 1925, he married Nora Evelyn Toppin (d. 1981); the couple had four children: Peter Barrington (1926–1998), Isabel Ann (1929-), Julian Hope (1930-) and Jennifer (1932-).
Brooke was promoted to Commander
Commander (Royal Navy)
Commander is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander...
in 1931. From November 1933 until February 1936, he commanded the cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
HMS Philomel
HMS Philomel
Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Philomel, after Philomel, a figure in Greek mythology: was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop launched in 1806 and sold in 1817. was a 10-gun Cherokee class brig-sloop launched in 1823 and sold in 1833. was an 8-gun brig launched in 1842...
, also serving as Naval Officer-in-Charge at Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
. He then commanded the new cruiser HMS Orion
HMS Orion (85)
HMS Orion was a Leander class light cruiser which served with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War II.She received 13 battle honours, a record only exceeded by one other ship, and matched by two others.-History:...
on the America and West Indies station from August 1936 until June 1938, when he received a promotion to Captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
.
Just prior to the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, Brooke was assigned to the cruiser HMS Curlew
HMS Curlew (D42)
HMS Curlew was a C-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy. She was part of the Ceres group of the C class of cruisers.She was laid down by Vickers Limited on 21 August 1916, and launched on 5 July 1917, being commissioned into the navy on 14 December 1917. In common with most of her...
, which he commanded until it was sunk by the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
off Narvik
Narvik
is the third largest city and municipality in Nordland county, Norway by population. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
on 26 May 1940. He then became the captain of the light cruiser HMS Southampton from August of that year until it was also sunk of Malta by the Luftwaffe on 11 January 1941. He was promoted to Commodore in February 1943, commanding Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation 1 until that October.
In November, Brooke was given command of the battle cruiser HMS Renown
HMS Renown (1916)
HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
, and held this command until July 1945. After the war, he served as Commodore of the naval barracks at Chatham from January to April 1946. He was appointed a CBE in June 1946., and then was naval aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to George VI from January to July 1947; in that month, he was promoted to Rear-Admiral
Rear Admiral (Royal Navy)
Rear Admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It is immediately superior to Commodore and is subordinate to Vice Admiral. It is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7....
. His last command was the shore establishment HMS Hawke
HMS Hawke
Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Hawke, after an archaic spelling of the bird, the hawk. Two of the later ships were named after Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, whilst another was planned:...
at Exbury
Exbury
Exbury is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies just in the New Forest, near the Beaulieu River and about a mile from the Solent coast. It is best known as the location of Exbury House, built by the Rothschild family, and the famous Exbury Gardens...
, Hampshire in 1948. Brooke was appointed a CB in the 1949 King's Birthday Honours, retiring in November. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral
Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)
Vice admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It equates to the NATO rank code OF-8 and is immediately superior to rear admiral and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.The Royal Navy has had vice admirals since at least the 16th century...
on the retired list in December 1950.
Later life
Brooke subsequently served as a Deputy LieutenantDeputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
and JP for East Lothian
East Lothian
East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....
. He died at Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden is a medium-sized market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and approx north of London...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, on 20 January 1983, aged 87.
Cricket career
He made his first-class debut in 1919 against Cambridge UniversityCambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
, taking the wicket of future England Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
player George Wood
George Wood (cricketer)
George Edward Charles Wood was an English cricketer who played in 3 Tests in 1924....
. He played one more first-class match, also for the Royal Navy, against the British Army cricket team
British Army cricket team
The Army cricket team is a cricket side representing the British Army. The team played a number of first-class matches between 1912 and 1939, although a combined "Army and Navy" side had played two games against a combined Oxford and Cambridge team in 1910 and 1911...
in 1926. In 1927, he played twice for Singapore against WAS Oldfield's XI
Bert Oldfield
William Albert Stanley "Bert" Oldfield was an Australian cricket player. He played for New South Wales and the Australian cricket team as wicket-keeper....
.