Brooke, Henry Brian
Rank: Captain
Regiment: 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders
Biography: Third son of Captain Sir Harry V. Brooke of Fairley ; born Lickleyhead, Aberdeenshire, 9 December 1889 ; educated Clifton College ; student in Science, 1906-07. He came of a distinguished fighting family and all his three brothers were in the service. One gained the V.C. , two lost their lives, and the third was badly wounded in the great war. As Brooke was prevented by his eyesight from becoming a soldier he trained himself for colonial life, and this led him to take classes in the Agricultural department for a session. He also prepared himself by the severest physical exercises for the life he had in view. At the age of eighteen he proceeded to East Africa as a pioneer farmer, and afterwards tried planting in Ceylon for a time. Finding that life too tame he returned to Uganda where he led the life of a pioneer and frontiersman, and at the outbreak of war was acting as a transport officer on the Jubaland frontier. Brooke at once enlisted as a Trooper in the British East African Force, and soon rose to the rank of Captain. After being severely wounded he returned to Britain and was transferred as a Captain to his father's old regiment, the 2nd Gordon Highlanders. Early in 1916 he went to France, and led his Company in the memorable charge at Mametz on 1 July, where he was wounded three times before he was knocked out. He was mentioned in dispatches for his gallantry on this famous occasion, and died of his wounds in London on 24 July 1916. During his varied career he found time to write, and a volume of his poems was published after his death. Brian Brooke will be remembered by all who knew him as a noble and adventurous spirit, one of the bravest of the brave.
Date of Death: 24 July 1916
Burial Details: Buried at Springbank Cemetery, Aberdeen, Section N, Grave 19.
Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.
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