Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History BookOct. 1914--four months of rain at Salisbury Plain and then to France. We all mourn 'Brom.' as a pal and soldier. His last idea, and his was a forlorn hope, was to charge and scupper some of the Boches before going under himself. His platoon on 21 April lost twenty-one killed, sixteen wounded, three prisoners and eight wounded and prisoners. This record tells of his work." [Illustration: =Herbert Assheton Bromley.=] =BROOKE, JAMES ANSON OTHO=, =V.C.=, Capt., 2nd Battn. The Gordon Highlanders, eldest _s._ of Capt. Harry Vesey Brooke, of Fairley, Countesswells, co. Aberdeen, J.P., D.L., late 92nd Gordon Highlanders, by his wife, Patricia, only child of James Gregory Moir Byres, of Tonley, co. Aberdeen, and gdson. of the late Sir Arthur Brinsley Brooke, of Colebrooke Park, co. Fermanagh, 2nd Bt., M.P.; _b._ Fairley, Aberdeenshire, 3 Feb. 1884; educ. Wellington and Sandhurst, and received his commission as 2nd Lieut. in the Gordon Highlanders, 11 Oct. 1905, and joined the 1st Battn. at Cork in November. The following year he was promoted Lieut. (5 Aug. 1907) and transferred to the 2nd battn. in India, where he served till 1913. He was present at the Delhi Durbar and as Senior Subaltern he was one of the officers who received new colours from King George, and was awarded the Durbar medal. In 1913, the regt. went to Egypt and were stationed there till the outbreak of war, when (Oct. 1914) they were ordered to the Front. Lieut. Brooke was the Senior Subaltern and acting as assistant Adjutant. The 2nd battn. of the Gordons landed at Zeebrugge and after many days' severe fighting, the regt. along with the rest of the Division found themselves on 29 Oct. attacked by very superior forces at Gheluvelt. Here it was that Lieut. Brooke was killed, having, as his Col. wrote, by his gallantry "saved the situation." The Germans having broken through, he changed the formation of the line three times and finally led an assault on, and captured an important trench at a most critical moment. For this he was mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Victoria Cross, the official record stating: "For conspicuous bravery and great ability near Gheluvelt on 29 Oct. in leading two attacks on the German trenches under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire, regaining a lost trench at a very critical moment. He was killed on that day. By his marked coolness and promptitude on this occasion Lieut. Brooke prevented the enemy from breaking through our line at a time when a general counter-attack could not have been organised." At Sandhurst he was Capt. of the Shooting Eight, was senior Colour-Sergt. of the College, won the Sword of Honour, tied for the Saddle, etc. He was _unm._ [Illustration: =James Anson Otho Brooke.=] =BROOKE, VICTOR REGINALD, C.I.E., D.S.O.=, Major, 9th (Queen's Royal) Lancers, 5th _s._ of the late Sir Victor Alexander Brooke, of Colebrooke, 3rd Bt. by his wife, Alice Sophia (Villa Ballenia, St. Jean de Luz, B.P., France), 2nd dau. of Sir Alan Edward Bellingham, 3rd Bt.; _b._ 53, Eaton Square, London, 22 Jan. 1873; educ. at Pau, Basses Pyrénées and at Storrington, and obtained his commission as 2nd Lieut. in the 9th Lancers, 12 Dec. 1894, and became Lieu. 29 April, 1896, Capt. 6 May, 1901, Major 7 June, 1905, and temporary Lieut.-Col. 1 June, 1907. He served in the South African War, 1899-1902, where he greatly distinguished himself. He took part in the advance on, and relief of, Kimberley, including the actions at Belmont, Enslin, Modder River and Magersfontein, and in the operations in the Orange Free State from Feb. to May, 1900, including the actions at Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, and Karee Siding, and was A.D.C. to the Lieut.-Gen. commanding the Headquarters staff in South Africa from Nov. 1901 to Sept. 1902. He was wounded in the Transvaal, and was twice mentioned in despatches [16 April, 1901, and 31 May, 1902], and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Queen's medal with four clasps and the King's medal with two. From 1902 to 1907 he was A.D.C. and then Assistant Mil. Secretary to Lord Kitchener, and was sent by him to Kabul in 1904, and afterwards became Mil. Secretary to the Viceroy of India (Lord Minto), and was made a C.I.E. in 1910. He returned with Lord Minto Dec. 1910, and served with his regt. at Canterbury and Tidworth. On the outbreak of the European War he went to France with the Expeditionary Force and died in hospital at Compiègne of wounds received in action during the retreat from Mons, 29 Aug. 1914; _unm._ The following appreciation by "A Friend" appeared in the Daily Telegraph of 12 Sept. 1914: "It was a fine ending to a fine life, Victor Brooke was known, if only as Military Secretary in India, to thousands; but it was by tens of thousands that he was liked and loved. He was almost the first man wounded in the South African War. The writer picked up the diary of a wounded Boer, in which was set down the enemy's regret that so good a friend and fighter had been as they thought killed. Upon my conscience, I believe that the Boers who wounded him in 1899 will take an intentional and bitter revenge for his death in 1914, when they came to grips with the Germans in South West Africa. As to the manner of his death and burial, there is something to be recorded. He died on the night of 29 Aug. and he was buried early next morning at Chateau d'Annel, near Compiègne. The house had been turned into a hospital by Mrs. Depew, to whom most men who speak English will be glad to pay in full a willing debt of gratitude whenever and wherever the claim is presented. They left at eleven on the same day. I now quote the words of others: 'The estate carpenter made his coffin, and one of the old men on the estate dug his grave. After the burial the old man said to Mrs. Depew, "Regardez, Madame." He pointed out a gravestone to the north of the grave, which had the inscription underneath the date, 1870, "Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur." It belonged to one of the family which owned Chateau d'Annel in those days, all of whom were buried there. Beside them the old grave-digger thought it right to lay Victor Brook--Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur indeed." [Illustration: =Victor Reginald Brooke.=] =BROOKE, VIVIAN CYRIL=, Private, No. 98, A Coy., 12th Battn., 3rd Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force, 2nd _s._ of the late Robert Parkinson Brooke, of Tasmania, formerly of India, Indigo Planter, by his wife, Amy (Rialannah, Swanston Street, New Town, Hobart, Tasmania), _b._ New Town, Tasmania, 19 June, 1887; educ. Queen's College and Friend's High School, Hobart, Tasmania; was a cashier in the Commonwealth Bank, Hobart, but on the outbreak of war volunteered and enlisted 20 Aug. 1914. He left for Egypt with the first Expeditionary Force; took part in the landing at Gaba Tepe on 25 April, 1915, when the 12th Battn. held the post of honour as covering party; was wounded and taken prisoner on that occasion and died a prisoner of war in the Turkish Military Hospital a |