John Warden Brooke, 2nd Viscount Brookeborough,

PC (NI) PC or pc may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Player character or playable character, a fictional character controlled by a human player, usually in role-playing games or computer games * ''Port Charles'', an American daytime TV soap opera * ...

(9 November 1922 – 5 March 1987) was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

politician. He was the son of

Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough Basil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, (9 June 1888 – 18 August 1973), styled Sir Basil Brooke, 5th Baronet between 1907 and 1952, was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and paramilitary leader who became the third Prime Mi ...

, third

Prime Minister of Northern Ireland The prime minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920; however, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as with governo ...

Early life

He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

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Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. He was on the personal staff of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

Sir Harold Alexander (later created Lord Alexander). He was an Aide-de-Camp to

Lord Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded i ...

, the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

, early in 1947. In 1934, his father claimed in the

House of Commons of Northern Ireland The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the '' Government of Ireland Act 1920''. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished w ...

at Stormont that there had been a plot to kidnap the young John Brooke by

Irish Republicans Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The developm ...

during Sir Basil Brooke's time as Commandant of the

Ulster Special Constabulary The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men") was a quasi-military reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the part ...

. This report led Sir Basil (as he then was) to dismiss every

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

worker in his employ, for which he was accused of

sectarianism Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

.Northern Ireland House of Commons Official Report, Vol 34 Col 1116–1117

Political career

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

John Brooke, he was elected to

Fermanagh County Council Fermanagh County Council was the authority responsible for local government in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, between 1899 and 1973. It was originally based at the Enniskillen Courthouse, but moved to County Buildings in East Bridge Street ...

for the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

(UUP) in 1947, serving until 1973, and was Chairman of the council from 1961 to 1973. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Fermanagh The High Sheriff of Fermanagh is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Fermanagh. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides h ...

for 1955. He succeeded his father as the UUP Stormont MP for

Lisnaskea Lisnaskea () is the second-biggest settlement in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is situated mainly in the townland of Lisoneill, with some areas in the townland of Castle Balfour Demesne, both in the civil parish of Aghalurcher and the ...

in a by-election on 22 March 1968. He retained that seat until the abolition of the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

in 1973. Brookeborough (when he was still Captain Brooke) was a member of a dissident group of Ulster Unionist backbench MPs who campaigned for the removal of

Terence O'Neill Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine, PC (NI) (10 September 1914 – 12 June 1990), was the fourth prime minister of Northern Ireland and leader (1963–1969) of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). A moderate unionist, who sought to ...

. When O'Neill finally resigned in April 1969 his successor,

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

James Chichester-Clark James Dawson Chichester-Clark, Baron Moyola, PC, DL (12 February 1923 – 17 May 2002) was the penultimate Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and eighth leader of the Ulster Unionist Party between 1969 and March 1971. He was Member of the No ...

, brought some of this dissident group into his government. Capt. Brooke was made Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce (1969–1970), and then Parliamentary Secretary at the Department of the Prime Minister (1970–1972). Under

Brian Faulkner Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive ...

's premiership, he was Government

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

(1971–1972) and also served in the Cabinet from 1971 as Minister of State in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

. In the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

(1973–74) he represented North Down. When the

Unionist Party of Northern Ireland The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland was a political party founded by Brian Faulkner in September 1974. Formation The party emerged following splits in the Ulster Unionist Party in 1973 and 1974 over the British government's white paper ''Nor ...

(UPNI) was founded by pro-

Sunningdale Agreement The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The agreement was signed at Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973. Unioni ...

members of the UUP, Brooke joined in 1974 and was again elected for North Down to the

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (NICC) was an elected body set up in 1975 by the United Kingdom Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of Northern Ireland. F ...

(1975–76). He also represented the views of the UPNI in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

from 1973. At 5:13pm on 28 March 1972, Capt. Brooke delivered the final speech from the dispatch box in the

at Stormont prior to the proroguing of the

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government. In it, he quoted from a poem by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

entitled ''Ulster'', written in 1914, about the time his father's involvement in

Ulster loyalism Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a uni ...

might be said to have begun. It ended:

"Before an empire's eyes the traitor claims his price.
What need of further lies? We are the sacrifice."

Family

Lord Brookeborough married Rosemary Chichester, daughter of

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Arthur O'Neill Cubitt Chichester, of

Galgorm Castle 'Galgorm' is a townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, about 1 km west of Ballymena. It is part of the civil parish of Ahoghill. Administratively, it is in the Borough of Ballymena. The townland encompasses the village of Galgorm an ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, in 1949. They had five children:

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

, Christopher, Juliana, Melinda and Susanna. Rosemary, Lady Brookeborough, died in January 2007. She had lived at Ashbrooke House, the

dower house A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish or Welsh estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house from the larger family h ...

on the family's Colebrooke Estate near Brookeborough in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

, for many years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, John 2nd Viscount Brookeborough Brookeborough, John Brooke, 2nd Viscount Brookeborough, John Brooke, 2nd Viscount Members of Fermanagh County Council People educated at Eton College Brookeborough, John Brooke, 2nd Viscount Politicians from County Fermanagh Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Unionist Party of Northern Ireland politicians High Sheriffs of County Fermanagh Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1965–1969 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973 Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Brookeborough, John Brooke, 2nd Viscount Northern Ireland Cabinet ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland) Northern Ireland junior government ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland) British Army personnel of World War II Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers officers Royal Armoured Corps officers Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Fermanagh constituencies Ulster Unionist Party hereditary peers

Early life

Political career

Family

See also

References

External links