John Brooke Johnson Brooke (born John Brooke Johnson, 1823 – 1 December 1868) was a soldier and

Rajah Muda The White Rajahs were a dynastic monarchy of the British Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak, located on the north west coast of the island of Borneo, from 1841 to 1946. The first ruler was Briton James Brooke. As a reward f ...

, heir to the Raj, of the

Raj of Sarawak (While I breathe, I hope) , national_anthem = '' Gone Forth Beyond the Sea'' , capital = Kuching , common_languages = English, Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh, Sarawak Malay, Chinese etc. , government_type = Absol ...

until disinherited in favour of his younger brother,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

. Born in South Stoke near Bath, the son of Francis Charles Johnson, a clergyman who had, in 1822, married Emma Frances Brooke, an elder sister of

James Brooke Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868. Brooke was bor ...

. James took 'Johnny' on a long cruise around the Mediterranean in 1837 in his yacht, ''Royalist''. John then joined the British Army’s 88th Foot as an Ensign in 1839, Lieutenant in 1842, and Captain in 1848. Brooke, his preferred name by then, left the army in 1848, adopted the surname of Brooke , and went to join his uncle in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, taking effective charge of the country when James returned to England. He spent some time in

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capit ...

at first as James was establishing himself as its first Governor, but was subsequently based in

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

. He has been largely ignored in the standard historical accounts of Sarawak, but substantial records survive which show how active he was, and his engagement with pirates in the

Battle off Mukah The Battle off Mukah was a naval engagement fought in May 1862 between boats of the Sarawak and pirates. After the kidnapping of Sarawakian citizens some time before, two small gunboats encountered the pirates off Mukah on the northern coast ...

late in 1862 has attracted interest. Brooke married Anne Grant, a granddaughter of

Lord Elgin Earl of Elgin is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 July 1641. The Earl of Elgin is the ...

, at Kilgrastron in Scotland in 1856. They went to live in Kuching where they had two sons, Basil (1857–1860), and John Charles Evelyn Hope (1858–1934), but Anne died shortly after Hope's birth. Brooke's second marriage was to Juliana Caroline Welstead: they had met in England but married in Singapore in 1861; Julia died a year later giving birth to a daughter, Matilda Agnes (1862–1943). Brooke died in

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...

in 1868 after a long illness, but was buried in his father's churchyard at his childhood home of

Whitelackington Whitelackington is a village and civil parish on the A303 one mile north east of Ilminster, in Somerset, England. The parish includes Dillington Park and the hamlets of Atherstone and Ashwell. Etymology The village's name is from Old English an ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, John Brooke Johnson 1823 births 1868 deaths Sarawak royalty