Richard Brooks (1833), pioneer

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

settler, was born in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the son of Henry Brooks, a clergyman of

Salcombe Regis Salcombe Regis is a coastal village near Sidmouth in Devon, England. Mentioned in the Domesday Book as "a manor called Selcoma" held by Osbern FitzOsbern, bishop of Exeter, the manor house stood on the site now occupied by Thorn Farm. The tho ...

and Honoria Hall (daughter of Joseph Hall the vicar of Salcombe Regis and his wife Honoria Burchinshaw).

Pedigree

Often described simply as the son of an "impoverished clergyman", Richard Brooks had notable maternal ancestry, his mother having descended from the Burchinshaws of

Llansannan Llansannan is a rural village and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It lies on the bank of the River Aled and is about 8 miles to the south of Abergele and to the west of Denbigh. The population was 1,291 in 2001, with 67% able to speak ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and possibly Joseph Hall, English bishop and satirist.

Ship's Captain

Richard Brooks is said to have had little formal education before entering the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

's service at an early age, rising to command his own ship. During the first

French Revolutionary War The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

he traded to

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, carrying a letter of marque, but later returned to the East India service. He began his association with

in 1802 when he captained the convict transport . ''Atlas''s 222-day voyage was one of the worst in the history of transportation to Australia. During the voyage 64 people died; another four dying shortly after disembarkation. The remainder were "in a dreadfully emaciated and dying state" (Governor King). Governor King asked a committee of enquiry whether Captain Brooks' private trade goods which took up space in the hospital and prison and the unnecessary stops en route to Australia contributed to the deaths. The committee stated that mortality had been caused by "the want of proper attention to cleanliness, the want of free circulation of air, and the lumbered state of the prison and hospital". In 1806 he was captain of another transport, the ''Alexander'', on which no deaths ensued; thereafter he made a number of trading trips to the colony, in the ''Rose'' in 1808, the ''Simon Cock'' in 1810, and the ''Argo'' in 1811, and built up large interests in the colony. In 1812 he fathered an illegitimate child with Ann Jamieson in Sydney. In February 1813 Brooks was on his way to

in the ''Isabella'' when she was wrecked near the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

, and he sailed to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in a long-boat for help. In July he asked for permission to go to

as a free settler. Allowed to go, he arrived in March 1814 with his wife Christiana, née Passmore (1776–1835), daughter of another East India captain, and children in the ''Spring''.

Settlement in New South Wales

Richard lived at Denham Court in

, a prominent settler, a member of the New South Wales Agricultural Society, a vice-president of the Benevolent Society, member of the committee of the Bible Society, and a strong supporter of religious charities of all denominations. He owned properties in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

at Cockle Bay and

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...

and had extensive holdings in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

, Williams River and Lake George districts. In 1816 he was censured for profiteering during a drought in the colony by withholding cattle from sale. Brooks was described by his daughter, Christiana Blomfield, in a letter dated 20 January 1828 as ''... a nice looking old gentleman of 65, hale and very active for his age. He was 6 ft high when a young man, and I dare say very handsome, but he now loses some of his height by stooping. He is a very affectionate father and I believe particularly fond of me.'' In a letter dated 15 March 1831, Christiana wrote that her father had been “''very ill from the effects of an accident occasioned by a wild cow running at him while on horseback and goring him in the calf of the leg, while returning from one of his journeys to his cattle stations in the interior. The confinement from such an accident has injured his health and he is weak and rather inclined to be hippish''”. Richard Brooks died on 16 October 1833. He was buried in a vault at Denham Court. The Church of St Mary the Virgin was later built to enclose the remains of Richard and his wife, Christiana, who died on 12 April 1835.

Public service

1817 - appointed to be a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate in the Territory of New South Wales and Member of the Supreme Court

Family of Richard and Christiana Brooks

#Henry BROOKS (1798–1841) married in 1825 to Margaret Mackenzie, daughter of Alexander McKenzie #Christiana Jane BROOKS (1802–1852) married

Thomas Valentine Blomfield Thomas Valentine Blomfield (14 February 1793 – 19 May 1857) was a British soldier, pioneer New South Wales settler and pastoralist, magistrate, Justice of the Peace and Liverpool District Council member. Birth Thomas was born on Valentine’s ...

#Mary Honoria BROOKS (1804–1868) married Captain William Wilson in 1828; widowed 1835; married Captain George Wardell in 1838 #Jane Maria BROOKS (1806–1888) married in 1827 to Edward Cox, Pastoralist and Member of New South Wales Legislative Assembly #Honoria Rose BROOKS (c1809 - 1839) married in 1833 to William Edward Riley (1807–1836), pastoralist and sketcher, son of the pioneer pastoralist Alexander Riley #Charlotte Sophia BROOKS (c1811 - 1885) married in 1837 to Nathaniel Powell (1812–1874) #Richard BROOKS (1814–1855) illegitimate son?, born Sydney, married Augusta Sydney Weston (1837) #Maria BROOKS (1814–1892) married in 1836 to Lieutenant Henry Zouch (1811–1883)

References

External links

Drawing of Denham Court by

William Hardy Wilson William Hardy Wilson (14 February 1881 – 16 December 1955) was an Australian architect, artist and author. He "is regarded as one of the most outstanding architects of the twentieth century". Early years Wilson was born in Campbelltown ...

Portrait of Captain Richard Brooks by

Augustus Earle Augustus Earle (1793–1838) was a British painter. Unlike earlier artists who worked outside Europe and were employed on voyages of exploration or worked abroad for wealthy, often aristocratic patrons, Earle was able to operate quite indepen ...

Portrait of Mrs Richard Brooks by

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Church of St Mary the Virgin

Irish Convicts—Captain Richard Brooks and Irish Convict Transportation by Christine Maher

Convict Ships to New South Wales
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Irish Convicts onboard Atlas I

The Sydney Gazette of 5 October 1811

The Sydney Morning Herald of 6 January 1923 - historical article by Captain James H Watson

The Sydney Morning Herald of 10 January 1923

The Sydney Morning Herald of 4 November 1933
12
Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877,

State Library of Queensland The State Library of Queensland is the main reference and research library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988. It contai ...

- includes digitised letters written by Brooks to the

Colonial Secretary of New South Wales Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Richard 1765 births 1833 deaths English emigrants to colonial Australia Sea captains 19th-century Australian people People from Devon