Sir George Berney Brograve, 2nd Baronet (4 February 1772 – 1 June 1828). Brograve was a baronet and landowner in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, an officer in the county

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

and High Sheriff of the county. He lived at Worstead House near

Worstead Worstead is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Norfolk Non-metropolitan district, district of Norfolk, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 862 in 365 households ...

Life and career

Sole survivor of eleven children from his father Sir Berney Brograve, 1st Baronet's second marriage, he succeeded to the title and his father's estates in 1797. He was trained as a lawyer. He was

High Sheriff of Norfolk The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The High Sheriff of Norfolk was originally the principal law enforcement officer in Norfolk and presided at the assizes and other im ...

in 1802. On 18 December 1802 he was commissioned as a

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

in the East Norfolk Militia. He was promoted to be the regiment's

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 7 March 1804 and its Lieutenant-Colonel on 7 May 1805. He commanded the regiment during its deployment to the Sussex Coast during the invasion scare of 1805, but resigned his commission on 19 May 1806.

Divorce

His nine-year marriage to Emma Louisa Whitwell was dissolved by an Act of Parliament on 28 April 1809. Captain Masham Elwin was put on trial for criminal conversation with Brograve's wife, before the Right Hon. Lord Ellenborough in the court of the

King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court of common law in t ...

, Guildhall on 8 July 1807; with the intercepted letters. Lady Brograve, who was described to the court as "a woman of fashion & consequence", stated she had never loved her husband, nor had she wanted the marriage, but it had been an arrangement made between her father and Brograve. Elwin was found guilty and ordered to pay damages to Brograve of two thousand pounds. Lady Brograve and Capt. Elwin were married three days after her divorce.

Succession

Brograve had canceled his will immediately on discovering his wife's infidelity, and like his father before him, died

intestate Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without a legally valid will, resulting in the distribution of their estate under statutory intestacy laws rather than by their expressed wishes. Alternatively this may also apply ...

, the last in the direct male line of this ancient family. His heir at law was a distant relative, Henry John Conyers of

Copped Hall Copped Hall, also known as Copt Hall or Copthall, is a mid-18th-century English country house close to Waltham Abbey, Essex, which has been undergoing restoration since 1999. Today, Copped Hall refers to the upstanding house, while Copt Hal ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. Worstead House and most of the other estates were put up for sale shortly after Brograve's death in 1828, although Conyers appears to have kept Waxham Hall for a time. A younger brother, Roger Brograve, described as "of competent, if not splendid fortune" had inherited money and estates from their uncle Thomas Brograve, a lawyer of Springfield,

in 1811. Roger was a serious gambler, and in 1813 lost £10,000 at the

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

race at Newmarket. He then "found himself unable to answer his engagements" and shot himself two days later with a

duelling pistol A duelling pistol is a type of pistol that was manufactured in matching pairs to be used in a duel, when duels were customary. Duelling pistols are often single-shot flintlock or percussion black-powder pistols which fire a lead ball. Not all fin ...

inserted in his mouth while sitting up in bed. The jury brought in a verdict of insanity.The History of Gambling in England p.191 - John Ashton 1898

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brograve, Sir George Berney, 2nd Baronet 1772 births 1828 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Norfolk Militia officers People from Worstead Suicides by firearm in the United Kingdom British military personnel who died by suicide 18th-century British Army personnel 19th-century British Army personnel Military personnel from Norfolk

Life and career

Divorce

Succession

Further reading

References