Category: Military
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Regiment or Ship: H.M. T.B. 66; H.M.S. Sprightly; H.M.S. Lizard; H.M.S. Strongbow
Occupation: Sea Cadet
Date of Birth: 1886
Place of Birth: Ecclesfield, Yorkshire
Date of Death: 10.02.1919
Place of Burial / Memorials:
Buried in Almondbury Cemetery, Huddersfield, Yorkshire. Grave K. “C.” 3. Remembered on Bexhill On Sea , Sussex War Memorial.
Address: Hazeldene, Rotherfield Avenue, Bexhill
Photos and newspaper articles
Click on any image to see a larger version
Family Information
Parents: Edward Burkill Brookes, a Fire Brick manufacturer, born 1859, married a Gertrude Barker, born in 1858, on 21st August 1884 at Kirkburton Church, Huddersfield.
Edward died in late 1893 and three years later, in1896, Gertrude married Edward Levien Maisey, in the district of Westminster. In the 1911 census, both Mr & Mrs Maisey were living at “Hazeldene”, 5, Rotherfield Avenue, Bexhill On Sea.
Siblings:
Violet Gertrude Brooke born in 1887, in Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, married a Godfrey Fryer Russell, in 1908, in Bexhill. He was born, in Bournemouth and, according to the 1911 census, a “British Subject by Parentage” and a “Clerk in Holy Orders”.
Hazel Brooke born 1891, in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. No record has been found of a marriage or a death.
Spouse:
According to the “Bexhill Chronicle”, dated 15th February 1919, when he died, in February 1919, he left a widow but, unfortunately, no name was given and no record of a marriage or Edward has been found.
No children have been found.
First World War Experience
The main points in his service record are that he was –
Captain of the motor torpedo boat, H.M. T.B. 66, from March 1911 until 7th April 1914.
Captain of the destroyer, H.M.S. “Sprightly” from 7th April until sometime in early 1916.
Captain of the destroyer H.M.S. “Lizard”, from before 31st May, 1916 until 15th October 1916, which fought at the “Battle of Jutland”.
Captain of the destroyer, H.M.S. “Strongbow” from 15 Oct, 1916 until 17 October 1917.
Following the Battle of Jutland, Edward was mentioned in dispatches and the local newspaper report can be read here. NewspaperReports
Edward was seriously injured at the “Battle of Lerwick” (the main port of the Shetland Islands), on 16th October 1917 and the story of the battle can be read here. Lerwick
On August 10th 1918, the Bexhill Chronicle reported that Edward had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) for his part in the action in the “Battle of Lerwick”. This was after a court martial had been held to investigate the circumstances and the actions taken by the officers in the battle.
He’s mentioned, as Lieutenant-Commander Edward Brooke, R.N., in the Supplement to the “London Gazette” of 15th September 1916 in their “List of Commanding Officers Recommended for Commendation for Service at the Battle of Jutland “.
From the National Probate Calendar 1919: BROOKE Edward of 3 Greyhound-mansions West Kensington Middlesex D.S.O. Died 10 February 1919 Probate London 8 August to the Public Trustee. Effects £466 13s.