Elizabeth Brooks

Mother of George Brooks I (q.v. under George Brooks of Blenheim, born c. 1783-1785, the husband of Sarah Tharp Petgrave Brooks née Wright (q.v. under Sarah Brooks)), and grandmother of George Brooks II (born 1809) (q.v., under George Brooks). It is believed to be the same Elizabeth Brooks who appears as (1) an awardee as owner of enslaved people on Kensmore in Manchester Jamaica, which had belonged to Robert Benstead Wright (2) party as grandmother of Helen Frances Wright, who was the daughter of William Burt Wright (1759-c. 1820), in the cause in Chancery of Wright v Wright (3) a counterclaimant as annuitant and tenant-in-tail on Blenheim in Manchester, for which George Brooks II was awarded the compensation. However, the identification under 1) remains tentative. Helen Frances Wright was certainly the daughter of Frances Wright Brooks and William Burt Wright II, and grand-daughter of the Elizabeth Brooks of this entry; and a codicil to Elizabeth Brooks's will shows her bequeathing the compensation money for the enslaved people on Blenheim.

1.  Will of Elizabeth Brooks widow [late of the parish of St Elizabeth but now] of Blandford Street, Portman Square, [made in 1831 - a codicil shows 1832] proved 23/02/1839. She described herself as 'widow and whit of John Brooks'. In the will she identified her son as George Brooks; her grandson, the son of George, as George Brooks then a student of medicine at Edinburgh; and her daughters as Ann Virgo Hewitt and the late Frances Wright James. She left her estate in 1/4ths between the children of George Brooks the father; Ann Virgo Hewitt and her children; the children of Frances Wright James and the children of Elizabeth Raby Bridges, wife of Rev. George Wilson Bridges. In a codicil of 1836 when she was of 52 George Street Portman Square she recorded the death of her son George Brooks, and amongst other things added Thomas James as an executor and in a further codicil of 1836 she added Edmund Francis Green as executor. In a final codicil of 30/09/1837 she specifically appropriated the compensation money for the enslaved people on Blenheim as part of the inheritance of her grandson George Brooks, then in Jamaica.

T71/915 p. 25 Manchester claim no. 431 for her award on Kensworth (which identifies her as an absentee); T71/1606 02/02/1836 lettter from Meredith & Reeve to the Commissioners and T71/1190 Manchester No. 443 for the Chancery suit of Wright v Wright; T71/860 Manchester Nos. 81 and 82 for the claims on Blenheim, under No. 81 for her claim for arrears of an annuity of £300 p.a. (under a deed of 1783) and £200 p.a. (under a deed of 1793), and under No. 82 for her claim as tenant-in-tail under the will of George Brooks during her widowhood. Caribbeana Vol. II, p. 50 'Brooks of St Elizabeth' shows the wife of John Brooks as 'Ann, sister of James Virgo Dunn' but their children as George, Ann, Elizabeth Raby and Frances. In light of the will of Elizabeth Brooks identifying these children as her own, the wife of John Brooks must have been this woman, Elizabeth Brooks, rather than Ann.

The London attorney Thomas James (q.v.), who married Frances Wright Wright (the widow of William Burt Wright (1759-c. 1820) acted as trustee to his step-daughter Helen Frances Wright in Manchester No. 443 and also as trustee appointed under Manchester No. 82.

1. PROB 11/1906/223.