Henry James Brooke

His identification as the mineralogist Henry James Brooke (1771-1857) is indirect but supported by significant circumstantial evidence.

1. The ODNB says only of the mineralogist Henry James Brooke that he was born in Exeter in 25 May 1771 'into a family manufacturing broadcloth', then went into the Spanish wool trade, South American mining and was co-founder and secretary of the London Life Assurance Association. The Henry James Brooke of the compensation awards was probably the cousin and brother-in-law (and certainly the devisee-in-trust) of Charles Brooke (c. 1760-1833) (q.v.)  the partner of John Robley (q.v.): Charles Brooke's firm at Sambrook Court in 1800 is described as serge-factors; in 1809, a Bristol partnership carried on by Henry Brooke, Abram Robarts, Charles Brooke and John Chalmers Rose as merchants and importers of Spanish wool, under the firm of Henry Francis Brooke and Co., was dissolved by mutual consent (Chas. Brooke signed for himself and executor of H.F. Brooke), while the firm of Henry Francis Brooke & Co., is shown in the 1820 P.O. Directory at Sambrook Court. [The Henry Brooke in these partnerships was Henry Brooke of Henbury, the husband of Mary Ann Brooke (q.v.) and probably the cousin of Henry James Brooke: the will of Henry Francis Brooke proved in 1800 shows his sons as Charles and Henry]. H.J. Brooke's son was also Charles Brooke (1804-79), surgeon and inventor, also in the ODNB.

2. The wills of neither Charles Brooke [PROB 11/1822, proved 31/10/1833] nor Henry James Brooke [PROB 11/2254, proved 06/07/1857] provide definitive confirmation. The former describes Henry James Brooke as of Stockwell (as does the counterclaim for British Guiana No. 697), but characterises him no further: Charles Brooke's estate is left in equal shares to his sisters Elizabeth (of Chipping Sodbury), Maria and Isabella Frances.  The latter will is very short, shows H.J. Brooke of Clapham Rise, and leaves everything to his sole executor and son Charles. In the will of Elizabeth Brooke of Chipping Sodbury, Henry James Brooke of Clapham is described as 'my brother in law' when he is nominated as executor. Henry James Brooke had married Maria Brooke at Westbury-on-Trym in 1798, and the 1841 census shows Henry J. Brooke and Maria Brooke both aged 70 at Clapham Rise, both born out of parish.  

3. Henry James Brooke was Auditor of the Imperial Brazil Mining Association for many years.

1. Graham Chinner, ‘Brooke, Henry James (1771–1857)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/354, [accessed 21 Sept 2012]. Post Office Directory (1800). London Gazette, Issue 16217, 10/01/1809, p. 52.

2. PROB 11/1822; PROB 11/2254.

3. London Gazette, Issue 18773, 04/02/1831, p. 220; London Gazette, Issue 21205, 02/05/1851, p. 1175; Ancestry.com, England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 [database online]; 1841 census online.