Isaac Brock - Early Life

Early Life

Brock was born at St Peter Port on the Channel Island of Guernsey, the eighth son of John Brock (1729-1777), a midshipman in the Royal Navy, and Elizabeth de Lisle, daughter of Daniel de Lisle, then Lieutenant-Bailiff of Guernsey. The Brocks were an English family who had been established in Guernsey since the sixteenth century. Brock earned a reputation during his early education on Guernsey as an assiduous student, as well as an exceptional swimmer and boxer. At age ten, he was sent to school in Southampton but spent one year in Rotterdam learning French.

Despite his lack of an extensive formal education, Brock appreciated its importance. It seems that as an adult he often spent his leisure time sequestered in his room, reading books in an attempt to improve his education. He read many works on military tactics and science, but he also read ancient history and other less immediately practical topics. At the time of his death he was in possession of a modest library of books, including works by Shakespeare, Voltaire, and Samuel Johnson.

He kept a reputation as an "unusually tall, robust" man throughout his life, with an adult height of about 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m). Measurements taken from his uniform show that at his death he had a waist size of 47 inches (119 cm) and the inside brim of his hat measured 24 inches (61 cm) in circumference. Though Brock was noted as a handsome man who enjoyed the company of women, he never married.