Viscount Brookeborough - The Brooke Family

The Brooke Family

The Brooke family descends from Sir Basil Brooke (b. 1567), a Captain in the English Army in Ireland and Governor of County Donegal in West Ulster, who was granted extensive lands in that county. His son, Sir Henry Brooke (d. 1671), was granted the lands of and around Brookeborough in County Fermanagh, also in West Ulster. He was Governor of County Donegal and a Member of the Irish Parliament for Brookeborough. His son, Thomas Brooke (d. c. 1696), of Colebrooke, County Fermanagh, was a Member of the Irish Parliament and supporter of William III and Mary II. His estates were forfeited by James II. His son, Henry Brooke (d. 1761), represented Dundalk and Fermanagh in the Irish Parliament. His younger son was Francis Brooke, of Colebrooke. His son, Henry Brooke, was created a baronet, of Colebrooke in the County of Fermanagh, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 7 January 1822. He was succeeded by his son, Arthur, the second Baronet. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for County Fermanagh at Westminster. On his death in 1854, the title passed to his eldest son, Victor, the third Baronet. He served as a Deputy Lieutenant. His eldest son, Arthur, the fourth Baronet, was Sheriff of County Fermanagh in 1896 and a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for the county. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Basil, the aforementioned fifth Baronet, who was elevated to the peerage in 1952. His second but eldest surviving son, John, the second Viscount, was also a controversial politician. As of 2010 the titles are held by the latter's eldest son, Alan, the third Viscount, who succeeded in 1987. He is one of the ninety elected hereditary peers that remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sits as a cross-bencher.

Numerous other members of the Brooke family have also gained distinction. Arthur Brooke, uncle of the first Baronet, was created a baronet in 1764 (see Brooke baronets). Sir Arthur Brooke (d. 1843), brother of the first Baronet, was a Lieutenant-General in the British Army. Richard Prittie Brooke (d. 1836), younger brother of the first Baronet, was a Major-General in the British Army. George Brooke, grandson of George Frederick Brooke, brother of the first Baronet, was created a baronet in 1903 (see Brooke baronets). George Augustus Frederick Brooke, younger son of the first Baronet, was the father of 1) Arthur Thomas Brooke (d. 1893), a Captain in the Royal Navy, 2) Henry Francis Brooke (1836–1880), a Brigadier-General in the British Army, 3) Lionel Godolphin Brooke (1849–1931), a Brigadier-General in the Connaught Rangers, and 4) Frank Brooke (1851–1920), a businessman and public servant. The latter was the grandfather of Frank Hastings Brooke (1909–1982), a Major-General in the Federation Army of Malaya, and Oliver George Brooke (b. 1911), a Brigadier in the Welch Regiment. Sir Harry Vesey Brooke (1845–1921), younger son of the second Baronet, was a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. Arthur Basil Brooke (1847–1884), younger son of the second Baronet, was the father of Sir Basil Vernon Brooke (1876–1945), a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, and of Sir Bertram Norman Sergison-Brooke (b. 1880), a Lieutenant-General in the British Army. The noted military commander Field Marshal The 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, sometime Chief of the Imperial General Staff, was the sixth son of the third Baronet (see the Viscount Alanbrooke for further history of this branch of the family).

The family seat is Colebrooke Park, on the Colebrooke Estate, on the outskirts of Brookeborough, near Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh. Colebrooke Park is a late Georgian neo-classical country house, mainly built around 1820.