John Brooke Johnson Brooke

John Brooke Johnson Brooke (born John Brooke Johnson, 1823 – 1 December 1868) was a soldier and Rajah Muda, heir to the Raj, of the Raj of Sarawak until disinherited in favour of his younger brother, Charles.

John Brooke Brooke
Rajah Muda *title rescinded 1863
Heir apparentSep 1848
BornJohn Brooke Johnson
1823
South Stoke, Somerset, England
Died12 May 1868(1868-05-12) (aged 44–45)
Hounslow Borough, Brentford, Middlesex, England
Burial
Whitelackington, Somerset, England
Spouses
  • Anne Grant
    (m. 1856)
    Juliana Caroline Welstead
    (m. 1861)
Issuewith Anne Grant:
  • Francis Basil
  • John Charles Evelyn Hope
  • Violet Mary Barrington
with Juliana Caroline Welstead:
  • Matilda Agnes
Names
John Brooke Johnson Brooke
DynastyBrooke Dynasty
FatherFrancis Johnson
MotherEmma Johnson
Military service
Allegiance British Empire
Branch/service88th Foot
RankCaptain[1]

Born in South Stoke near Bath, the son of Francis Charles Johnson, a clergyman who had, in 1822, married Emma Frances Brooke, an elder sister of James Brooke. James took 'Johnny' on a long cruise around the Mediterranean in 1837 in his yacht, Royalist. John then joined the British Army’s 88th Foot as an ensign in 1839, lieutenant in 1842, and captain in 1848.

Captain Brooke, his preferred name by then, left the 88th Foot in 1848, but did not resign his commission. He was re-assigned to serve as aide-de-camp to the governor of Labuan James Brooke.[2] Captain Brooke adopted the surname of Brooke on 23 May 1848 by Royal concession,[3] and went to join his uncle in Sarawak as Rajah Muda, taking effective charge of the country when James returned to England. He spent some time in Labuan at first as James was establishing himself as its first governor, but was subsequently based in Kuching. He has been largely ignored in the standard historical accounts of Sarawak, but substantial records survive [4] which show how active he was, and his engagement with pirates in the Battle off Mukah late in 1862 has attracted interest.

Brooke married Anne Grant, a granddaughter of Lord Elgin, at Kilgrastron in Scotland in 1856. They went to live in Kuching where they had two sons, Basil (1857–1860), and John Charles Evelyn Hope (1858–1934), but Anne died shortly after Hope's birth. Brooke's second marriage was to Juliana Caroline Welstead: they had met in England but married in Singapore in 1861; Julia died a year later giving birth to a daughter, Matilda Agnes (1862–1943).

Brooke died in Hounslow in 1868 after a long illness, but was buried in his father's churchyard at his childhood home of Whitelackington.[5]

References

  1. Colburn's United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal. Hurst and Blackett. 1864.
  2. The Army List for July, 1850. 1850.
  3. "The Bath Chronicle". Bath, England. 8 June 1848. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  4. "Brooke Trust Digital Archive". archive.brooketrust.org. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  5. "Travels to Brooke Ancestral Homes Part 3: Whitelackington, Somerset | Brooke Heritage Trust". brooketrust.org. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
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