[ Notes compiled c. 2008 by Mr James W Robins of Avon Dassett, Warwickshire, England ]

 

Editor’s comment: – I have taken the decision not to remove the superscripts (which the author describes as “computer references”) since these might be helpful to readers in tracking the various individuals.  The author’s “Descendants Chart” is not included here.

 

 

BROOKS OF AYLESBURY AND DISTRICT

 

In Gibbs ‘History of Aylesbury’ the name BROOKS occurs persistently in various connections and is included in lists he gives at different dates as being the names that occur most frequently in the Parish Registers.

 

Attached is a Descendants chart showing males only but excluding all those known to have died before the age of 21 and for whom we have no other information.   The numbers are computer references.

 

Although there are earlier references to the name, THOMAS^[6] of Aylesbury c 1630-1713 is the first for whom there appears to be a clear connection with those that follow.   By Mary, his wife (presumed), he had three children baptised in Aylesbury but we know nothing more of him or his family except that his wife was buried in Aylesbury Churchyard in 1687, and when Richard was buried in 1673 a note was made in the burial register “hanged himself in the seventeenth year of his age”.

 

THOMAS left a will in which he mentions his son WILLIAM^[8], seven of his grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, the progeny of his eldest grandson, THOMAS^[12].   His daughters, Mary and Anne, were not so mentioned and I presume were already dead.   Sums of money and various articles of household goods were bequeathed to those named and the residue to Thomas, his grandson.   WILLIAM^[8], his own son, and father of the children above, was not mentioned other that the bequest of a small tankard and 1/-.   William might have been a sick man at the time as he died only years later and his son Thomas, above was named as the executor of the estate.   It might be assumed, therefore, that the land included in Thomas’s estate had previously passed to his own son William by virtue of the common law and custom of the manor.

 

If THOMAS^[6] is regarded as founder of the family as far as we know it then WILLIAM^[8], his son, was the one who started the clan.   He is described as farmer of Hardwick (situated 2 miles north of Aylesbury).   With his wife (assumed) Anne, he produced sixteen children of whom only four were males who survived infancy and themselves in turn married and produced children, viz. Thomas^[12], William^[15], Joseph^[16] and James^[19].   He does not appear to have left a will which is odd, but he might have died unexpectedly.

 

However, his wife, Anne, did leave a will in which the major part of the estate went to William^[15], the second son.   This included a Malthouse and Kiln in Parsons Fee, Aylesbury (situated adjacent to the parish church).   His elder brother, Thomas, had already become established in Hardwick presumably on land bequeathed by his grandfather.   Legacies were made the other offspring except Jane who presumably was already dead.    Clearly William and his wife were prosperous.   Her will is lengthy and interesting mentioning various parcels of land in Aylesbury and legacies to her married daughters in Aylesbury, Gerrards Cross and Hedgerley.   Unfortunately it only available in book form and I was unable to obtain a copy.

 

I deal with JOSEPH^[16] separately in Chapter 2 as all the modern BROOKS so far discovered descend from him and for convenience I deal here with all the others as far as I have discovered to date.

 

 

THOMAS^[12] AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

THOMAS^[12] 1676-1752 is described as Maltster of Hardwick; he was married (?) twice.   First to Catherine ?? who died presumably as a result of the birth of her first child, who also died.   His second wife was Esther or Hester ?? who presented him with five children all baptised in Aylesbury 1699-1705, only one of whom was male and survived.   He appears not to have left a will nor did his wife.

 

WILLIAM^[22] 1700-1784, the only son, was described as Maltster (junior) of Brook Farm, Aylesbury.   He married (?) Elizabeth ?? who presented him with nine children, three boys (including two Williams) and two girls all who died early, a William^[242] and John^[246] appear to have survived but we have no other information.   William inherited substantial property including Brook Farm, (which so far I have not been able to identify on the ground) from his uncle William^[15] (see hereunder).   William’s son –

 

JOSEPH^[245] 1751-1799 is described as a farmer and married Mary Cheese on 27^th March 1772 by licence at St Mary’s Aylesbury.   Six children were baptised in Aylesbury, two boys and four girls.   The eldest, WILLIAM^[251] died at the age of 36 apparently unmarried.   We know nothing of Elizabeth but others are mentioned in their mother’s will as described.   Joseph’s will is long and complicated by his inheritance from his father referred to above but it really says nothing other than he leaves everything to his wife, Mary, after having met the commitment to pay £600 to his cousin, Mary King, and otherwise originally provided for in his great uncle’s will.   It will be noted that his elder brother, William, was still alive at the date of the will but apart from his marriage to Hannah Dicks we have no other information.

 

Mary, Joseph’s widow, did not die until 1829 and she also left a will.   She appears to have maintained the business including the Harrow Public House in Back Street – that is Buckingham Street in modern Aylesbury but still so described by old Aylesburians in my youth.   The pub is still in existence.   She left the pub and the malting business to her two daughters, Frances and Maria Ann, who, it appears, had in any event been running the business.   She also mentions her daughter, Mary Weller, as having had her share of the estate on her marriage twenty-eight years before.   The youngest daughter, Maria Ann married Heritage sometime after her mother’s death and she herself died in 1868.   Her will mentions no other BROOKS, the only relatives mentioned being nephews/nieces, children of her late sister Mary Weller.   She appears to have been the last member of this branch of the BROOKS family and her will dispositions may be regarded as the final disposal of the original BROOKS fortunes, such as they were.   In Rudd’s map of Aylesbury 1809 a Mrs Brooks is shown as occupying a large house in Castle Street opposite the end of Parsons Fee, the site of the Maltings.   The house is still standing.   A Mary Brooks is also shown as occupying what appears to be large premises on the north side of the churchyard.   One of theses ladies was presumably Joseph’s widow, but I can’t say which.

 

The remaining son was –

 

JOHN^[252] 1782-1865 is described as Solicitor.   He married Penelope Spindler on 8^th January 1805 at St Mary’s Aylesbury.   Three children were baptised at Aylesbury all with second names of ‘Adams’ for which I have no explanation.   Penelope died in 1811 presumably in childbirth and the two eldest children both died in July 1824 when the address was given as Walton Street.   The youngest, Penelope Adams, married James Teddington Bullcock in 1833.   John appears to have remarried on 6^th October 1820 Mary Tibbett of Hanslope.   The 1851 Census shows John living in Walton Street with his sister Frances.   He left a will, in which he is described as gentleman, and the sole executor was Maria Ann Heritage (widow), his sister, she was the youngest of the family.   Also in Rudd’s map of Aylesbury 1809, John, Attorney, is shown as occupying large premises in Back Street, later Silver Street and now under the concrete of the new shopping centre.

 

This appears to be the end of the male line of THOMAS^[12] but there are clearly a number of possibilities that the line did continue and it would be interesting to discover the site of, and nature of the eventual disposal of the Maltings which, was I suppose, the origins of the BROOKS fortunes deriving originally from Thomas^[6].

 

WILLIAM^[15] AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

WILLIAM, the second son of WILLIAM^[8] is described as Maltster of Brook Farm and Fullmore (I haven’t been able to locate) and was married (?) to Mary ??   They had six children, five girls and a boy.   The boy died in his fifth year.   One girl, Elizabeth, baptised in 1733 died in infancy and another, Elizabeth, was baptised in 1735.   Daughter, Mary, married Richard King and Ann married Richard Batchelor.   The fifth daughter, Sarah, for whom there is no record of either birth or baptism, is referred to in WILLIAM’s will.   She was unmarried at the time it was made as was her sister Elizabeth.   The will made substantial provision for his wife and for daughter Mary, wife of Richard King and thereafter for the other three daughters.  But the residue went to his nephew, WILLIAM^[22], there being no surviving son.   He lovingly refers to his brother, JAMES^[19], but does not mention JOSEPH^[16]!

 

JAMES^[19] also appears to have been a successful member of the family.   Described as Yeoman Farmer of Kingsbury (Aylesbury) and one of the four constables of the Borough, he left no male issue that survived to marry.   Robert, the eldest, died aged 21; a first William died aged 3 and a second aged 1, whilst two James each died aged 2.   Four girls however survived, all to marry.   Elizabeth married William Rickford, founder of Rickford’s Bank; the son, also William, became a respected MP for Aylesbury and a friend of John Wilkes.   The wills of James and his wife were not very enlightening as they only mentioned the daughters.

 

There is a great deal of information about William Rickford, the son, and I have a book about him but that is outside the scope of this record and does not make any reference to the BROOKS family except to his mother Elizabeth.

 

As far as I know this part of the family has no later BROOKS descendants and all that follows are descendants of JOSEPH^[16].

 

CHAPTER 2

 

JOSEPH^[16] 1686-1760 AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

JOSEPH^[16] 1686-1760 was the third son of William^[8] and all the BROOKS that follow are descended from him.   Described as Yeoman/Farmer of Whitchurch/Weedon he married Elizabeth Cheshire at Hoggeston on 3 November 1709.   His first child, Thomas was baptised at Aylesbury in 1710 although Joseph was described as Farmer of Whitchurch.   There is then a gap (unlikely) of 7 years until the birth of James 1717 followed by Michael 1719, John 1722, Elizabeth 1723 and Charles 1726 all at Hardwick.   Almost certainly in the gap there is Joseph c1712, and William 1714 who as a bachelor married Elizabeth Barnaby, a widow, in 1744 by licence – in neither case have found a baptism.   There may be others.   Joseph died “suddenly on Monday 15^th December 1760 and was buried in his father’s grave” in Aylesbury.   He left a will that merely left all to his spouse who in turn died in 1767 and so far as we know did not leave a will.

 

JAMES^[38], the fourth son, is my 5 x great grandfather and, as his descendants are many and bring us to today, I deal with the remaining offspring of Joseph first and then deal with James and his descendants in separate chapters hereafter.

 

THOMAS^[35] 1710-1767 AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

THOMAS^[35] 1710-1767 married Ann Tharp in Bierton in 1732 and produced Robert 1735, Thomas 1740, Sarah 1742, Elizabeth 1743 and Mary in 1746; all were born in Hardwick where Thomas was described as Farmer of Weedon.   Nine other children were born but died in infancy.   His will left all to his wife and refers to “the lease of the estate I hold and rent from Earl Litchfold”.   His wife died in 1786 and left all to her daughter, Sarah, still unmarried, who presumably was looking after her.   Sarah, in her will, mentions Mary and Ann daughters of brother Robert (see below), Elizabeth, daughter of brother Thomas, and four children of her deceased sister Elizabeth HORTON.

 

ROBERT^[256] 1735-1808 the first son, married Jenny Thorn at Hardwick on 25^th September 1758 and produced two girls Mary in 1769 baptised at Bierton (Jenny’s home) and Ann at Hardwick.   However, when Robert and his wife each died they were described as “of Woburn” although Robert appears in the Bucks Posse Comitatus of 1798 as a Farmer of Weedon with 5 Horses, 1 Wagon and 3 Carts.   I assume that at some stage he removed to Woburn where he perhaps had other children before moving back again to Weedon possibly at the time of his father’s death.   I have found no mention of him in the Woburn Parish records

 

THOMAS^[257] 1740-???? Apart from his possible marriage to Elizabeth Price and the birth of one daughter we have no information.

 

JOSEPH^[36] c1712-1784 AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

JOSEPH^[36] c1712-1784 is described as Farmer of Weedon.   No birth has been found but he produced no less than twenty-one children at least fourteen of whom died before maturity.   His will mentions no children and leaves all to his wife.   Of the five girls and two boys who appear to have survived to maturity we know little.

 

MICHAEL^[39] 1719-1788 AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

MICHAEL^[39] 1719-1788 married Elizabeth Turpin at Hardwick on 28^th August 1757.   He fathered a large family, two Marys a Sarah and a James all died in infancy, but four boys and three girls survived.   Michael was described at burial as Yeoman.   He left no will, neither did his wife.   Of his four sons –

 

 MICHAEL^[46] 1759-1816 married but left no issue.   His first spouse was Martha Watkins, presumably of the same old and prolific family as the wife of his uncle Joseph.   His second wife, Charlotte Rudd, was a widow.   In his will dated 1815 he is described as Maltster and mentions his brothers John, Thomas and William.   He expresses a wish to be buried near his first wife at 12 noon and on the same day £10 worth of bread is to be distributed to the poor of Hardwick     To his brother, John he left a freehold estate in Bledlow – this is the first intimation we have of this connection.

 

JOHN^[48] 1764-1827 was married to Sarah Darvill of Bledlow on 7^th June 1785 by Licence.   He was at the time described as being of Hardwick but presumably then or soon after removed to his wife’s village, where Sarah gave birth to three sons, John 1787, Michael 1789 and James 1790.   John was left the sum of £400 by his brother William in a will in which he is described as a Baker.   John’s own will left all to his wife whilst mentioning his sons and three cottages with the names of their occupants.   More research is required here as at least two of the sons married and produced children.   It is therefore possible that there are BROOKS descendants of this branch alive today.

 

THOMAS^[49] 1767-1827 married Hannah Bayman and produced two daughters.   We know nothing more.

 

WILLIAM^[52] 1776-1826 died unmarried.   In his will, also referred to above, he acknowledges a natural son, William Hoare, but otherwise left substantial legacies to his brothers and sisters still alive, and to nephews and nieces.   His sister, Elizabeth, married to William Fleet, was already a widow and another sister was married to John Milburn who possibly was a progenitor of the Milburns of Aylesbury still resident in the town in the 1930s.

 

JOHN^[40] 1722-1789

 

JOHN^[40] 1722- 1789, Joseph’s sixth son was married to Martha who died in 1757; a second wife, Ann, died in 1784.   No children were recorded.   He is described as Yeoman of Quarrendon and his will dated 28^th September 1784 left all to his nephew Charles Brooks^[281].

 

CHARLES^[41] 1726-1838 AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

CHARLES^[41] 1726-1838 was the youngest of Joseph’s sons.  He married Mary Thorn on 25^th September at Hardwick and they produced four children who survived – Martha 1760, Charles 1761, Elizabeth 1763 and John 1764.    Mary died in November 1766 and Charles remarried in c1768 Phyllis ???? by whom he had two further children, Anne 1769 and Joseph 1774.   He farmed at Quarrendon but we have no detailed information, as he left no will and neither did his wife.   Of the three sons we know nothing about John and Joseph, except they were both mentioned in 1798 Posse Comitatus.   The other –

 

CHARLES^[281] 1761-1836, the eldest, married Mary Seamons, another large Weedon family at Hardwick in 1780.   The lived at Whitefields, Quarrendon and Charles was described as Dairyman.   They produced eight children, four boys and four girls.   Of the boys only Robert was mentioned in the will dated 1836 as being alive.   William^[288] is referred to as “late”.   He appears to have died before 1818 after which his wife remarried.   They had one son John^[296] of whom we know nothing more.   Of the girls three were spinsters and the other a widow.   His executor was Charles Seamons, a nephew, but the real estate was left to the four daughters.   In the 1851 Census, Elizabeth and Anne were still in residence and described as farmers of 227 acres.   Anne was married to John Sheriff of Waddesdon who was described as Manager.    All were still in residence in 1861 when they were described as Graziers.   John Sheriff appeared as the owner in 1871; it is probable therefore that both Elizabeth and Anne had died in the interim.   In 1891 Whitefields is shown as “old and uninhabited”.

 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

JAMES^[38] 1717-1792 AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

JAMES^[38] 1717-1792 first married Elizabeth Saunders on 17^th February 1739 at St. Mary’s Church, Aylesbury.   She died in childbirth in 1741 as presumably did the child baptised Saunders.   James remarried to Rebecca Mills on 15^th February at Bierton.   Rebecca was the third daughter of John Mills and Alice Gilpin.   John was a barber but was also described as a butcher and later as a peruke maker.   James and Rebecca appear to have produced six children of whom four died either in infancy or before maturity.   Of Anstace we know little other than her baptism and the mention of her in her grandfather Mills’s will.   The other survivor was James baptised in Aylesbury in 1746.   James, the father, is described as a baker of Aylesbury and appears to be the first of the BROOKS to forsake farming/malting for the town.   Neither he nor his wife, who died early in 1756, left a will and we therefore know no more about him – maybe he wasn’t a very good baker.   When he died aged 75 all of his children except Anstace, and we have no evidence that even she was alive, were dead including James his son who had died the year before.   His burial is noted by ‘pp’ indicating parish pauper not unusual for the time for the old with no family.   He and both his children had been beneficiaries under his father-in-law’s will.   John Mills appears to have been prosperous leaving property in both Aylesbury and nearby Aston Clinton.   The greatest beneficiary was his eldest daughter Mary Russell whose husband was the executor.   James received £150 in cash and the children a share along with the children of Mary Russell of the sale of the property at Aston Clinton on the death of their aunt Anstis, John Mills’s daughter.

 

JAMES^[38] 1746-1791 apart from his sister Anstace he was the only child to survive to adulthood.   Like his father he was also a baker and at 23 married Eleanor Horwood on 16^th October 1771.   She was the eldest daughter of Benjamin Horwood and Martha Barney.   Benjamin, a butcher, died in 1790 in straightened circumstances as the administration of his goods, etc., was granted to his principal creditor, James Cox, his wife Martha having legally renounced the burden of the execution of his estate.   There were a great many HORWOODS in Aylesbury at the time, all seemed to be related, and all seem to have had enormous families.   One, John, Benjamin’s grandfather had at least twenty-four.   James, therefore, would greatly improve on his own father’s performance for he produced eleven children in twenty years from 1772 to 1792.   By this time he was worn out and died aged 45 years some 5 months before the birth of Amos, the youngest child of the marriage and my great-great-grandfather.   Eleanor lived on for another 30 years having lost husband, father and father-in-law in a period of two years.   Three of the children died in infancy and for two, Thomas and Michael, we have no further information.   All the others married and reference below is made to the males.

 

JOSEPH^[58] 1776-1849 married Sophia Hathaway and produced three boys, one of whom died young.  We have no further information on the others.   The wife died in 1832 but in the 1841 Census Joseph was alive and living in Dukes Buildings and was described as “pensioner”.   He died in 1849 aged 73.

 

WILLIAM^[59] 1779-1861 married Mary Chamberlain in 1798 who must have died as he married again in c.1812 Elizabeth ???? by whom he had seven children.   Three of them were males who married, and two of them produced children as follows –

 

FRANCIS^[302] 1816-1881 (or later) married Emma Webb in 1842.   Described as an Innkeeper he produced two children Emma and Francis Bowler.   In 1881 Francis was living at 210 Pentonville Road, Islington but was then described as Boot and Shoe Maker.   His wife’s place of birth was given as Little Brickhill.   In the same Census the daughter Emma , then married to Richard J Atthews born, interestingly, in Little Brickhill, was living at 22 Stanmore Street, Islington as was her brother Francis also described as Boot and Shoemaker.   Did Francis, the son marry and have children if so there may be Brooks descendants alive today?   [New information, not yet assimilated, shows Francis (senior) as the progenitor of a very large family*.]

 

*Editor’s comment:– In fact Francis Brooks (senior) had other children and many members of his “very large family” are listed on this website, www.woodcockfamilies.com.

 

JAMES^[303] 1821-1900 married Elizabeth Oakley in 1848 by whom he had (at least) ten children.   By an earlier marriage to Elizabeth Hitchcock he had a daughter Elizabeth.   He lived at 6 Oxford Road, Aylesbury in 1881 and was described as ‘Bootmaker’.   Of his children we know that Henry James Brooks was living in Kings Langley in 1881 as a visitor aged 21.   His occupation was given as Painter.   There is also the baptism of a daughter, Annie Elizabeth in 1893 at St. Mary’s Aylesbury which also shows his wife as Elizabeth, his occupation as House Painter, and his abode as 46 Buckingham Street, Wolverton.   In 1901 he was still at the same address but now described as Railway Coach Painter.

 

For three other sons James, Thomas and Michael we have no information, which leaves the youngest –

 

AMOS^[62] 1792-1857 was born after his father had died.   I cannot find a marriage – if there was one I assume it to be c 1812.   The baptismal registers record eight births to Amos and Catherine.   The most likely candidate for the wife is Catherine EVETT (an old Aylesbury name).   Amos appears to have had some religious leanings and joined the Hale Leys Congregational Church in 1816 and Joel, his son, was baptised there in 1825.   Did his interest wane – he was expelled for non-attendance in 1835?   He may also have been a troublesome character although in R v Faiers the elder he was in fact the plaintiff in an assault case.   The eight baptisms were four boys and four girls.   Of Benjamin we know little.   In the 1881 Census at the age of 66 he was living at 3 Dillon Place, Islington with a much younger wife and stepdaughter aged 26, he was described as Cordwainer.

 

SIMEON born in 1823 is described as a Labourer and later as a Music Seller.   He married Diana ????  and produced four children but we know nothing further.

 

JOEL 1825-1891 married three times.   By his first wife he produced Benjamin, who later was described as Printer and Engine Driver of Silver Street.   Benjamin married Sarah FIGG and produced two boys, Benjamin Walter in 1869 and Harry in 1871 but I have nothing further on the sons.   But in 1901 the father and Sarah his wife are in West Ham with two children Clara 12 and Fred 10 but it is not clear if they were their own children.   Joel himself also lived in Silver Street and his occupation was yet another Shoemaker or Cordwainer.   He had seven other children; Albert married Lily c 1890 and had one child soon afterwards also named Lily.   He was living in Maldon Terrace, Aylesbury.   In 1901 he is living in Apsley Guise with his wife and four children and is described as Printer Stereotyper.   His eldest son Albert born in 1893 was killed in WW1 on 15th August 1916 as a Sergeant in the Bucks Battalion.   His parents at the time were living at 1 Grecian Street when he was I assume working for Hazell Watson and Viney, Printers.

 

I have no further information on the others.

 

Amos’s youngest son was James from whom all the remaining Brooks are descended and he forms a separate chapter.

 

 

CHAPTER 4

 

JAMES^[70] AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

JAMES^[70] 1829-1890 married Martha BONNICK on 1^st August 1847 at Aylesbury.

 

Martha was the second child of Richard BONNICK and Harriet or Martha  REEVE and born in Bicester.   The Bonnicks were however an old Aylesbury family originating in Bierton and not always noted for their good citizenship.   Richard’s younger brother Robert having been involved in the last bull-baiting in Aylesbury in 1821 –

 

“The promoters were indicted for riot.   Constable William Cross had told one Slaughter (aptly named), William Adams and Robert Bonnick that they should not proceed in the town.   The three men tied the bull to the Kingsbury pump rail and let the dogs loose, then released it, letting it run down the street, still roped, with some 150 people following.   The whole concourse swept round the Market Square, into Walton Street, and back past the Oxford Arms and Bulls Head.   Shops were shut in a hurry and the majority barricaded themselves in for fear of their lives.   The promoters were fined 1/-, imprisoned for a week and bound over, but it was allowed they had not realised their action was illegal (!!)”

 

Robert’s sporting interests were not confined to bull baiting.

 

“Aylesbury’s sporting instinct was not confined to the abuse of animals and birds:  the nationally popular spectator sport of pugilism was a highlight of fair and market.   In May 1823 Young Dolly Eldridge fought Jack Slaughter, at Hulcot Trunk, to evade the constables.   They were Aylesbury men.   Dolly was Bucks champion, but he lost then ... He got his revenge against Bromley in 1825, Bonnick, the bull-baiter was second”.

 

Martha, by repute, was a stern mother, a strong Methodist and an early socialist though I have only Jess’s (her grand-daughter) word for that.   Perhaps her photograph would tend to confirm this view.

 

Between them James and Martha produced twelve children, all of them surviving at least their childhood.   One, Elizabeth, twin to Martha (Aunt Pat), was “killed by lightning on her wedding day” according to Kit and Jess.   This story, if true, I would have expected to have been reported in the local newspaper, such would be its attraction to any journalist.   However I have not yet found any record of the death anywhere.   I continue to look.

 

Of the first five children four emigrated to Australia and they form a separate chapter hereafter.

 

James, the third child married Hannah Bates and produced twenty-three children.   This very quantity requires a separate chapter.

 

Martha 1859-1948, known as Pat and to me as Aunt Pat (being of course my mother’s aunt), was married twice first to ??? Stote by whom she had four children and from whom the Pearce connexion arises, and second to ???Bailey.   ??? Stote must have died in about 1890.   In a letter dated December 1891 Amos (in Australia) refers to “poor Patty being left so badly off”.   In the 1891 Census she and her four children were living with her mother in Buckingham Arms Yard, Aylesbury.

 

Alice Maud 1861-???? married Fred Dobson and lived at 19 Buckingham Road.   They had seven children.   I knew the two youngest and their progeny.   Charles, the second son, was killed in WW1 whilst serving with the 2nd Bn Seaforth Highlanders.   He died on 18^th December 1917 aged 19.   A daughter Florence alive in 1901 was later killed in an accident with a horse and cart in Maldon Terrace close to their home and a pair of twins had died in childbirth.   Another unfortunate family!   In 1901 the family was living at 39 New Street and the eldest son Albert aged 11 is shown as having been born in USA.   This confirms the comment in a 1888 letter from Amos in Australia which says “I daresay Maude is gone to America by this time if so will you ask for her address so that I can write to her direct as I want to find out how she likes the land of blizzards if her husband gets £4/10/- per week it is better than the printers get out here”.   The USA did not maintain a permanent attraction as the later children were born in Aylesbury

 

Walter 1864-1934 married Hettie Hetherington, and also lived in New Street. and I knew him slightly.   He was a printer and produced three children.   He died in 1934, apparently in Paddington but was buried in the Aylesbury Cemetery on 24^th June of that year.   The eldest son, Oliver, was, I understand, of unsound mind and was also buried in the Aylesbury Cemetery in 1970 aged 85.   The second son, Stanley who married Hannah Hopkins had two children, Stanley Hector and Ruby, both known to my aunt, Ivy (Robins).   Stanley Hector married Edna de Gray by whom he had five children, the third of whom is Anthony.   He became a printer and in 1969 emigrated to Australia where he had two children, Kim and Ian.   Walter Edwin, the third son, who according to Kit was known as Richard, and married Rene Stanley died in 1971 and was also buried in Aylesbury Cemetery.

 

Minnie 1867-???? married Ernest Albert Higgins and had three sons who were, reputedly, all in the Metropolitan Police.

 

Laura 1870-???? married Richard Williams from Buckingham.   He was a fine cricketer and played for Bucks.

 

And so we come to the youngest, Lillie, 1872-1960, my grandmother, who married Albert Richard Charles Watson.   The WATSONS are the subject of a separate history.

 

 

CHAPTER 5

 

THE AUSTRALIANS

 

George, with his wife and one child, together with his sister Mary and brother Amos, went to Australia in 1873.   They were, later, joined by their sister Harriet.   For the journey and their initial experiences I can do no better that quote at length from Chapter 1 of my cousin John Haynes’s memoir ‘The trouble with you John’.   This is included in the Appendix.

 

Sometime after the events described in the Appendix George presumably became disillusioned with life in Australia.   In the 1901 Census I find that his son, Alfred Henry, then aged 25 is living Hackney in London, together with his wife, his mother and his sister, who had been born in Australia.   But there is no mention of George, the father or another son Oliver born in Australia.   I understood that George went to Canada but I cannot recall from where this in formation came or if it is credible.

 

Amos however remained and founded a dynasty of his own.   He with his wife Rebecca Hall produced six children who in turn added to the line and we are currently in touch with his grandson Keith who himself has five sons.   It would seem that there are currently many descendants of Amos living in or whose home is Australia with such other surnames as MILLS, ALLEN, HEALY, GRANT, WILEY, HARSTORFF, McKAY, HOLMES, LYNCH, BLUNKET, HUDSON.

 

 

CHAPTER 6

 

JAMES^[74] AND HIS DESCENDANTS

 

James was baptised on 25^th March 1859 at St. Mary’s Aylesbury.   He married Susannah Matilda Frances BATES (sometimes called Hannah) of Stone on 25^th March 1873 at the Register Office in Islington where Susannah was living at the time.   He is described as Plumber of Albion Terrace, Aylesbury.   Her mother was a Nancy De Corr (variously spelt) CARTER.   The second name has been the source of a belief that she was of French origin.   In spite of considerable research by her great-grand-daughter, Celia GRANTHAM, nothing concrete has emerged.

 

Together they produced twenty-three children and then Susannah died in 1900 aged 48.   At about the same time two newborn twins, James and John, also died.   Others who died as infants were Edith, Lilace, Ethel, Esther, Flossy and Wilfred.

 

The eldest, Reginald, married and remained a long time resident of Aylesbury dying in 1954 aged 81.   He was, of course, my mother’s first cousin and known to her.   I could recognise him in the street but I don’t ever remember speaking to him.

 

Of Horace, Walter, Herbert, Clarence, Leonard and Shirley I know nothing other than they were all present in the 1901 Census.  

 

Wilfred, called Bill, and Harold emigrated to Canada and produced families there.   I am in touch with some of their descendants.   There is a belief amongst these that four of the family were killed in WW1.   If that is true they were from those mentioned in the previous paragraph.   In spite of considerable research we have not so far found any.   Indeed the only BROOKS of the family who it is proved was killed was Albert William, a grandson of Joel and therefore a cousin to this family.

 

Both Wilfred and Harold had families some of whom are now living in Toronto and Ontario.

 

Of the girls Doris was buried in Aylesbury Cemetery in 1971 aged 84 apparently unmarried, Alice  (nicknamed Queenie?) is reputed to have worked as an artist in connection with the Audobun Society, she lived in Port Isaac, Cornwall, and I know nothing more of Elsie or Marjorie other than they appeared in the 1901 Census.

 

Oliver appears to have remained in Aylesbury and died aged 84 when he was buried in Aylesbury Cemetery.

 

This leaves Frederick John born 1875 who died in 1961.   He was married twice first to Mabel Hawkes by whom he had seven children between 1898 and 1913.   The youngest, Ivor, I remember when he occasionally visited his aunt, my grandmother.   All married and produced children.   The eldest boy, also Frederick John, joined the army and later the Oxfordshire Police.   Latterly he was Inspector in charge of the Chipping Norton station.   His family of two boys and one girl are alive today and I am in touch with Celia and have met one of her brothers.

 

The first marriage ended in a contested divorce a report of which is contained in my archives.

 

There were five children from the second marriage, the eldest Agnes I knew as a child and thoroughly disliked her.   The family lived in the last house in Willow Road.

 

 

 

THE APPENDIX

(Extracted from ‘The trouble with you John - Genesis of a Geologist’ by my cousin John Haynes, another grandson of Lillie Watson nee Brooks)

 

TO AUSTRALIA

 

Only four months after my grandmother was born, on the morning of March 24^th, 1873 a large crowd of emigrants gathered at the Aylesbury railway station that served the London, Midland and Scottish branch line.   They were accompanied by their relatives who had come to see them off on the train bound for London via Cheddington for the East India Docks where they would board the SS Ramsay for the passage to Brisbane, Australia.   The emigrants included grandmother’s eldest brother, my great uncle George Brooks (23) and his wife Clara and infant son Alfred together with her (? his) sister, great aunt Mary (“Polly” 16) and brother, great uncle Amos (17)   No doubt Martha was there with grandmother as a babe in arms to see them off.   She would never see any of them, except Mary, again.   Perhaps the care of her new born baby helped her deal with the wrenching loss of her older children.

 

What factors led over two hundred emigrants, all from Bucks, to face up to a hazardous, three month voyage round the Cape of Good Hope in the cramped confines of a clipper ship; especially when most of them would never have seen the sea?   Only two months previously the SS Northfleet, bound for Tasmania with emigrants had gone down in the English Channel with the loss of three hundred lives.

 

The early years of the eighteen seventies when grandmother was born were a time of deep agricultural depression, caused by a combination of poor harvests and increased competition from the Americas and eastern Europe.   The population boom made it harder for unskilled labourers to find work, especially in the southern counties away from the burgeoning industrial areas of the north.   The successful efforts of Joseph Arch in Warwickshire and Edward Richardson, “The Aylesbury Agitator”, in Bucks to organize the agricultural labourers into unions increase wage rates, actually worsened the problem because it led to loss of jobs and to the farmers (pressed to pay their rents) laying off more men in the winter.

It so happened that the new state of Queensland in Australia (founded in 1859) was actually experiencing a labour shortage at this time, caused by a series of gold rushes and was actively searching for new immigrants, with free passages offered for accredited agricultural workers.   Richardson turned from union work to assist the Queensland government agent in Bucks.   He suggested that the best plan was to get a large group together and for him to accompany them to Australia, giving the whole party more confidence.   Adverts were put out for three hundred agricultural workers and meetings were held in the bigger villages.   By this means over two hundred people were finally assembled for the voyage.

The Brooks family members comprised four of only seven emigrants actually from Aylesbury.   This was because free passage was for accredited agricultural workers only.   Amos was working in the Nestles Milk factory prior to leaving but it appears that both he and his brother George were attracted to the opportunities open in Queensland and the possibility of acquiring land there.   This comes out of their letters home.   I shall quote extensively from these below, not only because of their intrinsic interest and because of the letter written by George about the voyage and arrival was described in “The Aylesbury Agitator” as “by far the most comprehensive and colourful account” but because they reveal aspects of my grandmother’s family background which have come down to influence me through my mother.   My grandmother’s influence was also direct during my early teens.

Voyage to Australia   One of the reasons the Brooks family elected to go out on SS Ramsay was, probably, that it had been especially converted from a former bulk oil carrier into an emigrant ship fitted with “Allen’s Patent Berth’s” that gave each family separate accommodation.   Unmarried mothers were also given separate quarters under the care of a matron (and intruders kept out with the threat of being clapped in irons).

It appears to have been a reasonably happy voyage with good order and harmony maintained over the ninety-one days at sea.   The key-note being sounded at the outset, when, as The Daily News for 31^st March 1873 put it, “Before the ship was clear of the basin, groups of girls struck up a melody on the quarter deck, while further ‘forrard’ a young  (agricultural) unionist produced a violin and drew lively music out of its strings”.   Although four infants died on the voyage there were four births and the ship remained free of infectious diseases.   There was entertainment of readings, recitations and music every weeknight and three religious services on Sundays.   Edward Richardson gave lectures on Natural History and Geography and also composed ballads about the voyage.

Inevitably, as George describes it, when the ship ran into rough weather, “the effects of the ship’s motion could be seen on most of the strangers; they were almost all sick and groaned, and cried and retched in the most frightful manner”.   However, they all recovered, George himself not being sick.   But off the Canaries they ran into severe weather, “The sea was like very high mountains, and the water came over the sides of the ship in tons, drenching everyone that stood on the upper deck”.

They were becalmed for a week on the Equator, where it was “Terribly hot; and I don’t think we moved an inch during that time”.   The passengers were affected by “prickly heat” and this was where some of the infants and one of the crew died.   However, they caught the SE Trades and made the Cape in three weeks.

When they sailed into the Roaring Forties, “It was a sight to stand on the forecastle and watch the mountains of water come rolling after us.   One night in particular it was terrible.   A tremendous wave dashed right over amidships and carried part of the bulwark away, and the jib and topsails were also carried away, the water came down the hatches into the lower deck and swamped some of their beds.   But still, we were assured that there was no danger, for it was not half as bad as it might have been”.

When at last they reached Australia and sailed into Moreton Bay, it was “Glorious to see dry ground once more, and when we came to anchor in the bay what cheers went up from the old Ramsay”.

Sailing twenty miles up the river to Brisbane, along the route there were “Trees growing down to the water’s edge, now and then a small village the cottages being built in good style (although of wood) and placed in delightful situations, to see the orange groves and banana plantations, the cotton and sugar fields, the pineapples, and the sugar and water melons growing around the houses was beautiful”.

From Brisbane, the Brooks family with about one hundred others were taken about fifty miles upstream, to Ipswich, and finally after a fortnight George got a job on a sheep and cattle station some four hundred miles into the outback (at thirty pounds a year with rations).   This how he described the sheep station at Wallan:

 

“Mr. Ferrett’s station is six hundred square miles in extent.   There is a great number of men and women employed on it.   There about 4,000 cattle, tame and wild, and about 75,000 sheep, and the horses cannot be counted for most of them are wild... As for the country, it is a beautiful place, anything will grow here almost.   I know what Mr. Richardson will say about it and he will be quite right... I am a shepherd at last.   You will laugh at this – just as if I knew anything about shepherding, but all I have to do is to take the sheep out of a morning, and go into the forest with them (it is all forest here).   Then I can sit down and read book or watch the kangaroos, the opossums and the lizards... Then there are the birds; the eagles screaming in the air, the parrots and the cockatoos chattering in the trees, the magpies singing all the while.   There are a good many snakes here, but I have not seen one yet.   I have seen plenty of lizards, in shape just like a crocodile, and all colours, but they are the most harmless things in the world.   And by the side of the rivers and lagoons you see great tall cranes stalking about.”   

 

“It is lovely looking country, if you could look some nice summer day from Aylesbury towards Aston hills, and fancy there was no enclosure in between, but that it was covered with trees, you would have some idea of some parts of this country, but you miss something and a good something it is   You look upwards at the sky, it is hazy at the best of times in England but here the sky in glorious and transparent.”

 

George’s enthusiastic description of his situation on the sheep station was to be echoed by my brother, David when he went to New South Wales sponsored by the “Big Brother Movement” of 1952 at the age of seventeen.   Although he didn’t know about our great uncle’s letter then, his description of his life on a sheep station in the Hunter Valley and of the birds in letters home, was very similar.

 

The reaction of great uncle Amos, also seventeen, was rather different.   He left the Immigration Depot in Ipswich without informing Richardson to take a job in a tin mine at two pounds ten a week but it proved too much for him.   He then tried two more jobs in the next two weeks and travelled 150 miles before eventually finding work on a sheep station.   However, he didn’t like the conditions and reacted strongly:

 

“Believe me, the object of the Government in bringing people out here is to knock the wages down.   They want to overstock the country with men so they can have them at their own price. ... I like Richardson very well, but I think he had better turn schoolmaster again, and keep to his union.   If the poor men like him at home, they hate him here.   If the farmers hate him at home, they like him here because they think he will bring out men for little wages for them...  I do not say that a man cannot do as well here as he can at home; he might do better and he might do worse.   The country is as bad as England, and everybody here is ready to cut his neighbour’s throat if he thought he could get a pound by it.  .... I shall not stop in this country long.”

 

In his outburst, nicely composed and well balanced, we hear, perhaps, his mother’s voice, that would be raised later on the windy corner of Kingsbury Square and Buckingham Road on behalf of Irish home rule and certainly, the authentic voice of radical dissent as expressed by that archetypal pleb, the cobbler and mender of “souls”, in Coriolanus.   However, Amos did “stop” and two years later when he met Richardson in Brisbane he told him he wouldn’t go back home even if his ticket were paid for!   He went on to have six children and descendents scattered over Australia.

As he wrote home from Aramaic (1891 after the death of his father):

 

“I am doing very well.   I always have more work than I can manage and I get the best price in Queensland for my work.   I have taken up some land from the government, 1280 acres, and I think I shall do well out of it as it is some of the best land in Australia.”   [Note by JWR.   At this time he was a bootmaker as he himself says in a letter dated 1888 “I am proud to say that I have the very best name for boots for hundreds of miles around here.... I can make a very good boot I make some very expensive boots for the swells around here.”]

 

His nostalgia for the Sabbath pieties of his home town are revealed in the following extract:

 

“The church is open today for the first time in two years.   Just think of that Aramaic and Muttaburra, sixty miles away, are to share a parson.   We are to have him a fortnight and they a fortnight.   I often think of the old days at home... Sunday School and chapel three times a day.   I am always singing the good old hymns we used to sing.”

 

He was also upset by his sister Polly, who had apparently, “taken to drink”:

 

“He (George) and I are very angry at Polly’s conduct.   She was a trouble to us out here and we thought that when she went home she would reform but it does not appear to be the case, I am afraid she will die in the gutter.”

 

Amos appears to have worried unnecessarily about his sister because she returned to Australia and had three children in Roma, Queensland.   However, it brings out very well the strict, teetotal religious background and atmosphere of the Brooks family in Aylesbury into which grandmother was born.   This may now seem to us excessively narrow but there is no doubt that at a time of economic hardship, this culture of God fearing self help, hard work and chapel based sociability, helped Martha and James bring up their twelve children; when there was little welfare or “benefit” available.

 

The letters of both George and Amos are strikingly well written, considering they both left school at twelve years old.   This indicates a book-loving household and also a strong drive towards self-education, encouraged by the Sunday school, where of course the children came under the beneficent influence of the prose style of the King James Bible and the “good old Hymns” of Charles and John Wesley.

 

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