BROOKE, Frederick William

1860 - 1952

Frederick William Brooke was born at Sibton, Suffolk on 31 December 1860, third son of John William Brooke (1 November 1824-5 May 1881), magistrate and landed proprietor, of Sibton Park, and his wife Jemima Charlotte née Brittain (1823-16 July 1908) of Buenos Ayres, who married at Aldeburgh, Suffolk on 1 February 1849. In 1861, they were living at 88 Marina, St Leonards, Hastings with their seven children, Agnes Maud 10, Alice Mary 8, Helen 6, twins John Kendall and Harry 3, Ada Charlotte 1 and newly born Frederick William, all born at Sibton, with a staff of a governess, footman and six housemaids. Frederick was a member of the Ipswich Art Club 1887-1902 but had exhibited since 1885, from Glenbrooke, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, which was the home of his widowed mother, two paintings 'A Brittany Inn' and 'An Old Bit of Rennes'. Frederick married at St James's Church, Piccadilly, Westminster, London on 9 April 1885, Gwendoline Mary Hope St Leger (1 January 1863-27 June 1954), daughter of Col St Leger of Park Hill, Doncaster. In 1891 Frederick was ‘living on own means as an artist, landscape’ at Turnpike Cottage, Darsham, Saxmundham, Suffolk with his 28-year-old wife Gwendoline Mary and their three children Gladys 5, born Pimlico, London; Dulcie 3 and Gerald 1 month, both born at Darsham, another daughter died at birth, and they kept five indoor servants. From Turnpike Cottage, Darsham, a member and exhibitor at the Norfolk & Norwich Art Circle 1889-1905. Frederick, as William Brooke, also exhibited at the Royal Academy also showing at Birmingham Royal Society of Arts; Walker Art Gallery; Manchester City Art Gallery; Royal Society of British Artists including ‘A Riverside Inn’ 1886 and ‘Sunlight and Shadow’ 1887, and at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour, from London in 1886, Sibton, Saxmundham 1887 and from St Ives, Cornwall in 1896. By 1896 ‘an artist’, he had moved with his wife and two children, to Ayr Cottage, Littlewood Green Lane, Lelant, St Ives, Cornwall where he was living in 1911 with two servants but his wife and children are absent. His wife Gwendoline (1863-1954) is listed as an artist in the 1901 census but is an error for her husband's 'profession or occupation' as she is not described as such before or afterwards. During the First World War, Frederick was a captain in the army and in 1921 was an architect living at High Street, Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire with his wife Gwendoline. As Capt F. W. Brooke he again exhibited at the Ipswich Fine Art Club from 'Totscott', Witham, Essex in 1927, two watercolours 'The Silent Pool' and 'Summer Clouds' and, as William Brooke from the same address, in 1937 'Thames Barges off Brightlingsea' and 'Brightlingsea Creek'. In 1939, a retired architect, living at Topscott, 11 Church Street, Witham, near Braintree, Essex, with his wife Gwendoline Mary Hope Brooke. Frederick William Brooke died at Witham, Essex on 26 December 1952 only five days short of his 92nd birthday. His wife Gwendoline, died at Yapton Vicarage, Arundel, Sussex on 27 June 1954.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Darsham Cottage, Saxmundham
1895 165 A Sunlit Bay
from Ayr Cottage, St Ives, Cornwall
1897 364 O’er Moor and Fen
1899 934 Winter Sunlight

---

Works by This Artist