Captain Richard Brooks

Richard Brooks was born in Devon, England in c1765, the son of Henry Brooks, Vicar of Salcombe Regis. He had little formal education, entered the British East India Company's service at an early age, and rose to command his own ship. During the first French Revolutionary War he traded to Oporto, the Mediterranean and the Baltic, carrying a letter of marque, but later returned to the East India service.

He began his association with New South Wales in 1802 when he captained the convict transport "Atlas I". In 1806 he was captain of another transport, the "Alexander"; thereafter he made a number of trading trips to the colony, in the "Rose" in 1808, the "Simon Cock" in 1810, and the "Argo" in 1811, and built up large interests in the colony. In February 1813 Brooks was on his way to England in the "Isabella" when she was wrecked near the Falkland Islands, and he sailed to Buenos Aires in a long-boat for help. In July he asked for permission to go to New South Wales as a free settler. Allowed to go, he arrived in March 1814 with his wife Christiana, née Passmore, daughter of another East India captain, and children in the "Spring".

Richard lived at Denham Court in New South Wales, a prominent settler, a member of the New South Wales Agricultural Society, a vice-president of the Benevolent Society, member of the committee of the Bible Society, and a strong supporter of religious charities of all denominations. He owned properties in Sydney at Cockle Bay and Surry Hills and had extensive holdings in the Illawarra, Williams River and Lake George districts.

In a letter dated 15th March 1831, Richard’s daughter, Christiana Blomfield, wrote that her father had been “very ill from the effects of an accident occasioned by a wild cow running at him while on horseback and goring him in the calf of the leg, while returning from one of his journeys to his cattle stations in the interior. The confinement from such an accident has injured his health and he is weak and rather inclined to be hippish”.

Richard Brooks died on 16 October 1833. He was buried in a vault at Denham Court. The Church of St Mary the Virgin was later built to enclose the remains of Richard and his wife, Christiana.

ee also

* Convictism in Australia
* Convict ship

External links

* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an2723147/ Drawing of Denham Court by William Hardy Wilson ]
* [http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/australian/painting/e/apa00145.html/ Portrait of Captain Richard Brooks by Augustus Earle ]
* [http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/australian/painting/e/apa00153.html/ Portrait of Mrs Richard Brooks by Augustus Earle ]
* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010144b.htm/ Australian Dictionary of Biography]
* [http://www.dcac.org.au/aboutus/history.shtml/ Church of St Mary the Virgin]
* [http://wwwsoc.murdoch.edu.au/cfis/abs/maher.html/ Irish Convicts—Captain Richard Brooks and Irish Convict Transportation by Christine Maher]
* [http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/shipNSW2.html/ Convict Ships to New South Wales]
* [http://members.pcug.org.au/~ppmay/cgi-bin/irish/irish.cgi?requestType=Search&ship=Atlas%20I%20(1)%20 [1802] / Irish Convicts onboard Atlas I ]