Everything about Basil Brooke 1st Viscount Brookeborough totally explained
Basil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, Bt., KG, CBE, MC, PC, HML (
June 9 1888 –
August 18 1973) was a
British Ulster Unionist
politician who became the third
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1943 and held office until 1963.
He had previously held several ministerial positions in the Government of
Northern Ireland, and has been described as "perhaps the last Unionist leader to command respect, loyalty and affection across the social and political spectrum of the movement".
Early life
Basil Stanlake Brooke was born on
June 9 1888 at his family's 30,0000 acre estate, Colebrooke Park,
Brookeborough,
County Fermanagh. He was the eldest son of
Sir Arthur Douglas Brooke, 4th Baronet, whom he succeeded as
5th Baronet on the latter's death in 1907. He was a nephew of Field Marshal
Viscount Alanbrooke,
CIGS during World War II, who was only five years his senior. Brookeborough's sister, Sheelah, married
Sir Henry Mulholland; their son would succeed as
Baron Dunleath. He was educated for five years at St. George's School in
Pau,
France and then at
Winchester College (1901-05) and
Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the
Royal Fusiliers in 1908, but transferred to the
10th Hussars in 1911. He was awarded the
Military Cross and
Croix de Guerre with palm for his service during
World War I. In 1920 he left the
British Army to farm his large estate at Colebrooke.
Personal life
He married, firstly,
Cynthia Mary (1897–1970), second daughter and co-heir of Captain Charles Warden Surgison, of Cuckfield Park, Sussex. They were married on 3 June 1919 at
St. George's Chapel,
Hanover Square, London. Their families were already close due to Miss Surgison's sister being married to Sir Basil's cousin. Following their marriage the Brookes went to live at Colebrooke.
Lady Brookeborough died in 1970 and the following year, aged 83, Brookeborough married Sarah Eileen Bell, daughter of Henry Healey, of Belfast, and widow of Cecil Armstrong Calvert FRCS, director of
neurosurgery at the
Royal Victoria Hospital,
Belfast. She died in 1989.
Children
By his first wife Lord Brookeborough had the following children:
Political career
In 1921 he was elected to the
Senate of Northern Ireland, but he resigned the following year to become Commandant of the
Ulster Special Constabulary in their fight against the
IRA.
In 1929 he was elected to the
Northern Ireland House of Commons as Ulster Unionist Party
MP for the
Lisnaskea division of
County Fermanagh. In the words of the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography;
Cabinet Minister
In 1933 he was appointed Minister for Agriculture. In 1941 he became Minister for Commerce.
Brooke addressed an
Orange Institution rally on
12 July 1933, where he said:
As Prime Minister
In 1943 he succeeded
John M. Andrews as Prime Minister.
In
1952 Sir Basil, whilst Prime Minister, was raised to the
House of Lords as
Viscount Brookeborough, the title taken from the village named after the Brookes. Although a peer he retained his seat in the House of Commons at
Stormont and remained PM for another decade.
Lord Brookebrough resigned as Prime Minister in 1963 due to illness, he was 75 years old. He remained a member of the Northern Ireland House of Commons until the
1969 general election (when he was 81), becoming the
Father of the House in 1965. During his last years in the Commons he publicly opposed the liberal policies of his successor as PM,
Terence O'Neill, who actively sought to improve relationships with the
Republic of Ireland and attempted to grant the
civil rights demanded by the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.
Decorations
Having been appointed
CBE in
1921, Brooke was, on
July 1 1952, raised to the
House of Lords as
Viscount Brookeborough,
of Colebrooke, County Fermanagh. He was appointed a
Knight of the Garter in 1965. He held the office of
Vice-Admiral of Ulster between 1961 and 1973. He held the office of
Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh and was
Custos Rotulorum of County Fermanagh between 1963 & 1969.
Later Life
In his retirement Brookeborough developed commercial interests; as chairman of Carreras (Northern Ireland), a director of Devenish Trade, and president of the Northern Ireland Institute of Directors. He was also made an honorary LLD of
Queen's University, Belfast.
In 1971, following Lady Brookeborough's death in 1970 Lord Brookeborough married Sarah Eileen Bell, he was 83.
Lord Brookeborough died at his home in Colebrooke on
August 18 1973, he was cremated at Roselawn cemetery, Belfast, three days later, and in deference to his wishes his ashes were scattered on the demesne. His estate was valued at £406,591.83: probate,
5 December 1975, CGPLA NIre. · £42,793 in England and Wales: probate,
7 November 1973, CGPLA Eng. & Wales
Further Information
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