Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke
Encyclopedia
Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke, (10 December 1912 – 2 March 2011), was appointed His Highness the Rajah Muda of Sarawak (heir apparent
; Malay: Yang Amat Mulia Tuan Rajah Muda Sarawak) on 25 August 1937, and succeeded to the title of Rajah in 1963 on the death of his uncle, Raja
h Vyner of Sarawak
the third and last of the ruling White Rajahs
.
Brooke was the son of Bertram, Tuan Muda of Sarawak
and Gladys Palmer, daughter of Sir Walter Palmer
, and heiress to part of the Huntley & Palmers
biscuit fortune.
, Trinity College, Cambridge
and the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London. Throughout the 1930s he served the Sarawak civil service in various sectors, including the Land and Registry Department, and as a magistrate
.
He enlisted in the British Army as a private soldier in November 1941 and served during World War II
; between 1941 and 1944 as a Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps on the staff of the SAC SEAC
at Kandy
, Ceylon. He was Special Commissioner for Sarawak in the UK from 1944-1945.
Appointed Heir Apparent with the title of Rajah Muda of Sarawak on 25 August 1937, Brooke was granted the personal style of His Highness. Having been responsible for administering Sarawak between 1939 and 1940 in the absence of the Rajah, he was deprived of his styles and titles on 17 January 1940, then dismissed and expelled from the state in September 1941, following a dispute with his uncle, Rajah Vyner, over his marriage to a commoner, Kathleen Hudden, sister of a Sarawak government official.
Brooke was restored as Rajah Muda after consultations between his uncle and father in 1944. He was, however, deprived of his titles again on 12 October 1945.
Rajah Vyner ceded Sarawak to the British Colonial Office
, in 1946 in exchange for a sizeable pension for him and his three daughters. Anthony Brooke, the designated heir, initially opposed cession to the Crown along with a majority of the native members of the Council Negri (Parliament). A five-year campaign in Sarawak followed, aimed at revoking the country's new colonial status, in part directed by Brooke from his house in Singapore. In 1948, after the second British Governor of Sarawak, Duncan Stewart was assassinated by the Malay Sarawakian nationalist Rosli Dhobie, Brooke came under scrunity by MI5
, the British intelligence agency, who wanted to "get wind of any other plots he and his associates might be hatching". No evidence was found that he had known of the assassination plot.
In 1951, Brooke renounced any claim to the title, although he remained, according to some loyalists, the pretender to the throne.
, Somerset
, who became the Ranee Muda of Sarawak. They had three children:
Anthony Brooke lived for various periods in London
, Sussex
and at Findhorn
community in Scotland
. In 1982 he married secondly a fellow peace activist; Brigitte (Gita) Keller (born in 1931 in Copenhagen
to the Reverend Paul H. Lange) founded Operation Peace Through Unity (OPTU) in Sweden
in 1975. From 1987 until Brooke's death in 2011 they lived together in Wanganui
, New Zealand
. Brooke was a traveller and lecturer, supporting various movements for peace and universal understanding.
Brooke died at his home in Wanganui on 2 March 2011, at the age of 98. His death coincided with the anniversary of the deaths of two of the four members of the Sarawak Anti-Cession Movement, Rosli Dhoby and Awang Ramli Amit, who were hanged at Kuching Central Prison on 2 March 1950, while the two others, Bujang Suntong and Morshidi Sidek, were hanged on 27 March.
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
; Malay: Yang Amat Mulia Tuan Rajah Muda Sarawak) on 25 August 1937, and succeeded to the title of Rajah in 1963 on the death of his uncle, Raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
h Vyner of Sarawak
Charles Vyner Brooke
Vyner, Rajah of Sarawak, GCMG was the third and final White Rajah of Sarawak.-Early life:...
the third and last of the ruling White Rajahs
White Rajahs
White Rajahs refers to a dynasty that founded and ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946, namely the Brookes, who came originally from England. A Rajah is a monarch in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.-Rulers:...
.
Brooke was the son of Bertram, Tuan Muda of Sarawak
Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke
Captain Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke, Tuan Muda of Sarawak was a member of the family of White Rajahs who ruled Sarawak for a hundred years. He was the son of Charles, the second of these rajahs, and brother to Vyner of Sarawak, the third and final ruler of that family...
and Gladys Palmer, daughter of Sir Walter Palmer
Sir Walter Palmer, 1st Baronet
Sir Walter Palmer, 1st Baronet was a biscuit manufacturer and a Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1900 to 1906....
, and heiress to part of the Huntley & Palmers
Huntley & Palmers
Huntley & Palmers was a British firm of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. The company created one of the world's first global brands and ran what was once the world’s largest biscuit factory. Over the years, the company was also known as J...
biscuit fortune.
Background
Brooke grew up in England and was educated at Eton CollegeEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
and the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London. Throughout the 1930s he served the Sarawak civil service in various sectors, including the Land and Registry Department, and as a magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
.
He enlisted in the British Army as a private soldier in November 1941 and served during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; between 1941 and 1944 as a Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps on the staff of the SAC SEAC
South East Asia Command
South East Asia Command was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during World War II.-Background:...
at Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
, Ceylon. He was Special Commissioner for Sarawak in the UK from 1944-1945.
Appointed Heir Apparent with the title of Rajah Muda of Sarawak on 25 August 1937, Brooke was granted the personal style of His Highness. Having been responsible for administering Sarawak between 1939 and 1940 in the absence of the Rajah, he was deprived of his styles and titles on 17 January 1940, then dismissed and expelled from the state in September 1941, following a dispute with his uncle, Rajah Vyner, over his marriage to a commoner, Kathleen Hudden, sister of a Sarawak government official.
Brooke was restored as Rajah Muda after consultations between his uncle and father in 1944. He was, however, deprived of his titles again on 12 October 1945.
Rajah Vyner ceded Sarawak to the British Colonial Office
Colonial Office
Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...
, in 1946 in exchange for a sizeable pension for him and his three daughters. Anthony Brooke, the designated heir, initially opposed cession to the Crown along with a majority of the native members of the Council Negri (Parliament). A five-year campaign in Sarawak followed, aimed at revoking the country's new colonial status, in part directed by Brooke from his house in Singapore. In 1948, after the second British Governor of Sarawak, Duncan Stewart was assassinated by the Malay Sarawakian nationalist Rosli Dhobie, Brooke came under scrunity by MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, the British intelligence agency, who wanted to "get wind of any other plots he and his associates might be hatching". No evidence was found that he had known of the assassination plot.
In 1951, Brooke renounced any claim to the title, although he remained, according to some loyalists, the pretender to the throne.
Personal life
Brooke was married firstly, in Rangoon, Burma to Kathleen Mary Hudden (1907–1981), daughter of William Edward Cecil Hudden, of BackwellBackwell
Backwell is a suburban village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It falls within the Unitary Authority of North Somerset and has a population of 5,455.It is south west of Bristol, on the A370 to Weston-super-Mare...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, who became the Ranee Muda of Sarawak. They had three children:
- James Bertram Lionel Brooke (born 1940) is a Life Member of the Sarawak Association, Chairman of the Brooke Heritage Trust, and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic SocietyRoyal Asiatic SocietyThe Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was established, according to its Royal Charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia." From its incorporation the Society...
. He married firstly Victoria Holdsworth (b. 1949), she would later marry Sir Paul GettyPaul GettySir John Paul Getty KBE , born Eugene Paul Getty, was a wealthy American-born British philanthropist and book collector. He was the elder son of Jean Paul Getty, Sr...
, married second Karen Mary Lappin (b. 1955). He has two sons by his second wife and currently lives in EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
:- Laurence Nicholas Brooke (born 1983 in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), was educated at BruntsfieldBruntsfieldBruntsfield is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, about twenty minutes walk south-west of the city centre. In feudal times it fell within the barony of Colinton.-Location:...
Primary School, Edinburgh, and The High School, DublinThe High School, DublinThe High School is a co-educational school located in Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1870 in Harcourt Street before moving to its current location in Rathgar in 1971 and amalgamated with The Diocesan School for Girls in 1974, thereby becoming co-educational.-Millennium...
. - Jason Desmond Anthony Brooke (born 1985 in London), was also educated at Bruntsfield and The High School, Dublin. Received a BA degree in English literatureEnglish literatureEnglish literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from University College DublinUniversity College DublinUniversity College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
and an MPhil in International Conflict Studies from Trinity College, DublinTrinity College, DublinTrinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. Was elected Captain of the Boats, University College Dublin Boat Club, for 2007/2008.
- Laurence Nicholas Brooke (born 1983 in London
- Angela Carole Brooke (1942-c.CircaCirca , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
1983) - Celia Margaret Brooke (born 1944), married first to Pirzada Murshidzada David Ray Harper Inayat Khan (son of Inayat KhanInayat KhanInayat Khan was an exemplar of Universal Sufism and founder of the "Sufi Order in the West" in 1914 . Later, in 1923, the Sufi Order of the London period was dissolved into a new organization formed under Swiss law and called the "International Sufi Movement"...
), married secondly Marcel Captier of Rennes le Chateau. She had a daughter by her first husband:- Sura-un-Nissa Dorée des Anges Brooke Harper (b. 1971), who has one son;
- Leandro Brooke Harper (b. 1992).
- Sura-un-Nissa Dorée des Anges Brooke Harper (b. 1971), who has one son;
Anthony Brooke lived for various periods in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
and at Findhorn
Findhorn
Findhorn is a village in Moray, Scotland. It is located on the eastern shore of Findhorn Bay and immediately south of the Moray Firth. Findhorn is 3 miles northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 miles by road from Forres....
community in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. In 1982 he married secondly a fellow peace activist; Brigitte (Gita) Keller (born in 1931 in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
to the Reverend Paul H. Lange) founded Operation Peace Through Unity (OPTU) in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in 1975. From 1987 until Brooke's death in 2011 they lived together in Wanganui
Wanganui
Whanganui , also spelled Wanganui, is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Brooke was a traveller and lecturer, supporting various movements for peace and universal understanding.
Brooke died at his home in Wanganui on 2 March 2011, at the age of 98. His death coincided with the anniversary of the deaths of two of the four members of the Sarawak Anti-Cession Movement, Rosli Dhoby and Awang Ramli Amit, who were hanged at Kuching Central Prison on 2 March 1950, while the two others, Bujang Suntong and Morshidi Sidek, were hanged on 27 March.
Titles from birth
- Anthony Brooke, Esq. (10 December 1912 - 24 August 1937)
- H.H. The Rajah Muda of Sarawak (25 August 1937 - 16 January 1940)
- Anthony Brooke, Esq. (17 January 1940 - November 1941)
- Private Anthony Brooke (November 1941 - 16 January 1944)
- H.H. The Rajah Muda of Sarawak (17 January 1944 - 1944)
- Lieutenant H.H. The Rajah Muda of Sarawak (1944 - 12 October 1945)
- Lieutenant Anthony Brooke, titular Rajah Muda of Sarawak (12 October 1945 - February 1951) Renounced claim as heir apparent, 1951
- Titular H.H. The Rajah of Sarawak (9 May 1963–2 March 2011) He did not exercise any claim, although he succeeded to the right in 1963, upon Vyner's death