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Title
Date(s)
- 1795 - 1798 (Creation)
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microficheExtent38 itemsForm of materialLetters to Earl Macartney
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Biographical history
Robert Brooke joined the East India Company as an ensign in 1764 and had a distinguished career in India, taking part in many military campaigns. When he went on leave in 1774 he invested his fortune in a scheme to grow cotton in Ireland.
When this scheme failed in 1787 he applied to the East India Company to be reinstated. This they would not do in full but appointed him governor of St. Helena.
During his years as governor at St. Helena, from 1787-1801, he strengthened the defences and recruited and drilled troops for service in India.
Despite the fact that his plan to capture the Cape of Good Hope was anticipated by the British attack under General Baird, he was highly commended by the government and in 1799 was presented with a diamond-hilted sword as a mark of esteem. He had to resign in 1801 due to ill health and died shortly afterwards.
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The Brooke letters, No. 4050 IV in the Oppenheimer Library, were written by Robert Brooke, Governor of St. Helena, to Earl Macartney, Governor of the Cape of Good Hope.
The letters show that Brooke felt feelings of warm friendship for Earl Macartney, to whom he acknowledged a debt of gratitude for the interest he had shown in his affairs.
As governors of neighbouring territories both men had problems in common and were able to assist each other. When Macartney was very short of specie at the Cape, Brooke was able to raise a private loan of 2500 to help him out of his difficulties.
Amongst the subjects discussed in the letters were the taking and future government of the Cape, the plan to attack Spanish South America, the progress of the war against the French, the convoying of East India Company ships and the seizure of neutral ships which are trading illegally.
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Note
Alternate title: Brooke, Robert
Note
Preferred citation: Copyright Historical Papers Research Archive, The Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa