Author: Brook, William John
Biography:
BROOK, William John (1776-1811: Lewis)
Although there is no record of his birth or baptism, he was almost certainly born in 1776, the eldest son of William Brook and Charlotte Ashburnham Coldcall, who married at Ashburnham, near Battle, Sussex, on 19 Apr. 1775. Nothing is known of his early education but he proceeded to Wadham College, Oxford (matric. 1794, BA 1798) and was ordained deacon (1799) and priest (1801) in the established church. He was briefly curate of Hampstead Norreys, Berkshire (1799) before becoming curate at St. Nicholas, Brighton (1800-3). With strong Baptist sympathies and influenced by the eccentric Calvinist doctrines of William Huntingdon (q.v.), he seceded on principle when asked to read the burial service over a parishioner who had abandoned Christian belief. The Providence Chapel, Brighton, was subsequently erected for him in 1805, and he served as minister there. He maintained links with the established church, however, and when he died, aged 35, on 21 Sept. 1811, he was buried at his old church, St. Nicholas. His mother was also buried there in 1826. He married Ann Hicks on 5 Jan. 1803 at St. Nicholas, Brighton. There does not appear to have been any issue. The work listed here, published posthumously together with Letters written by W. J. Brook to churches and individuals at which he had officiated, records his 1808 tour. The British Library copy (4905.bb.48) contains a portrait and copious Mss notes by a Mary Bowles. (Lewis, 1: 145; ancestry.co.uk 25 July 2023; findmypast.co.uk 25 July 2023; CCEd 25 July 2023; Sussex Advertiser 25 Sept. 1811; A Short Account of the History of the [Providence] Chapel [1955], East Sussex Record Office, NI/1/28/11) AA
Other Names:
- W. J. Brook