Brooke was born at Boddington House, Byfield in Northamptonshire, England, the eldest son of John Charles Evelyn Hope Brooke, who was the grand-nephew of Sir James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak and who had been born there, and of The Hon. Violet Mary Barrington, who was the second daughter of the ninth Viscount Barrington. His grandfather, John Brooke Johnson-Brooke, the elder brother of Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah, had been the heir apparent to the Sarawak throne from 1848 until 1863, when his uncle, the first Rajah, had banished him from Sarawak and disinherited him. Brooke had nine other siblings: Anne Violet, Beryl Mary, Alaric, John, Rupert, Joan, Mollie Laura, Ruth and Bruce
Naval career
Educated at Malvern College, Brooke joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1913, seeing service during the First World War. He received a promotion to Lieutenant in March 1918 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in March 1926, after which he undertook the staff course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. On 16 April 1925, he married Nora Evelyn Toppin ; the couple had four children: Peter Barrington, Isabel Ann, Julian Hope and Jennifer. Brooke was promoted to Commander in 1931. From November 1933 until February 1936, he commanded the cruiserHMS Philomel, also serving as Naval Officer-in-Charge at Auckland. He then commanded the new cruiser HMS Orion on the America and West Indies station from August 1936 until June 1938, when he received a promotion to Captain. Just prior to the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, Brooke was assigned to the cruiser HMS Curlew, which he commanded until it was sunk by the Luftwaffe off Narvik on 26 May 1940. He then became the captain of the light cruiser HMS Southampton from August of that year until it was also sunk of Malta by the Luftwaffe on 11 January 1941. He was promoted to Commodore in February 1943, commanding Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation 1 until that October. In November, Brooke was given command of the battle cruiser HMS Renown, and held this command until July 1945. After the war, he served as Commodore of the naval barracks at Chatham from January to April 1946. He was appointed a CBE in June 1946., and then was naval aide-de-camp to George VI from January to July 1947; in that month, he was promoted to Rear-Admiral. His last command was the shore establishmentHMS Hawke at Exbury, Hampshire in 1948. Brooke was appointed a CB in the 1949 Birthday Honours, retiring in November. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral on the retired list in December 1950.
