Well I had learned in an article in the Sun Times (Owen Sound) that James Brooke was given the responsibility for dealing with the Natives in the Bruce Peninsula (by his uncle Lord Bury, governor general) esp. Nawash)..said he had sought refuge in Upper Canada after narerowly escaping assassination " on the south sea island of Sarawak" "It seems Brooke and his family had set themselves up as minor potentates and made themselves extremely rich at the natives expense" In Canada, James Brooke named the community of Brooke after himself Keppel townshiop after his uncle's family and Sarawak township after his southseas fiefdom.




Anyway sounds as if more research is needed...Sarawak is not an island...can anyone enlighten me about this?

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I am Lloyd Jones, and live in Thunder Bay. I'm planning to do a short essay on the Brooke's, just as a hobby.


I have often wondered too about the descendents. Where are you? And how old are you now?


I remember we lived in Yellowknife NWT and behind us lived a young lady who said she was related to the Brooke family Grandaughter of Vyner?), they moved and we moved. I taught in Sarawak 1963-1971. We also adopted a Dayak (Iban) (David) who is also living in Canada in Thunder Bay and he is 51. He's also interested in the Brooke family. (We often wonder why a movie has bene done of the family,great hollywood classic it would be).





I'm also trying to piece together why there's a Sarawak Township and a Kappell Township near the Ontario town of Owen Sound

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Hello Jason, I would be interested in any books on the Brooke era


in sarawak,if you could forward me the title and where the books were printed,I may be able to serch the book stores in london..


As you are a Decendent of the brooks,You must be aware of an Rentap Who the brookes faught at Bukit sadok sarawak.My fiancee is Iban from the longhouse,and her GGgrandfather was Rentap,Her grandfarther who is 90 years old remembers a lot about the brooke reign in sarawak...your Sean

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Transferred from old message board:




Hello, my name is Jason Brooke and I am the youngest living direct descendant of the white rajahs of Sarawak. My grandfather, 89 yrs old was the Rajah Muda Anthony Brooke before the Chinese occupation during the second world war. He now lives in New Zealand and I think that answers one lady's question about the New Zealand connection. Also, Rupert Brooke, poet was not a relation though at one point in time he claimed to be. As far as I know there is no Vyner family in the Brooke genealogy though the last rajah possessed the name Charles Vyner. Also I possess an original print of the portrait by Sir Frances Grant and would be interested in seeing other portraits of any of the other rajahs for sentimental value. Also any artefacts, please help. Please get in contact with me as I possess a lot of old books on the rajahs including a family tree, private letters of James Brooke, his journals, the facts about Sarawak, written by my grandfather and various other information. Ask me anything and I shall do my best to help you. Also would any family members please get in contact with me at: jason.brooke@virgin.net

I have just found this forum and I am sorry to see that this forum is not very well responded to. Perhaps there are very few who are truly interested or reading material is very limited.
If still needed, I can provide a list of books and publishers from my knowledge of them from Malaysia where I live.
Regarding, James Brooke in Canada, I can say quite certainly, this is not the same James Brooke as the Rajah Brooke. Rajah Brooke did not go to Canada. Nor did he have any noble relations himself, though Charles Vyner Brooke did by marriage and they were the Eshers.
Sarawak, if you had a look at an atlas, is a swathe of country on the centre western board of the island of Borneo. In the north is Brunei and in the south is Indonesian Kalimantan.
Rajah Brooke never had a family of his own. Keppel was a admiral in the English navy who helped Rajah Brooke many times in his effort to stamp out piracy in Sarawak. I therefore think that your question on these names of places should come from the Sun Times.
There are no known descendants in Sarawak. Charles Vyner Brooke had three daughters and I only know of the eldest who married the Lord Inchcape. She, if alive must be very old by now. I can only remember a visit she made many years ago. If any contact is maintained with Sarawak, then this is private.
I will very interested if Jason can add some further detail on the above. I myself am very keen in history especially Malaysian, British and European.
If anyone wants to have a discussion on any historical subject, I am willing to respond if I can.

Just letting you know that Rupert Brooke the poet is my grandmother's first cousin, (also maiden name of Brooke).
Her parents moved to New Zealand from England in the late 1800;s. This would have been one of Rupert's uncles.

Dear sir,

Rajah Charles Brooke married an adopted daughter of Abang Aing, Dayang Mastiah ( of Iban origin - Tiah )before he oficially married Marguerite de Windt ( later HH Ranee Margaret ). Out of this married to Dayang Mastiah, they have a son by the name of Esca Brooke who was later brought/sent to Canada and adopted by Daykin family. Esca Brooke's daugthers did can to Sarawak to visit their relatives.

Just for info.

I just found this forum, while working on my Brooke genealogy.I am the Granddaughter of Horace James Brooke B. May 29,1895 in England. I am the daughter of Horace Gordon Brooke B.September 26,1922 in Grand Mere, Canada. I was born in Bangor ,Maine

I have a Ancestral History Paper that was compiled by Robert Gordon Brooke B. December 10,1887. This Paper states that Walter Frances Brooke B.1789 is the brother of Sir James Brooke. I am still researching this.

Any one interested in this ? Any Info to add ?

I come from the original Sarawak on the island of Borneo but I am now living in BC, Canada. My friends and I drove through the Township of Sarawak, Ontario about twenty years ago. I tried to find out more about the connection between Sarawak, Malaysia and Sarawak Township, Ontario then but came up with very little information. Sarawak Township came to my mind again yesterday as I chatted with a man I have recently met about Sarawak in Malaysia (he visited in the 1950s). I thought I would check the Web to see if I could come up with anything and came upon this forum.

I am planning a trip back to Sarawak to visit relatives in April/May and am right now thinking about my home country. I did a lot of research there (on the relationship between fish, river ecology and socio-economics of the indigenous peoples) years ago.

I am interested in finding out more about the connections between Sarawak Township and Sarawak, Malaysia.

Hello... I type in 'Esca Brooke Daykin' in google.ca and found this forum. Anyway, I have just finished reading 'The White Rajahs of Sarawak - Dynastic Intrigue and the Forgotten Canadian Heir' by historian Cassandra Pybus, 1996, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto, ISBN 1-55054-603-1; and was saddened by the story and betrayal of Esca, first-born son of Rajah Charles and Dayang Mastiah [Dayang Mastiah married Abang Arif, son of Abang Aing]. For those interested in Pybus' meticulous research, check out her bibliography and chronology of events. Pybus also mentions "C.J. Brooke [Charles James Brooke], a prominent lawyer and advocate in Hull, Ontario, Canada [early 1900s]. C.J. Brooke was the son of William Brooke, another favourite nephew of Rajah James... C.J. Brooke's grandfather was Thomas Brooke's eldest son by his Indian mistress" [This grandfather, Charles William and Rajah James Brooke were half-brothers]. I am now trying to locate writings by Prof. Reece, R.H.W. "The Name of Brooke: The End of White Rajah Rule in Sarawak", Oxford, 1982 and "European and Indigenous Miscegenation and Social Status in Nineteenth Century Borneo" in Sutcliffe, V. (ed.) "Male and Female in Borneo", Williamsburg, 1990, pp. 455-88. I have no ties to Sarawak except through my maternal grandmother's adopted father was was born there likely in the 1870s. Otherwise I am of Malacca nyonya/baba descent now residing in Canada.

Josephine Egan,

You can search for the book "In the name of Brooke" in the library if you are from Malaysia. It is still sold in the bookshop.

I AM A CHILD ABUSE INVESTIGATOR WHO IS REVISITING A CLOSED CASE WHICH INVOLVED A 10 MONTH OLD CHILD "RANI" WHO SUBSEQUENTLY DROWNED IN A BATH TUB. THIS CASE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY CLOSED AS ACCIDENTAL BUT IT IS MY BELEIF THAT THIS IN NOT THE CASE AND THERE IS MORE TO IT. I'VE USED THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY TO FIND THE MEANING OF RAINEE OR RANI AND THIS POINTED ME TO RAJAH'S. I THEN USED GOOGLE TO FIND INFO RELATED TO RAJAH'S AND NOTED THREE CHILDREN WHO DROWNED AT SEA. RAJAH WAS ALSO MARRIED A PERSON BY THE NAME OF RANEE MARGARET. (THIS IS UNCANNY AND UNUSUALLY COINCIDENTAL). I HAVE BEEN RESEARCHING THIS CASE AND HAVE DRAWN REFERENCE TO RAJAH'S THREE CHILDREN WHO DIED AT SEA AND RANEE MARGARET. I NEED INFO ON WHO RANEE WAS WHEN SHE GAVE BIRTH, HOW SHE DIED WHEN RAJAH'S CHILDREN DIED, HOW OLD THEY WERE ETC ETC. ANYTHING THAT IS RELEVANT WOULD BE APPRECIATED BY ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH IMPORTANT DATES, PEOPLE THEIR RELATIONSHIPS AND RELIGIONS THE NAMES OF THE CHILDREN INVOLVED ETC. I WILL PERIODICALLY SUPPLEMENT MY REQUEST WITH OTHER INFO TO MAKE OFFERING INSIGHT INTO THIS CASE EASIER FOR ANYONE WHO WISHES TO HELP ME IN SOLVING A CASE OF A BABYS DEATH. I NEED MORE PIECES TO THIS PUZZLE.

Vincent,

I cannot imagine that your case is linked in any way with Ranee Margaret Brooke. If you are familiar with Eastern cultures, you will realize that Rani is a very common Indian girl's name. Ranee is an Indian title that means Queen. Ranee Margaret Brooke was the wife of the second Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Brooke, who ruled Sarawak from 1868 - 1917. If you are interested in Ranee Margaret's life, you should read her autobiography called My Life in Sarawak by Margaret Brooke, The Ranee of Sarawak. There are public libraries in the US with this title in their collections. Or try Abebooks.com.

The children in question did not drown. They died of heat apoplexy on a ship called the Hydaspes and were buried at sea. They, together with their parents, the Ranee and Rajah, were on their way to England from Sarawak. The children, Ghita (born Sept. 21, 1870) & twin boys, James & Charles (born Feb. 20, 1872) died in this order -- James (Oct. 11, 1873); Ghita (Oct. 14, 1873 & Charles (Oct. 17, 1873). Your case sounds more contemporary.

Sarawak is on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, if that helps. And the Brookes ruled from 1841 - 1946.

Evelyn

I am researching Thomas Brooke Born 1789 Adm. pens. (age 21) at CHRIST'S, July 1, 1811. S. of JAMES. School, Ashton, Lancs. Matric. Michs. 1811; Scholar, 1812; B.A. 1815. Ord. deacon (Lincoln, Litt. dim. from Chester) Dec. 1814; priest (Bangor) 1815. P.C. of Lane End, Staffs., 1817; R. of Wistaston, Cheshire, 1825-73. Married Maria Lowe 1818 Had 11 Children Author, theological. Died May, 1873. (Peile, II. 368.)
The 1841 Census states born NOT ENGLAND other census's state Liverpool. Liverpool records office advise no Thomas baptism registered these dates. I know family had connections with India, a son Thomas Parkinson Brooke age 22 on 1851 Census states Officer in the East, he never married.
Next to the Family Vault is a memorial for Allan Henry Parkinson Brooke 1873-86, Father CJ Brooke Mother Maria M Brooke.
Are there any connections?
My email is howard.heathfield@get-the-web.com
Thanks

I have now discovered that Thomas Brooke had a brother Robert Parkinson Brooke 1793-1870. Born Liverpool.Adm.Cambridge University at ST JOHN'S, July 4, 1811. Matric. Michs. 1811. Migrated to Clare, June 23, 1812; B.A. 1815. Curate at Wrynbury & Nantwich & then Chaplain to the E.I.C. (Bengal Establishment), Bareilly, 1836-50; previously at St Helena. He was the last EIC Chaplain on St Helena and then moved to India. Retired back to Brighton, England in 1850. Again I can find nothing about his father James Brooke!

hi, i just came across this article while i am attempting to trace my family's ancestry. My grandpa's name is Lawrence George Kappell. The family tree becomes cloudy because his father was adopted and the building where his birth certificates were held supposedly burned down quite some time ago. I am now attending college and learned that i am a bit indian from my grandpa's side of the family and decided to look into it. if you have any information orneed any please let me know.

I used to live in Brunei but now live in Barbados.
The second daughter of Charles Vyner Brooke the third Rajah was Elizabeth Brooke. She married the famus bandleader Harry Roy by whom she had two children During her marriage to him she made two musicals in which she starred as Princess Pearl.
Her second marriage was to Richard Vidmer and she lived in Barbados. It was here that her mother the Ranee Slyvia Brooke died in 1971.
Her daughter still lives in Barbados.
The story about the son of the native marriage of the second Rajah is true the daughters of the child came from canada whilst I was living in Brunei. The Sarawakian govermnent treated thenlike honored guests and showed them around the astana where their father was born.I thought the story was very sad the child been sent away never to see his native land again and really being robbed of his heritage.

Hi Candu,what dates are we talking about here?

I live in Kuching Sarawak and my late husband was a Malay. His family tree included Abang Aing from Simmangang. The family always kept very quiet about the child born to Dayang Mastiah and it was the visit of Rajah Charles Vyners elderly daughters to Sarawak that raised the whole topic and brought it out into the public view.
I am keen to consider researching the period of Margaret Brooke's reign here and that would of course include the transporting of Esca to England for adoption. Looking for co-researcher to keep up the momentum and with a view of writing a film script ultimately.

Soraya,

I don't think she means the third Rajah's daughters but rather the daughters of Esca Brooke Daykin who came to visit Sarawak in the 1970s. Easca Brooke was born on Aug. 26, 1867. He was adopted by the Rev. William Yate Daykin (no doubt a family friend of the Brookes). The Daykin family moved from England to Canada and Esca married Edith Webster in Toronto on April 21, 1897. They had a son and three daughters. It was quite possibly these three daughters who came to Sarawak to visit the birth land of their father's. I have not seen any official documentation of their visit but all the references I have seen describe them as being "elderly" and that is why I am assuming that these are Esca's daughters rather than grand-daughters.

Esca's son, Cyril, died in 1939, but he did have one issue, so it is possible that his family line still exists. I haven't checked.

There are definite descendents from Esca's daughters. It is a shame that your family did not maintain contact with Esca's branch of the family. It is still possible to make contact with them. I see postings in family research websites from possible descendents of Esca's. If you will email me privately I will give you some names and suggestions as to where to look.

Good luck on your project. There is so much about Brooke rule that still needs to be told.

Evelyn

Pictures of the 3 Rajah's graves in Sheepstor, Devon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/webrarian/sets/72157602420076055/with/1571390596/

Cheers

I think you can get contacts of Esca Brooke's descendants from Utusan Borneo, coz I remembered the papers had journal articles of their visits (two daughters) to Sarawak in 1981.

Evelyn Campbell, I think I met you in Kuching a very long time ago. Thank you for your kind info of 24/01/08 and you will have seen the reply from Mahathir regarding Esca Brooke's descendants from utusan Borneo, which I have yet to check out. You suggest that I email you privately for names and suggestions for postings in family research websites but I don't have your email address and so posting this at the Forum.
Didn't you do research on Sharip Masahor when you were in Kuching?
May I suggest that the Forum should open with the latest date of postings rather than wading thru those going back several years?

Hello,

I just stumbled upon this forum, and was pleased to see references to Esca Brooke, the sole surviving child of Charles Brooke and his Dayak wife. Esca was my maternal great-grandfather. It was my grandmother, Grace McCarthy, who returned to Sarawak to, I suppose, try to set the record straight about her father, and to see the place where he'd been born.

I am a writer, and am in the preliminary stages of researching the history of the Brookes in Sarawak and the journey of my great-grandfather from Kuching to Northern Ontario.

I would be most appreciative of any help, historical notes and anecdotes from anyone with any knowledge of this story.

Thank you!

Hello there,

Nice to hear from descendants of Esca =) Sorry couldn't be of much help for your book. Probably a good place to start is the rajahbrooke yahoogroup.

Best wishes,
x

http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/books/WR/Extract.html

A good place to start

Does anyone know why the family grave is at sheepstor in Devon, or what the connecttion with that area was. There seems to have been no other connection with the area that I can find. Any help please?

Looked at the webpage you recommended and it shows extracts from Cassandra Pybus's book about Charles Brooke and the boy Esca.
It would be very difficult to trace if there was a malay/islamic marriage between Dayang Mastiah and Rajah Charles Brooke. It would have taken place at the bride's house in front of the Tuan Imam and four witnesses and not necessarily recorded at the Mesjid Islam in those days.
The important thing is surely that the child was recognized as the son of RCB but not considered to inherit the title of Rajah. For the descendants of Esca if it is of any comfort I think that it would be unlikely that Dayang Mastiah would not have gone through some sort of marriage ceremony. She came from a fairly prominent family, of that time, and to bear an illigitimate child would have been a disgrace.
She did marry a Malay at a later date. Any information about that anyone?

Hey,

My name is Dayangku Noorhisham. My mum is Alice Minda Crocker and my grandfather is William Michael Crocker, his father was Harold Brooke Crocker. Apparently, my Great grandfather was sort of adopted by Charles Vyner and was his Private Secretary. My Great Great Grandfather, was William Maunder Crocker and he was the resident of Sabah for a while. The Crocker range in Sabah was named after him.

I have always been interested in finding my family's backgroundand any info would be great...

Just wondering if anyone has a phone or address of a Brooke Daykin family in Toronto.

Hi Soraya,

No, that wasn't me. I've never done any research on the good Sharip -- fascinating man that he is. But I do second the opinion that you should read Pybus' book if you are interested in Esca since you have the family connection. Pybus was in touch with Esca's descendants in Canada.

There are definite descendants from the three daughters, so the family line is alive and well. If you look at family portraits of Esca's four children, you will notice that only one child, Grace, looks like she has Malay blood. The other three look very white and Esca's son, Cyril, could have passed for any of the Brooke sons.

Esca, I think turned out very well, and Charles Brooke would have been proud of him. You are absolutely right -- though no marriage certificate exists, there would have been a "native" marriage between Charles and Dayang Mastiah. For it to have been anything else would have been an insult to her father whom Charles considered a friend and ally, and the two mantained a long friendship.

I think Esca was shipped out of the country and adopted into the Daykin family to keep the Brooke line of succession clear. This is a bit hypocritical on Charles Brooke's part considering his views on intermarriage between Brooke administrators and native women.

I don't know anything about the laws of succession that governed then but there is no doubt that Esca Brooke Daykin was Charles Brooke's first born son and should have inherited the kingdom. I have never heard of another offspring of Charles Brooke's with a native mother, but anything is possible.

So, given the circumstances, the removal of Esca was a very smart political move on Charles Brooke's part. He needed Margaret's money more than he needed Dayang Mastiah's connections. The match with Margaret was not a love match by any stretch of the imagination, and the way they lived out the latter part of their lives is very telling. This is a very typical story of where duty triumphs over love, I suppose.

My grandmother, Grace McCarthy, was Esca Brooke's daughter. She was a very beautiful, elegant woman, and she did indeed look slightly Malaysian. Her daughter Gael (my mother) had black hair and slightly Asian features also, as does my older sister Juliana, although I take after my Polish father. My two children (whose father is Indian) look like they'd be right at home in a long house in Sarawak, especially my son.

The story of Esca Brooke is tragic. Being expelled from his home and essentially disinherited by his father seems so incredibly cruel, but child psychology was not exactly well developed in Victorian times. I don't think he ever saw his mother again, either. He did do well in Canada, though, and I suppose on some level I'm grateful things played themselves out as they did.

A movie film on the Rajahs of Sarawak is long overdue.

Does anybody know anything about Vyner Brooke's exile in Sydney during the Japanese occupation of Borneo?

For example, where did his family live in Sydney and under what circumstances? I read that he had withdrawn a considerable sum of money from the Sarawak treasury prior to his departure for Australia, which should have allowed him to exist comfortably.

Did he cultivate contacts in Australian political circles, and was he feted like royalty? Did he play any role in military planning?

Speaking of descendants of White Rajah, what about illegitimate children of Vyner Brooke? Are there any and could some of them still be living in Sarawak today?

Is there a widespread belief in Sarawak that they would have been better off remaining as a separate nation rather than being merged with peninsular Malaysia with whom they had little in common?

The federation of Malaysia has been seen by some as a somewhat unnatural union, and this seems to be borne out by the ejection of Singapore from the federation, and of course one remembers well the protests of Philippines and Indonesia over Malaysia's founding. Is there any support for secession of Sarawak from the Malaysian federation today, I wonder?

Or even a Brooke revival?!

It has always seemed to me that the strong tribal (Iban) traditions of Sarawak are a prefect fit for a strongly autocratic system of governance as exemplified by the White Rajahs.

Hi Genevieve,
I am the daughter of Barbara Anne Brooke-Daykin Falls', daughter of Cyril (your grandmother's brother). I would love to connect. I received a photocopy of an article you wrote among correspondences to Edith (Cyril's wife)from your grandmother (about their trip to Sarawak). I am continually interested in receiving any tid bits about our family history. Would you be able to give me your e-mail so that we could communicate more indept. Thank you for replying.
From your cousin,
Kathleen

I have been researching my great grandfather, Charles John Brooke and found your forum. We never knew who his parents were, I do know that he was born 1869 in Croydon Surrey UK and emigrated to the US in 1886 and married Annie Dean Scovel in 1889 and became a successful Philadelphia PA architect. The only thing that we have to go on is a postcard from Great Yarmouth on the River Yare. My great grandfather said he attended the Great Yarmouth School of Art. Does anyone on the forum have a connection to Yarmouth? Cheryl Briard