Edmund John Brooks
Mayor of Oxford 1906/7
Edmund John Brooks (1860–1937) was the fourth child of Edwin Brooks and his wife Caroline Anne Stone.
Brooks’s father Edwin, who was baptised at Cassington on 13 September 1829, was an Oxford tailor and woollen draper; his grandparents were the tailor James Edward Brooks and his wife Sarah.
His mother Caroline Stone was baptised at Holywell Church on 19 February 1824.
Edmund was born in Summertown on 24 May 1860, but very soon afterward the family moved to Woodbine Cottage at the south end of the Woodstock Road (also known as 5 St Giles Road west).
Brooks and his siblings were born in the following order:
- James Edwin (bapt. Summertown 1 July 1855, died age 5, buried there 2 April 1860)
- Caroline Annie (bapt. Summertown 8 March 1857)
- Sarah Mary (bapt. Summertown 30 May 1858)
- Edmund John (bapt. Summertown 19 August 1860)
- Henry James Robert (bapt. Summertown 21 April 1862)
- Mary Dew Lucy (baptised St Giles 3 July 1864)
- Emily Lizzie (baptised St Giles 1 July 1866)
- Edwin James Dewdney (baptised St Giles 3 January 1869)
At the time of the 1861 census the family was living at Woodbine Cottage: Edmund was just a baby, and his father is described as a tailor and woollen draper. In 1871 he is described as a tailor employing three men on the premises, and lived in the same house with his wife and their six surviving children: Caroline (13), Sarah (11), Edmund himself (9), Henry (7), Mary (5), and Edwin (2).
At the time of the 1881 census Edmund (now 20 and an Articled Law Clerk) was still living with his parents, and also at home were his elder sister Caroline (22), his younger sister Mary (16) and his younger brothers Henry (a chemist’s assistant aged 18) and Edwin (11). The family had one servant.
Brooks married Elizabeth Alger Coombs of Gloucester on 6 August 1886. They baptised the following nine children at Summertown Church:
- Edward (Edmund) Dewdney (11 September 1888, died age 4, buried there 3 September 1892)
- Dorothy (24 November 1889)
- Christobel (5 June 1891)
- Gwendoline (31 August 1892)
- Margaret (31 December 1893)
- Basil Ben Burgoyne (7 April 1895)
- Gretchen (19 April 1897)
- Humphrey Coombs (6 May 1900)
- Edmund John (14 June 1903)
By 1888 Brooks described himself as an auctioneer. His office was at 15 Magdalen Street.
The 1891 census shows the Brooks family living at 7 South Parade with their first three children. By 1900, they were living at Athelstan Lodge (now 2 Hernes Road) with their seven surviving children. (Edmund John, known as John, was born after the census.)
Brooks was elected Councillor for the North Ward in 1892, and Sheriff of Oxford in 1904. He was chosen as Mayor in November 1906, and the famous Oxford pageant took place during his mayoral year.
The next year he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and in 1912 was elected an Alderman. He remained on the council for the rest of his life, and served on all the most important committees, including Education, Watch, and Property & Estates.
Brooks’s oldest surviving son Basil was killed in the First World War while serving as a second lieutenant in the fourth battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
Brooks was a member of the Druids, Oddfellows, Foresters, Ancient Britons, and Buffalo Friendly Societies, and was initiated a Freeman in the Alfred Lodge in about 1895. He was also a churchman, with an interest in questions of church policy. In his youth he was a keen Alpine climber and was also a good shot and an enthusiastic amateur photographer. In 1919 he was appointed Honorary Treasurer of the new Cricket Association, a job he held for twelve years.
Brooks was taken ill on 30 August 1937 while preparing to attend the City Magistrates Court and died two days later at the age of 77 at his home at Athelstan Lodge, 2 Hernes Road. His funeral was held at the Church of St Michael & All Angels in Summertown, and he was buried at Wolvercote Cemetery.
The firm of E. J. Brooks & Son (Auctioneers, Surveyors, Valuers, and Estate Agents) survived into the 1980s. (In its latter days it was situated at 13 Beaumont Street, with branches in Summertown, Cowley, and Bicester.)
See also:
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 2 June 1915, p. 9 ("Who’s Who in Oxford")
- Ernest Gaskell, Oxfordshire Leaders, Social and Political (London, 1907), pp. 223–4
- Who’s Who in Oxfordshire, 1936, p. 41
- Oxford Times, 6 August 1937, p. 24e (obituary)
- 1861 Census: Oxford (St Giles), 0891/094
- 1871 Census: Oxford (St Paul), 1436/126
- 1881 Census: Oxford (St Giles), 1500/42
- 1891 Census: Oxford (Summertown), 1165/89
- 1901 Census: Oxford (St Giles), 1380/124