Stopford Augustus Brooke
Encyclopedia
Stopford Augustus Brooke (14 November 1832 – 18 March 1916) was an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 churchman and writer.

He was born in Letterkenny
Letterkenny
Letterkenny , with a population of 17,568, is the largest town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. The town is located on the River Swilly...

, Donegal
Donegal
Donegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....

, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, the eldest son of the Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, incumbent of the Mariners' church
Mariners' Church, Dún Laoghaire
The Mariners' Church is a former Church of Ireland church located in Haigh Terrace, near the centre of Dún Laoghaire town, southeast of Dublin city...

, Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire or Dún Laoire , sometimes anglicised as "Dunleary" , is a suburban seaside town in County Dublin, Ireland, about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. It is the county town of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County and a major port of entry from Great Britain...

), and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

. He was ordained in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 in 1857, and held various charges in London. From 1863 to 1865 he was chaplain to the Empress Frederick in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, and in 1875 he became chaplain in ordinary to Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

. But in 1880 he seceded from the Church, being no longer able to accept its leading dogmas, and officiated as a Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

 minister for some years at Bedford chapel, Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

.

Bedford chapel was pulled down about 1894, and from that time he had no church of his own, but his eloquence and powerful religious personality continued to make themselves felt among a wide circle. A man of independent means, he was always keenly interested in literature and art, and a fine critic of both.

He published in 1865 his Life and Letters of FW Robertson
Frederick William Robertson
Frederick William Robertson , known as Robertson of Brighton, was an English divine.Born in London, the first five years of his life were passed at Leith Fort, where his father, a captain in the Royal Artillery, was then resident...

 (of Brighton)
, and in 1876 wrote an admirable primer of English Literature (new and revised ed., 1900 -- but see below), followed in 1892 by The History of Early English Literature (2 vols, 1892) down to the accession of Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

, and English Literature from the Beginnings to the Norman Conquest (1898).

His other works include:
  • various volumes of sermons
  • Poems (1888)
  • Dove Cottage (1890)
  • Theology in the English Poets Cowper
    William Cowper
    William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...

    , Coleridge
    Samuel Taylor Coleridge
    Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...

    , Wordsworth
    William Wordsworth
    William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

    , Burns
    Robert Burns
    Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

    (1874)
  • Notes on the Liber Studiorum of J. M. W. Turner
    J. M. W. Turner
    Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...

    (1885; a later publication on the same subject "suggested by the writings of Mr. Ruskin
    John Ruskin
    John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...

    ")
  • Tennyson, his Art and Relation to Modern Life (1894)
  • The Poetry of Robert Browning (1902)
  • On Ten Plays of Shakespeare (1905)
  • The Life Superlative (1906)


He was married to Emma Wentworth-Beaumont, and had two sons, including Stopford Brooke
Stopford Brooke (politician)
Stopford William Wentworth Brooke was a British politician. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1906 to 1910.-Biography:...

, a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 from 1906 to 1910.

External links

  • Life and works of Stopford A. Brooke, from the Princess Grace Irish Library
    Princess Grace Irish Library
    -Foundation and collections:Opened in November 1984 by Rainier III in honor of Princess Grace's Irish origins, it contains the princess's personal collection of Irish books and Irish-American sheet music.The library was co-founded by the novelist Anthony Burgess....

    , with full details of Brooke's publications
  • Mary Lago Collection at the University of Missouri
    University of Missouri
    The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

    Libraries
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