William Henry 1804-1867

In 1860 he privately printed a 'Pedigree of BROCKETT of Steton and Brockett Hall, co. York; of Brockett Hall, Herts; and of Spain's Hall, co. Essex'. It was a fold-out, measuring about 6 inches in width and 1 foot 8 inches in length, and it took careful typesetting and proof-reading—and research. It is of inestimable value. William Henry was noted in an obituary for his 'regard for stern accuracy' (Gateshead Tracts n d p 16 n). He was a fine amateur genealogist and it was no fault of his own that he did not have access to information at the time to question Harley 807's accuracy, and so reproduced it literally.

1. Life and family

Many volumes of papers relating to William Henry are preserved in the 'Brockett collection' in Gateshead Library, including a series of 10 volumes—some in more than one part—called the Brockett Papers: principally a collection of newspaper cuttings, tracts, letters etc concerning facts, figures and stories about Gateshead in the mid 19th C. For his year as mayor 1839-40: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DUR/GatesheadHistory/Ch11.html.

Some, but by no means all, have a direct connection with William Henry. Since he was a prominent member of the local community, most of these are connected with his work in it, but here and there are more personal items like his genealogical interests and letters, e.g. from brother Henry in Jamaica or nephew William Edward in Newcastle.

In addition to the Brockett Papers there are more volumes under his name, some of them also scrapbooks of Gateshead cuttings. One of these is the Gateshead Tracts—a volume privately published after his death containing some of his more significant essays and contributions, obituaries of himself and a number of genealogical papers about Brocketts, including the 1860 Pedigree. The Durham University Library copy is entitled Brockett's Booklets.

William Henry married Margaret WILSON 1836 Gateshead. The 1851 census for Gateshead (fol 601 of the enumerator's return) recorded the household as: William Henry aged 47, Margaret aged 34, John aged 11, Frances aged 9, Emily aged 4, Thomas aged 2 and William Henry aged 7 months. According to Gateshead Tracts (n d p 4) Margaret bore him 12 children, but records of only 11 have been found. Perhaps one died young. Children:

1. Mary bap 23 Feb 1838 Gateshead (IGI), died 17 Sep 1909 Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Gateshead Tracts n d p 4). The London Probate Registry recorded probate of Mary's will in Newcastle on 4 Nov 1909, executrix Margaret Brockett spinster, estate valued at £1407-10-3. Mary was a spinster, residing at 19 Holly Ave, Newcastle at the time, dying 17 Sep that year.
2. John born 29 Jun 1839, King James St, Gateshead (Gateshead Tracts n d p 4; IGI: 24 Jun), bap 24 Jul 1839 Gateshead (IGI); died 3 Jan 1902, 36 Lichfield St, Gateshead, occupation Clerk (Gateshead Tracts n d p 4). He married Elizabeth MATHIESON. Child:

   Hubert William Henry Mathieson born 11 Apr 1884. The PRO microfilms WO 363/B1717 and 1718 (surviving enlistment and discharge papers from World War 1) have some of Hubert's papers, from which the following notes were taken: Hubert Mattison Brockett no 459696. Sapper. Of 48 Curzon St, Rectory Rd, Gateshead. Aged 31 years 290 days on 25/2/1916. Electrical Engineer. Height 5ft 11in. Weight 146 lbs. Unmarried. Mother Elizabeth was living in Gateshead in 1916 at the same address, but father John was deceased and no brothers or sisters were listed in the relevant boxes on the papers. Appendicitis 25/10/1917 in Baghdad, then cholera. Buried Baghdad 10/11/1917. Mother Elizabeth could not be traced in Mar 1922 to send her a medal. The reply from the Gateshead Police said that Elizabeth had died Sept 1921 and Hubert was the last surviving member of that family. His father's sister Miss Brockett, c/o Mr Cook, 46 Grosvenor Place, Newcastle was the only relative whose whereabouts could be ascertained.

3. Frances born 28 Apr 1841 King James St, Gateshead, bap 2 Jun 1841 Gateshead (IGI). Her birth and marriage are recorded in St Catherine's under the spelling Francis. Married 28 Oct 1862, Bryan John PROCKTER, St Mary's Gateshead (IGI; Gateshead Tracts n d p 4).
4. Margaret born 1842 Gateshead (St Catherine's Q4); bap 9 Nov 1842 Gateshead (IGI); died 1843 Gateshead (St Catherine's Q2).
5. Emily bap 17 Feb 1847 Gateshead (IGI). Married 27 Nov 1867, John POTTS (IGI) issue: 1 daughter, 1 son (Gateshead Tracts n d p 5).
6. Thomas born 15 Jul 1848 King James St, Gateshead and died 17 Oct 1908 Foo Chow, China (Gateshead Tracts n d p 4). He married Mary Lo Dai NUANG in Foo Chow, China (R Brockett 2001). Descendants now living in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, UK. Children:
1. Katie
2. John Alfred
3. Emily
4. George Edward
5. Nellie
6. Maggie
7. William Henry.
7. William Henry born c 1850 (aged 7 months in the 1851 census); died 1873 Gateshead (St Catherine's Q4).
8. Francis born 1852 Gateshead (St Catherine's Q3), bap 2 Aug 1852 Gateshead (IGI) and died 7 Dec 1913 Cecil Peak, near Queenstown, NZ (Gateshead Tracts n d p 4). He died unmarried (Death Certificate: occupation Woolclasser). Francis probably arrived in New Zealand 1873.
9. Henry born 1854, 5 Catherine Terrace, Gateshead (St Catherine's Q3), bap 16 Aug 1854 Gateshead (IGI). Henry probably arrived in New Zealand 1871. He died there 16 Jan 1909 aged 54 (Death Certificate: occupation Woolclasser), buried in the Mautaura cemetry, NZ. Married Mary MATHESON. Children:
1. a son died in infancy, possibly stillborn.
2. Harry Aynsley 1896-1961. Ship's Captain; Harbourmaster in Suva, Fiji. Descendants living in NZ—thanks to them for information.
   
10. George Trotter born 1855 Gateshead (St Catherine's Q2), bap 26 Jul 1855 Gateshead (IGI); married Olga CONRADI 1893 Gateshead (St Catherine's Q3). The London Probate Directory's entries said that George Trotter Brockett died 8 Apr 1896 at home in 7 Prospero Rd, Upper Holloway, Middx. He was also described as 'of Foo Chow, China'. His will was proved 12 May 1896, Olga executrix. The estate was valued at £1768 10s 5d. Olga died 28 Dec 1911 in Highgate, London and her estate, valued at £1062 5s went to 3 Conradi spinsters. George and Olga had no surviving children.
          PRO BT31/18686/101151 contains documents concerning the formation, sale and winding up of Brockett & Co of which Olga Brockett was the Director. The Company, trading in import and export goods and in the hotel business was formed 18 Jan 1909 in London with share capital of £1500. Olga was then residing at 13 Linden Mansions, Highgate, Middlesex. Later in 1909 she sold her interest in it to Brockett & Co of Foo Chow, China. Her interest was described as a store and boarding house in Foo Chow, plus rent for premises. The sale comprised her 1498 shares @ £1 plus 30,396 Mexican Dollars. She used a lawyer in Paris as attorney. Connected with a petition by Olga's executors—3 Conradi spinsters and Brita Collingwood—the Company was wound up 25 Jul 1913.
11. Margaret born 1 Jun 1857, 5 Catherine Terrace, Gateshead (Gateshead Tracts n d p 4), bap 13 Aug 1857 Gateshead (IGI).

2. The 1860 Gateshead pedigree

i. Versions

Printed privately without commentary and only published after William Henry's death in the few Gateshead Tracts copies, the 1860 Gateshead Pedigree in its original form is only available in certain libraries. It was published more widely in the United States in 1905 at the back of Edward Judson Brockett's book. This form differed from the original 1860 Pedigree only in a couple of post 1852 details about the Spains Hall clan. Edward Judson's research assistant, FS Brockett, may have visited Spains Hall and gained these extra details from Mary, the last Brocket Lady of the Hall 1895-1906 (EJ Brockett 1905 pp 226, 232). From there it has become widely available in various forms on the internet, some more reliable than others.

ii. Sources

The 1860 Gateshead Pedigree was principally an amalgamation of earlier pedigrees of the Broket dynasties of:

1. Steton in Yorkshire down to the 15th C—top 3 inches
2. Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire down to the 17th C—middle 14 inches
3. Spains Hall in Essex down to the late 19th C—last 3 inches,

plus miscellaneous other research. William Henry had clearly consulted Visitations and wills, and also travelled to Bolton Percy, Hatfield and Cambridgeshire—not straightforward undertakings in the mid 18th C.

Each of these earlier pedigrees displayed landed clans. Younger, landless lines were either ignored or only followed through to a limited extent.

The Steton and Wheathampstead sections down to c 1570 were based on Harley 807, a manuscript compiled 1570-77 by Robert Glover, Herald at the College of Arms. William Henry studied it in London and a transcription in his own hand survives in a folio volume in Gateshead Central Library (entitled 'Brockett' shelfmark L920 BRO; his letter to JJ Howard Esq of Kent, Aug 27 1853 in the same volume).

Glover lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when it became the fashion amongst the nobility and gentry to construct family trees and display them as works of art. They heightened prestige and authority. This one by Glover focussed on the Wheathampstead dynasty's eldest line and embellished their Hertfordshire and Yorkshire origins. William Henry did not have the resources at the time to question its accuracy.

The 1860 Pedigree suggests that William Henry visited Spains Hall in Willingale, Essex, between 1847 and 1852. He recorded the death of William Brocket Brocket in 1847, aged 21, but not of Thermuthis Brocket in 1852, aged 23. The Squire at Spains Hall at the time was Stanes Brocket Brocket, who would have allowed his northern visitor access to some of the family records; the Spains Hall dynasty is recorded in the 1860 Pedigree in particular detail, including maternal lineages. William Henry would have gained many of the details of the post-Glover Wheathampstead dynasty from these Spains Hall manuscripts too, supplemented by researches in London.

These Spains Hall manuscripts are now lost. They are not at Spains Hall, nor in the Essex Record Office, nor apparently at the PRO. The last of the Spains Hall Brocket line died an old lady without any Brocket relations, so any Brocket pedigrees among her papers would probably have been thrown away by executors or heirs. William Henry did a great service in preserving them—some important details are not recorded elsewhere.

iii. Source criticism

John, the progenitor of the Spains Hall dynasty, and his descendants were mainly London attorneys and gentlemen and although they were well heeled, their wealth was small compared to the earlier, eldest-line Brokets of Hertfordshire. The Spains Hall family were very proud of their connection to that earlier Hertfordshire family and they were also very proud of the coat of arms. Both would have given them a certain status and talking point in their society. So they were naturally keen to make their descent as impressive as possible. William Henry's impartial source criticism has helped us see this.

Glover had improved Dionisia Sampson by making her a direct Fauconberg heiress. The Spains Hall clan improved this further by replacing Dionisia with 'Joan d. and heir of William Nevill, Lord Falconbridge, and Earl of Kent'. This provided a tacit royal descent from John of Gaunt son of Edward III, which the upwardly mobile Spains Hall Brockets would certainly not have been unaware of. William Henry rightly dismissed it as an error.

The Spains Hall Brocketts may have specified which Neville they claimed as an ancestor, but the Elizabethan Brocketts had already used Neville arms. Glover recorded them diagramatically, and they were carved on the Brockett tombs in Hertfordshire. But despite being 'set in stone', William Henry again realised that this Neville connection was impossible. He omitted Glover's attribution of the Neville arms to Dionisia, gving her only the Fauconberg arms: 'Arg. lion, rampant, az.'

iv. Other notes

1. William Henry put the name of Luca de Brochesheved at the very top of the pedigree as though it were the original form of the name Broket. But rules of phonology apart, to derive the name Broket—already hereditary in 1207—from de Brochesheved of 1201 was not plausible.
2. Generation 4 of Harley 807—the alledged marriage to a Harewood heiress—was missed from the 1860 Gateshead Pedigree.
3. The Spains Hall mss were confused about Nicholas Hughson.
4. The 1860 Gateshead Pedigree had William 'of Wild Hill' as Edward of Letchworth's only son and as the father of Edward married to Bolfield. The Edward who married Ellen BELFIELD was in fact William's brother, not his son.