Sir Victor Alexander Brooke, 3rd Baronet (5 January 1843 – 23 November 1891[1]), was anAnglo-Irish sportsman-naturalist andbaronet. He was the father ofField MarshalThe 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, and grandfather ofThe 1st Viscount Brookeborough,Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He shot and collected game trophies from around the world, took a special interest in deer and antelope species and published the first scientific description of thePersian fallow deer as a new species in 1875.
Brooke was born at Colebrooke Estate,County Fermanagh, the son ofSir Arthur Brooke, 2nd Baronet, anUlsteraristocrat and his wife Julia Henrietta née Anson in the north ofIreland and succeeded to his title and the Colebrooke Estate in 1854. His mother had been maid of honour to the Queen who acted as his Godmother. At the age of ten, his father died and he was taken care of by his uncle George Brooke. The estate was stocked with fallow deer and Brooke addedIrish red[5] and Japanese deer in 1870. He took to sport shooting at an early age and trained in horsemanship under Jim Mason. Along with his brother Harry he often went to Castle Caldwell, belonging to a cousin, John Bloomfield, for game shooting. He studied atHarrow and then traveled abroad, being a keen sportsman who enjoyedbig game hunting. His hunting trips took him into the Pyrenees, the middle-east, and India.[6] He was in touch with naturalists from around the world and was a Fellow of the Zoological Society.William Flower was first introduced to him in India byEdward Blyth in 1870 and wrote on Brooke's contributions to natural history. Brooke attended the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Dublin in 1878.[7]
Brooke described the Persian fallow deer in 1875 as a new species.[8] Brooke's proposed work onantelopes remained unfinished at his death. The plates byJoseph Smit andJoseph Wolf were later reused inPhilip Sclater andOldfield Thomas'sThe Book of Antelopes (1894–1900).[9][10][11]
He was a magistrate,deputy lieutenant andSheriff of Fermanagh.
Brooke married Alice Sophia, daughter ofSir Alan Edward Bellingham, 3rd Baronet, who he met at a party, in 1864. After their marriage they settled at a villa inPau, France, where they had at least six children. The youngest was Alan - laterField MarshalThe 1st Viscount Alanbrooke. Another son served in India as a military secretary toThe 4th Earl of Minto, Victor Reginald Brooke (1873-1914), and took a keen interest in hunting.[12] One grandson wasThe 1st Viscount Brookeborough, the thirdPrime Minister of Northern Ireland.
Brooke died ofpneumonia in Pau in November 1891, aged 48, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Arthur. Lady Brooke died in July 1920.
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Baronet (of Colebrooke) 1854–1891 | Succeeded by Arthur Douglas Brooke |
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