BROOKE, ARTHUR
Brooke, Arthur
(1772–July 26, 1843)
English Army Officer
B
rooke was a stal-
wart leader of the
noted 44th Regi-
ment of Foot, spending
his entire military career
with that outfit. He de-
feated a large body of
American militia at North
Point in September 1814,
but ultimately he decided
against attacking the city
of Baltimore.
Arthur Brooke was
born in Colebrooke
County, Ireland, in 1772
and joined the army as an
ensign in the 44th Regi-
ment of Foot in 1792. He
rose to lieutenant the fol-
lowing year and cam-
paigned in Flanders under
Lord Moira between 1794
and 1795. Promoted to
captain, Brooke next ac-
companied Gen. Ralph Abercromby to the
West Indies, where he remained until 1798. He
then fought in Egypt in 1801, acquired some
distinction, and had accumulated sufficient
wealth to purchase a major’s commission the
following year. In 1804, Brooke also pur-
chased his lieutenant colonelcy and remained
with the 44th at Malta until 1812. He then ad-
vanced to colonel in 1813 and was ordered to
participate in the Peninsula campaign against
Napoleonic France. As a senior colonel, he as-
sumed command of an infantry brigade and
led it capably during several battles through-
out Spain and southern France. Napoleon’s
abdication followed in the spring of 1814. By
this time the War of 1812 with the United
States was also entering its final phases, and
the British government, intent on punitive
measures, began reassigning some of its very
best units to fight in
America.
Brooke subsequently
sailed from Bordeaux as
part of a small veteran
force commanded by
Gen. Robert Ross and
was transported to Ches-
apeake Bay. In August
1814, Adm. George Cock-
burnlanded Ross’s army
at Benedict, Maryland,
and commenced an over-
land march against Wash-
ington, D.C. On August
24, the British engaged a
large militia force of
7,000 men under Gen.
William Winder at Bla-
densburg. Ross, who com-
manded only 4,000 vet-
eran troops, immediately
gave battle. Brooke com-
manded a brigade con-
sisting of the Fourth and 44th Regiments,
which occupied the right wing of the army
and contributed materially to Winder’s defeat.
Shortly after, the British occupied the capital,
burned it, and returned to their fleet unmo-
lested. Brooke, who had enjoyed his full share
of fighting, boasted, “Certainly on the whole it
[was] an affair as fine a thing as any done dur-
ing the war, and a sore rub to the Americans
that can never be forgotten.”
The next British objective was the city of
Baltimore, Maryland, a large commercial cen-
ter with a highly active privateering commu-
nity. In view of his excellent service, Ross ap-
pointed Brooke to serve as his second in
command. Cockburn subsequently trans-
ported the army and landed it a few miles
from the city. However, on September 11,
1814, Ross was killed in a minor skirmish andArthur Brooke
American Folk Park Museum