Private William Brooke

Private, 2nd Battalion, Infantry (Army).

Second Ypres

Charged as one of the Camp Bokelah Muntineers while POW in Germany.

Reported missing [1915-04-22]

Previously missing, now reported POW at Giessen [1915-07-28]

Removed to Camp Bokela, Celle, Hannover [1916-05-29]

Sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for mutiny while POW [1916-10-19]

Transferred to Wahn [1916-12-18]

Reported to have died whilst POW at Fortress Hospital Col’n, of pneumonia [1917-03-13]

Private William "Billy" Brooke, eldest son of the late Charles James Brooke, K.C., and of Mary Rose Brooke (nee Cameron), of 266, Maclaren St., Ottawa. Grandson of the late Dr. A Cameron, of Huntingdon PQ. Great grand nephew of His Excellency the late Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., 1st Rajah of Sarawak. Private William Brooke, second battalion, C. E. F., eldest son of the late C. J. Brooke, K.C., and Mrs. Brooke, 251 Metcalf Street, Ottawa Ont., and , died of pneumonia, while a prisoner of war in Cologne Germany, aged 23 years.

Private Brooke was taken prisoner ay Ypres on 24 April 1915. He was sent to a Prisoner of War camp, likely Bokelah. Other than officers, Prisoners of War were routinely forced to work in industrial jobs, paid at the same wage rate that German soldiers would be paid to do the job. In the spring of 1916 there was an uprising in the POW rank, possibly having to do with the making of munitions (which was contrary to the Hague Convention). Several men, Private Brooke included, were tried by a German military court, convicted and sent to the Cologne military prison. Once there, he sent a letter home to his mother, saying how good the prison conditions were, but ending with "Mother, you know I am not George Washington", indicating that, unlike George Washington, he could indeed lie and the conditions were really quite poor. The letter was presumably written to get past the German censors; unfortunatly the censor had been educated in the United States. For this offence, Billy Brooke was sentenced to 9 days solitary confinement. On 13 March, 1917 Private Billy Brooke, alone and freezing in an unheated cell, died of pneumonia. In total, 28 Canadian Officers, and 255 men of other ranks, such as Billy Brooke, died in German POW camps or prisons. Mount Brooke, on the Alaska/Yukon border is named for Private Brooke.

Willie Brooke was an artist for a New York periodical prior to returning to Canada to enlist. His occupation was not listed on his attestation papers.

[Private Army Canadian Infantry 2nd Battalion ]