Richard Brooks

Richard Brooks (1833), pioneer New South Wales settler, was born in Devon, England, the son of Henry Brooks, a clergyman of Salcombe Regis and Honoria Hall (daughter of Joseph Hall the vicar of Salcombe Regis and his wife Honoria Burchinshaw). Pedigree Often described simply as the son of an "impoverished clergyman", Richard Brooks had notable maternal ancestry, his mother having descended from the Burchinshaws of Llansannan, Wales and possibly Joseph Hall, English bishop and satirist. Ship's Captain Richard Brooks is said to have had little formal education before entering the British East India Company's service at an early age, rising to command his own ship. During the first French Revolutionary War he traded to Porto, Portugal the Mediterranean and the Baltic, carrying a letter of marque, but later returned to the East India service. He began his association with New South Wales in 1802 when he captained the convict transport .