[2] A member of the Brooke family which ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946,[citation needed] he commanded the battle cruiser HMS Renown during the Second World War.

1906)[citation needed] Educated at Malvern College, Brooke joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1913, seeing service during the First World War.

On 16 April 1925, he married Nora Evelyn Toppin (d. 1981); the couple had four children: Peter Barrington (1926–1998), Isabel Ann (1929–), Julian Hope (1930–) and Jennifer (1932–).

He then commanded the new cruiser HMS Orion on the America and West Indies station from August 1936 until June 1938, when he received a promotion to captain.

[3] Just prior to the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, Brooke was assigned to the cruiser HMS Curlew, which he commanded until it was sunk by the Luftwaffe off Narvik on 26 May 1940.

He was appointed a CBE in June 1946.,[4] and then was naval aide-de-camp to George VI from January to July 1947; in that month, he was promoted to rear-admiral.

[8] He made his first-class debut in 1919 against Cambridge University, taking the wicket of future England Test player George Wood.