He was apprenticed to his father, Dr William Brookes, and later studied in London, England; Paris, France and Padua, Italy, before returning home to Much Wenlock in 1831.

[1] Brookes was a social reformer, who campaigned to give opportunities for what he termed "every grade of man" to expand their knowledge and become mentally and physically fit.

He promoted athletic exercises, ranging from running to football, by holding an annual games offering prizes for sports competitions.

Also in 1841, he instigated the setting up of the Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society (WARS), with its early lending library "for the promotion and diffusion of useful information".

[7] The first Games meeting was held in October 1850, and included competitions in classic athletics and also country sports such as quoits, football and cricket.

[9] Brookes was a Philhellene, who admired the perceived definition of Ancient Greek democratic ideals, that all men were equal and allowed and indeed expected to vote, take an active part in governance, and compete in sport.

In nineteenth century Britain it was usually young men educated at public schools or the sons of professionals who had the opportunities to enter competitive sport.

Brookes applied what was commonly thought to be the ethos of the ancient Olympic Games – that they were open to "every grade of man," and added to this mediaeval chivalry: he wanted working-class men to compete in sport but to exercise fair play/chivalry at all levels of competition.

[10] The 1859 Wenlock Olympian Games were much expanded following nine years of work to build up subscriptions and attracted more competitors with new competitions and brought in spectators through more organised pageantry and better advertising.

This, coupled with the discovery of the Roman city of Viroconium in the village of Wroxeter and the inclusion of a whole range of spectacular competitions open to regiments from the newly instigated national Volunteer Rifle Corps encouraged a further increase in competitors and spectators.

Their first Olympian Games, a national event, held in 1866 at The Crystal Palace, London, was a surprising success and attracted a crowd of over ten thousand people.

In response, King George I of Greece sent a silver cup which was presented at the Shropshire Olympian Games held that year in Shrewsbury.

Today The Raven Hotel has a display of several photographs about WOS by kind permission of the Society, including copies of original letters from Coubertin to Brookes.

[12] On his return to France, Coubertin gave a glowing account of his stay in an article, "Les Jeux Olympiques à Much Wenlock", and referred to his host's efforts to revive the Olympics.

[2] Although Coubertin later sought to downplay Brookes's influence, he corresponded with him for several years and sent him a gold medal (made of silver) in 1891 to be presented to the winner of the Tilting Competition.