Geoffrey Brooke

Geoffrey Brooke was brought up surrounded by horses in Ireland, and started hunting at an early age. He went on to be an outstanding horseman either as a hunter, jumper, polo player or amateur National Hunt jockey. Little surprise that his lengthy Military career saw him become an established cavalry officer and he spent his entire Army career serving in a cavalry post of one form or another. Although born in Ireland, Brooke was educated at Haileybury and then went to the Royal Military College, from where he was Gazetted into the 16th Lancers in 1903. He went on ultimately to reach the rank of major-general in the 16th/5th Lancers.

In 1911 Brooke was appointed an assistant instructor at the Cavalry School until the outbreak of World War I, when he was posted to France with the British expeditionary force in August 1914, and fought at both the first and second Battles of Ypres. It was reported incorrectly in 1918 that he had been killed in action. After the War, Brooke became chief instructor of the Cavalry Wing at the Weedon Equitation School until taking command of his own regiment once again, before being appointed in command of the Cavalry Force in Egypt. During his time in Egypt, Brooke and his wife helped with the repatriation of old war horses.

Brooke received many awards. Apart from being mentioned in dispatches five times, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and Bar, was awarded the Military Cross (MC), and was made a Companion, Order of the Bath (CB). Between 1934-35 he was Aide de Camp to King George V, and between 1935-39 was Inspector General of the Cavalry in India

As a horseman, Brooke had many notable show jumping victories to his name. He won the officers jumping competition at The Royal Tournament at Olympia in 1920, and the following year won the King’s Cup at the International Horse Show, again at Olympia. On that occasion, he rode “Combined Training” who he had with him while serving in France and the pair won many jumping events behind lines during breaks in the fighting. Also in 1921, Brooke was in the Great Britain team, with Lieutenant Morrison and Colonel Graham, that won the Prince of Wales’s Cup at the International Horse Show. In 1924 Brooke was captain of the British team that won the Prince of Wales’s Cup again, this time accompanied by Edward Fonblanque and fellow-Olympian Capel Brunker. In addition to riding horses, Brooke was a prolific writer on the subject of horses and horsemanship and had many books published between 1924-55.