Henry Brocklebank (1874-1957)

Post date: Jan 05, 2015 3:13:58 PM

Henry's father, Thomas Brocklebank a Liverpool banker (his grandfather, Ralph, had been a partner in a shipping firm, Thos. and Jno. Brocklebank) bought Wateringbury Place in 1909 when Henry was 35 and living with his own family (he married Caroline Lewin in 1900 and had a son, Thomas Antony, and 4 daughters) but he must have been a regular/occasional visitor to Wateringbury.

In the book of his diaries and letters from WWI (published in 1974 by his daughter, Joan Brocklebank) there is a photo of him with his 4 brothers taken in Wateringbury in July 1916 when he was on leave. Two of the other brothers (Edmund and Wilfred) were clergymen and two (Hugh and Eric) in the army. Hugh at the time of the photo in Wateringbury had just returned from Gallipoli and Eric had a temporary commission in the Kings Liverpool Regiment.

He is listed throughout the war by the vicar in the Wateringbury list of men serving as he was the son of a Wateringbury resident.

After attending Stubbington prep. school which specialised in entrance to the Navy he joined Britannia in 1887 passing out in 1889.

H.M.S. Changuinola was an Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC) of 6,000 tonnes capable of 15 knots with 6 x 6 inch guns and a complement of 221 men (19 officers; 114 men; 25 marines and 63 civilians) . It had been built in 1912 and hired by the government in November 1914 and was "commissioned" by Commander Brocklebank (from Wateringbury Place) on 24 December 1914. Although with guns, it was not capable of facing an enemy warship as it was unarmoured. It spent most of the war (until December 1917) as part of the 10th cruiser squadron on the Northern Patrol enforcing the blockade (proclaimed in November 1914) of Germany. Unlike in previous wars this was a distant (because of the new dangers of mines and submarines) rather than a close blockade: a 200 mile gap between the Shetlands and Norway had to be covered and all ships stopped for inspection (by sending a boarding party) to see if they were carrying contraband cargo. Changuinola was one of 24 AMCs eventually undertaking this task . It was a cold, frequently boring, task, requiring considerable diplomacy when vetting neutral, particularly American, shipping, but it was successful in cutting off Germany from her usual imports of food and raw materials causing the German people real hardship by January 1916.

In 1915 H.M.S Changuiola boarded 159 ships (23 sail; 136 steam) and of these sent 50 (2 sail 48 steam) into port (Kirkwall) allowing 109 to proceed. It ran 69,991 miles in the year (6,170 hours under steam) at an average speed of 11.34 miles per hour. It spent 94 nights in harbour during the year.

In August 1918 Henry was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Awarded C.B.E. in July 1919 “For valuable services in command of H.M.S. "Changuinola" in the Tenth Cruiser Squadron.” He lived in Dorset after the war where he was very involved in freemasonry.

Date of birth: 22/01/1874. Died 30/1/1957.