Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak

Charles Brooke
Rajah of Sarawak
Reign	3 August 1868 – 17 May 1917
Predecessor	James Brooke
Successor	Charles Vyner Brooke
Born	Charles Anthoni Johnson (1829-06-03)3 June 1829 Berrow Vicarage, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England
Died	Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England
Burial	St Leonard's Church, Sheepstor on Dartmoor
Spouse	Margaret Alice Lili de Windt Dayang Mastiah binti Abang Aing
Issue	6, including Charles Vyner and Bertram
Full name Charles Anthoni Johnson Brook
Dynasty	Brooke Dynasty
Father	Francis Johnson
Mother	Emma Johnson

Rajah Charles as depicted on a one cent coin

Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, GCMG (Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke; 3 June 1829 – 17 May 1917), born Charles Anthoni Johnson, ruled as the head of state of Raj of Sarawak from 3 August 1868 until his death. He succeeded his uncle, James Brooke, as the second White Rajah of this small country on the coast of Borneo.

Biography

Charles Anthoni Johnson, was born in Berrow Vicarage, Burnham, Somerset, in England, to the Rev. Francis Charles and Emma Frances Johnson, née Brooke. Emma was the younger sister of James Brooke, the first Rajah of Sarawak. In addition to Charles, Francis and Emma had other children: Captain John Brooke Johnson (1823–1868) (later Brooke Brooke), Mary Anna Johnson (b. 1824), Harriet Helena Johnson (b. 1826), Charlotte Frances Johnson (b. 1828), Captain (William) Frederic Johnson (b. 1830), Emma Lucy Johnson (b. 1832), Margaret Henrietta Johnson (1834–1845), Georgianna Brooke Johnson (1836–1854), James Stuart Johnson (1839–1840), and Henry Stuart Johnson (b. 1841).

Charles was educated at Crewkerne Grammar School and entered the Royal Navy. He entered the service of his uncle James, the first Rajah of Sarawak, in 1852, took his name, and began as Resident at the Lundu station in the Raj of Sarawak. In 1865, James named Charles as his successor.

Charles married Margaret Alice Lili de Windt at Highworth, Wiltshire on 28 October 1869; she was raised to the title of Ranee of Sarawak with the style of Her Highness on the same day. They had six children, three of whom survived infancy:

• Dayang Ghita Brooke (1870–1873)
• James Harry Brooke (1872–1873)
• Charles Clayton Brooke (1872–1873)
• Charles Vyner Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (1874–1963)
• Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke, Tuan Muda (1876–1965)
• Henry Keppel Brooke, Tuan Bongsu (1879–1926)

His son Charles Vyner Brooke succeeded him as Rajah. Charles had another son, Esca Brooke (1867–1953), the result of a previous marriage with a Malay woman known as Dayang Mastiah. Esca was later adopted by Rev. William Daykin, moved to Canada, and took the name Brooke-Daykin.

Charles resigned his commission in the Royal Navy in 1861 and continued the work his uncle had started, suppressing piracy, slavery, and head-hunting, while encouraging trade and development and expanding his borders as the opportunity arose. In 1891 he established the Sarawak Museum, the first museum in Borneo. Brooke founded a boys' school in 1903, called the 'Government Lay School', where Malays could be taught in the Malay language. This was the forerunner of SMK Green Road. By the time of his death, Britain had granted Sarawak protectorate status, it had a parliamentary government and a railway, and oil had been discovered.

All three White Rajahs are buried in St Leonard's Church in the village of Sheepstor on Dartmoor.

Honours

British Honours

• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), 1888

At least two Bornean species were named in Brooke's honour:

• Brooke's Squirrel (Sundasciurus brookei), named by Oldfield Thomas
• Cervus brookei, a deer named by Charles Hose in 1893

See also

• Fort Margherita
• Genealogy Johnson/Brooke

Further reading

• Dictionary of National Biography entry

Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak Brooke family Born: June 3 1829 Died: May 17 1917
Regnal titles
Preceded by James	Rajah of Sarawak 1868–1917	Succeeded by Vyner