Dallas Brooks

{{Short description|British military commander (1896–1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = General | name = Sir Dallas Brooks | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCMG|KCB|KCVO|DSO|KStJ}} | image = Dallas Brooks in 1944.jpg | caption = Sir Dallas Brooks | office = Administrator of the Commonwealth | term_start = 3 February 1961 | term_end = 3 August 1961 | monarch = Elizabeth II | predecessor = The Viscount Dunrossil {{small|(as Governor-General)}} | successor = The Viscount De L'Isle {{small|(as Governor-General)}} | order1 = 19th | office1 = Governor of Victoria | term_start1 = 18 October 1949 | term_end1 = 7 May 1963 | lieutenant1 = | monarch1 = George VI (1949–52) Elizabeth II (1952–63) | predecessor1 = Sir Winston Dugan | successor1 = Sir Rohan Delacombe | birth_date = {{birth date|1896|8|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1966|3|22|1896|8|22|df=y}} | death_place = Frankston, Victoria, Australia | spouse = Muriel Violet Turner Laing  | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = Royal Marines | service_years = 1914–1949 | rank = General | unit = | commands = Commandant General Royal Marines (1946–49) Political Warfare Executive (1943–46) | battles = First World War Second World War | mawards = Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Distinguished Service Order Knight of the Order of St John Mentioned in Despatches (2) Croix de guerre (France) }} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Reginald Brooks | country = England | heightft = | heightinch = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium | family = | club1 = Hampshire | year1 = 1919–1921 | clubnumber1 = | columns = 1 | column1 = FC | matches1 = 29 | runs1 = 1,070 | bat avg1 = 20.57 | 100s/50s1 = 2/3 | top score1 = 143 | deliveries1 = 1,942 | wickets1 = 38 | bowl avg1 = 28.73 | fivefor1 = 1 | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = 8/90 | catches/stumpings1 = 15/– | date = 1 February | year = 2010 | source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9241.html Cricinfo }} General '''Sir Reginald Alexander Dallas Brooks''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCMG|KCB|KCVO|DSO|KStJ}} (22 August 1896 – 22 March 1966) was a British military commander who went on to become the 19th and longest-serving governor of Victoria, Australia.

==Early life== Brooks was born on 22 August 1896 at Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, son of Dallas George Brooks and Violet Ruth Brooks, née Shepherd. He was an only child.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/RM_officersB.html#Brooks_RAD |title=Brooks, Reginald Alexander Dallas|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=3 October 2023}}</ref>

Brooks was educated at Dover College and joined the Royal Marines in 1914. During the First World War he was severely wounded during the Gallipoli landings in 1915. He took part in the Zeebrugge Raid in 1918, for which he was awarded a Distinguished Service Order.<ref name=adb>[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brooks-sir-reginald-alexander-dallas-9592 Sir Dallas Brooks at Australian Dictionary of Biography]</ref> The citation for the award appeared in ''The Edinburgh Gazette'' in July 1918 and reads as follows:

{{Blockquote|He imbued his men with the highest degree of devotion to duty. The manner in which the howitzer, in its exposed position on the quarter deck, was used under his personal direction was very fine.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=13294|page=2578|date=25 July 1918|city=e}}</ref>}}

==Cricketing career== Upon returning from war, Brooks made his first-class debut for the Royal Navy against Cambridge University in 1919 as a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium.<ref name=cricinfo>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9241.html Cricinfo]</ref> The same season he made his debut for Hampshire against Surrey in the County Championship. Brooks represented Hampshire eight times in the 1919, making his maiden first-class century against Gloucestershire with a score of 107.

Brooks represented Hampshire in nine first-class matches between 1919 and 1921, with his final first-class appearance for the county coming against Middlesex. He scored 244 runs for Hampshire at a batting average of 16.26, with one century and one half century and a high score of 107.<ref name=bbt>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6504/f_Batting_by_Team.html Battling by team] Cricket Archive</ref>

In 1920, Brooks made his second first-class century, this time for the Royal Navy against the Army, which gave him his highest first-class score of 143. He played as an all-rounder for the Royal Navy, a role he did not fill at Hampshire.

In all, Brooks represented the Royal Navy in sixteen first-class matches, with his final appearance for them coming against the Royal Air Force in 1929. In his sixteen matches for the Royal Navy, Brooks scored 690 runs at a batting average of 23.00, with one century and two half centuries and a highest score of 143.<ref name=bbt/> With the ball, he took 38 wickets at a bowling average of 27.63, with one five-wicket haul, which gave him his career-best figures of 8/90.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6504/f_Bowling_by_Team.html Bowling by team] Cricket Archive</ref>

Additionally, Brooks represented the Combined Services with four first-class matches.

==Military career== Brooks graduated from the Royal Navy Staff College in 1934, and from 1943 served as Director-General (Military) of the Political Warfare Executive.<ref name=adb/> In 1946, he was appointed Commandant General Royal Marines in the rank of lieutenant general.<ref name=adb/> He was promoted to general in 1948, knighted that year, and retired in May 1949.<ref name=adb/>

==Governor of Victoria== Brooks was appointed Governor of Victoria by Premier Thomas Hollway and served from 1949 to 1963.<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/BROOKS.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref> During his term as governor, he acted as Administrator of the Commonwealth three times.<ref name=adb/> He served in this capacity for almost seven months after the governor-general, Viscount Dunrossil, suddenly died in office in 1961 after serving only one year. Brooks was in effect acting governor-general until the appointment of the Viscount De L'Isle.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2012/06/19/3528493.htm|title=Leading by Proxy: Governor Sir Dallas Brooks|date=19 June 2012|publisher=ABC|access-date=3 October 2023}}</ref>

Brooks served the state for over 13 years, becoming Victoria's longest-serving governor. After his term ended in 1963, he chose to remain in Australia in retirement. He built a house in Frankston and died there three years later.<ref name=adb/>

His wife, Muriel Violet Turner Brooks, née Laing, whom he married on 3 December 1924,<ref name=adb/> was important in the social life of Melbourne.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23301994 |title=400 greeted Lady Brooks |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=33,473 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 December 1953 |accessdate=31 May 2025 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Invariably referred to as '''Lady Brooks''', she was made a Commander of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1951 in recognition of her support for that organisation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279671826 |title=Lady Brooks honored |newspaper=The Sun News-pictorial |issue=8835 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=17 January 1951 |accessdate=31 May 2025 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> She was patron of the Victorian Diabetic Association and president of the Victorian Red Cross Association.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205714993 |title=Appeal by Lady Brooks |newspaper=The Age |issue=30,547 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 March 1953 |accessdate=31 May 2025 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Freemasonry== Brooks was Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria of Freemasons from 1951 to 1963.<ref>Kent Henderson, ''The Masonic Grand Masters of Australia'', Ian Drakeford Publishing, Bayswater, 1988, pp.194–195</ref> He was Victoria's longest-serving Grand Master, and he is the only governor of any Australian state initiated to the craft while serving as governor. Brooks had expressed a desire to become a freemason while in England but he had also stated that he preferred to become initiated in Australia. He met with the Grand Master of Victoria and notified him. He was initiated in the Clarke Lodge No. 98 on 6 February 1950 and was passed and raised within two months. He became Worshipful Master of the Lodge only five months after his initiation and he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Victoria the following year.<ref>[http://kenthenderson.com.au/m_papers03.html Vice Regal Grand Masters – Who and Why?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409023926/http://kenthenderson.com.au/m_papers03.html |date=9 April 2013 }}</ref>

==Legacy== [[File:Dallas brooks hall east melbourne.jpg|thumb|Dallas Brooks Hall, East Melbourne]] In 1969, the United Grand Lodge of Victoria built a concert hall in East Melbourne. The hall was renamed in 1993 from the Dallas Brooks Hall to the Dallas Brooks Centre and was a major events venue in Melbourne until 2016 when it was demolished to build an apartment complex.

The Melbourne suburb of Dallas was named after Sir Dallas, as well as Dallas Brooks Drive in Kings Domain. The official residence of the governor of Victoria, Government House, is located on the corner of Birdwood Avenue and Dallas Brooks Drive.

Brooks was the grandfather of journalist and television presenter Jennifer Byrne.

Members of the organisation of Scouts Australia, Sir Dallas Brooks Rover Crew, also adopted the name of the General.

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9241.html Reginald Brooks] at Cricinfo *[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6504/6504.html Reginald Brooks] at CricketArchive *[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6504/statistics_lists.html Matches and detailed statistics for Reginald Brooks] *[https://generals.dk/general/Brooks/Reginald_Alexander_Dallas/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Sir Thomas Hunton}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant General Royal Marines|years=1946–1949}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Leslie Hollis}} |- {{s-gov}} {{succession box | before=Sir Winston Dugan | after=Sir Rohan Delacombe | title=Governor of Victoria | years=1949–1963}} {{S-npo|mason}} {{succession box | title=Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria | before=Richard Rowe | after=Eric Hughes | years=1951–1963}} {{s-end}} {{RM Commandant General}} {{Governors of Victoria}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Dallas}} Category:1896 births Category:1966 deaths Category:Australian Freemasons Category:Combined Services cricketers Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:English cricketers Category:Governors of Victoria (Australia) Category:Hampshire cricketers Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Knights of the Order of St John Category:Masonic grand masters Category:People educated at Dover College Category:British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Category:Royal Marines generals of World War II Category:Royal Marines personnel of World War I Category:Royal Navy cricketers Category:Foreign Office personnel of World War II Category:Royal Marines generals Category:Graduates of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich Category:Military personnel from Cambridge Category:English emigrants to Australia Category:20th-century English sportsmen