Cecil Joslin Brooks (1875–1953) was a British metallurgical chemist who also collected insects, plants (especially ferns), animals and butterflies. Educated privately and at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, he was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (1922) and Member of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Brooks was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

on 7 May 1875 and educated at a private boarding school in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

Ancestry.co.uk before going on to

. In 1906 he married Alida Johanna de Jongh in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

. Their children included Mercy Brookes (born

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

1908) and Cecil Jocelyn Talida Brooks (born 1913, educated at Monkton Combe School). From 1896 to 1897 Brooks worked as an Assistant at Stanger and Blount's Laboratories and Testing Works in Westminster, London. He became Chemist to the Sussex Portland Cement Co., Newhaven, East Sussex and then from 1897 to 1900 he was Metallurgical Chemist to Quirk Barton and Co., London. In 1900 he became Cyanide Manager, Borneo Company, at their gold mine at Bidi,

, prospecting for gold ore in new districts and research on the treatment of arsenical antimonial gold ore. From 1904 to 1906 he worked as a Metallurgist to Quirk, Barton and Co undertaking research in treatment of Cobalt silver ore and bismuth ores, ultimately erecting a bismuth plant and becoming Departmental Manager at the plant. Between 1907 and 1910 he returned to Sarawak as Cyanide Manager at Bidi and then later at Bau undertaking research on the Pahang Consolidated Co.'s tin ores, soils and agricultural matters. From 1912 to 1921 he was Chief Chemist and Metallurgist to the Simau Gold Mining Co., near Bencoolen in

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. In 1911 he and his family were living in

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

where he owned property. In 1915 he sent a plant specimen of Amorphophallus titanum from Sumatra to the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. He returned to England with his Dutch wife Alida in 1924. He remarried in 1927, to Ada Lilian Beatrice Greenbank, née Harbord, who was born in Cork in June 1875. He studied his collections, including butterflies held in the British Museum of Natural History, where he was made an associate. His collection of East Anglian moths is in the Norwich Castle Museum. Many species of fern are named for him (mainly by Edwin Copeland); also Brooks' dayak fruit bat, '' Dyacopterus brooksi''; Brooks' wolf gecko, '' Luperosaurus brooksii'';Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2009). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xviii + 574 pp. . (p. 58). and Brooks' nose-horned lizard, '' Thaumatorhynchus brooksi''. A species of Sumatran snake, '' Calamaria alidae'', is named in honour of his wife, Alida Brooks.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Alida", p. 5; "Brooks, C.J.", p. 40). He died in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

in 1953.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Cecil 1875 births 1953 deaths British pteridologists British entomologists 20th-century British botanists