John Ellingham Brooks
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John Ellingham Brooks (3 June 1863 – 31 May 1929) was an English classical scholar. He was an associate and lover of
Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
, whom he met when they were both studying in
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
in 1890. In later life, he was part of the circle of expatriates based on the Italian island of
Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...
, where he shared a villa with the novelist Edward Frederic Benson.


Biography

Brooks was educated at St. Paul's College in
Stony Stratford Stony Stratford is a market town in Buckinghamshire and a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located on Watling Street, historically the Roman road from London to Chester. It is also a civil parish with a town council in the Cit ...
and at
Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...
. He was admitted at
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
in 1887 and passed his Roman Law examination in 1889. He was admitted as a researcher at the
British School at Athens The British School at Athens (BSA; ) is an institute for advanced research, one of the eight British International Research Institutes supported by the British Academy, that promotes the study of Greece in all its aspects. Under UK law it is a reg ...
in the late 1890s. Fearing prosecution as a homosexual following the trial of
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
in 1895, Brooks moved to the island of
Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...
. He formed a friendship with the American heiress and painter Romaine Goddard when she visited in 1899. When she returned to Capri in 1903, she found that Brooks had fallen upon hard times and had been reduced to "selling his possessions to buy food." In what
E. F. Benson Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer. Early life E. F. Benson was born at Wellington College (Berkshire), Wellington College in Berkshire, ...
described as a "fit of aberration on the part of the bride and the bridegroom alike," the two were married in Capri on 13 June 1903. The marriage had ended by September 1904, but the allowance of 300 pounds per year that Romaine Brooks gave to her former husband was enough to allow him to live out the rest of his days on Capri. He died of liver cancer on 31 May 1929. Brooks' artistic ambitions had amounted to little by the time of his death. E. F. Benson remarked, however, that "Somewhere beneath the ash of his laziness there burned the authentic fire."


Relationship with Somerset Maugham

Brooks stayed at a pension (boarding house) in
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
in 1890, where he formed a close relationship with the young
Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
. His relationship with Maugham was Maugham's first sexual experience and influenced his literary tastes: The character Hayward in Maugham's ''Of Human Bondage'', an "esthete who is just back from Germany and admires Pater" and influences Philip, the young protagonist, is "obviously based on Ellingham Brooks." Five years later, Maugham and Brooks crossed paths again in
Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...
: Maugham disapproved of Brooks' indolent life in Capri and based the protagonist of the unflattering short story " The Lotus-Eater" on him. In ''The Summing Up'', Maugham called Brooks "Brown" and wrote "For twenty years he amused himself with thinking what he would write when he really got down to it, and for another twenty with what he would have written if the fates had been kinder."


References


Further reading

*


External links

* https://bsahistory.blogspot.com/2008/06/john-ellingham-brooks.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, John Ellingham 1863 births 1929 deaths English expatriates in Italy 19th-century English LGBTQ people 20th-century English LGBTQ people English classical scholars