W J Brooks

Miscellaneous low-level papers concerning his service with the 1st and 6th Battalions of the Middlesex Regiment, 1899 - 1918, and his postwar life, consisting mainly of official army documents and photographs, and partly illustrating his activities as a gymnastics instructor and, at the beginning of the First World War, in the recruitment campaign (Brooks served with the 1st Battalion in France in 1918 as a Company Sergeant Major).

<p>See also the papers of E Ryde held in the Department of Documents</p>

Unrestricted

Brooks was a regular soldier in the Middlesex Regiment. He enlisted in October 1897 and most of his service prior to the outbreak of war was with the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment in India. Brooke was a keen sportsman and was an army gymnastics instructor. In October 1911 Brooks was posted to England to the 6th Battalion as a gymnastic instructor. On the outbreak of war he became involved in the recruiting drive, appearing on the stages of many theatres. His services for recruiting were brought to the attention of the Secretary of State for War. In 1918 he was posted to France as a Company Sergeant Major in the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment (19th Brigade, 33rd Division). After the war he continued to be connected with army sport and recruitment until his death in November 1934.