Arthur Sawyer Brook, ‘Squire’. 1811 – 1890. Land-Owning Farmer. “Arch-Tory, and sometime king of Bexhill”.
The Brook family moved to Bexhill from West Hoathly in the 1750s. Arthur Sawyer Brook’s grandfather built Brook House, now renamed ‘The Grange’, located in the Old Town at the top of Sea Road. By 1755 he was farming some 278 acres at Court Lodge, the name at this time of the Manor House. Arthur’s father, born in 1766, was the youngest of eleven children. He married Jane Russell, daughter of William Russell of Barrack Hall. He purchased Church Farm and farmed it with land attached to Court Lodge and Brook House.
Arthur Sawyer, born 11 March 1811, and later familiarly known as ‘Squire’ Brook, farmed land as far as Cooden. All common land was under his control – he acted as bailiff for the Manor of Bexhill. He married Ellen Carswell, daughter of Rowe Carswell, a miller of Hastings on 9 January 1840. For a period the family lived at the Manor House.
Arthur S. Brook was Master of the renowned Old Bexhill Harriers for more than 50 years. Meets of the Harriers on two occasions were attended by first Princess Victoria, prior to her accession to the throne, and then by the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. After experiencing the initial development of Bexhill as a seaside resort, Arthur Sawyer Brook died on 1 March 1890 and was buried in Barrack Road Cemetery.
His son, John Brook, was a great cricket enthusiast.