The Brocklebank Memorial
A father, a son, and the story behind St Anne’s organ case
The carved oak case surrounding the organ at St Anne’s is more than a piece of church furniture. It was given in 1917 by Liverpool shipowner Harold Brocklebank in memory of his elder son, Captain Thomas Geoffrey Brocklebank, who died in France during the First World War, aged 33.
The organ case at St Anne’s, given by Harold Brocklebank in memory of his son Thomas Geoffrey.
A Liverpool family
Thomas Geoffrey Brocklebank, son of Harold and Mary Ellen Brocklebank, was born on 3 November 1882 and baptised at St Anne's, Aigburth on 18 December 1882. His childhood home was 4 Fulwood Park, only a short distance from St Anne’s, placing his story firmly in the Aigburth community.
The Brocklebanks were one of Liverpool’s prominent shipping families. Their firm, T. & J. Brocklebank, operated merchant vessels trading between Liverpool and ports worldwide. Thomas was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, before entering the legal profession and being called to the Bar.
Before the outbreak of war, Thomas had served with the Territorial Force in the West Lancashire Royal Field Artillery. Mobilised in August 1914, he went on active service in France. By the summer of 1916, he held the rank of Captain in D Battery, 277th (West Lancashire) Brigade, RFA, serving as part of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on the Somme front.
The Battle of the Somme: August 1916
In early August 1916, D Battery was stationed near Brick Point and Maricourt, establishing forward observation posts at Arrow Head Copse to register targets for the upcoming Allied assault on Guillemont.
During the night of 5–6 August 1916, British artillery positions came under heavy counter-battery bombardment from German 5.9-inch (150mm) artillery guns.
Capt Thomas Geoffrey Brocklebank (1882–1916)
Official brigade casualty records confirm that Captain Brocklebank was killed in action during this intense bombardment on 5 August 1916. Captain Brocklebank was buried at Dive Copse British Cemetery, near Sailly-le-Sec on the Somme. He is also commemorated at All Saints' Church in Satterthwaite, near the family's later estate at Grizedale Hall in the Lake District.
Remembered at Grizedale
By the time of Thomas’s death, Harold Brocklebank had made Grizedale Hall, near Hawkshead in the Lake District, the family home. Harold had acquired the Grizedale estate in 1903 and substantially rebuilt the house. In 1907, he commissioned the celebrated architectural photographers Bedford Lemere & Co. to photograph the new house. Their images preserve the family home exactly as Thomas would have known it in the years before the war.
Grizedale Hall, September 1907. The photograph was commissioned by Harold Brocklebank, who had rebuilt the house after acquiring the Grizedale estate in 1903.
Photograph: Bedford Lemere & Co. / Historic England Archive. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Grizedale Hall itself had a remarkable afterlife. During the Second World War it was requisitioned as No. 1 POW Camp for German officers, earning the nickname the “U-Boat Hotel” because a number of captured U-boat commanders were held there. One of its best-known prisoners was Luftwaffe pilot Franz von Werra, whose escape attempts later inspired the film The One That Got Away. The house was eventually demolished in 1957.
Thomas was also commemorated close to Grizedale. At All Saints’ Church, Satterthwaite, a stained-glass window by the Lancaster firm Shrigley & Hunt was installed in his memory. Its imagery includes the badge of the Royal Artillery - permanently connecting the young Liverpool barrister with the regiment in which he served and died.
A memorial at St Anne’s
Harold chose another form of memorial for the church close to Thomas’s childhood home. In 1917, he gifted St Anne’s the finely carved wooden case surrounding the organ. Rather than attaching a separate memorial tablet, Thomas’s dedication was carved directly into the case itself:
THE ORGAN CASE WAS GIVEN BY HAROLD BROCKLEBANK IN DEAR MEMORY OF HIS ELDER SON THOMAS GEOFFREY CAPT. 4TH WEST LANCASHIRE (HOWITZER) BRIGADE R.F.A.WHO FELL IN ACTION IN FRANCE AUG. 5TH 1916 AGED 33 YEARS
The dedication is carved into the organ case at St Anne’s.That detail makes the memorial particularly easy to overlook. There is no separate monument announcing itself to visitors: the organ case is the memorial.
More than a century later it remains part of the fabric of St Anne’s and continues to fulfil the purpose for which Harold Brocklebank gave it - keeping the memory of his elder son within the church.
SATTERTHWAITE WINDOW
Left Panel: Depicts Saint Michael the Archangel above the regimental badge of the Royal Artillery (commemorating Thomas' military service).
Right Panel: Depicts Saint George standing over the dragon above the Brocklebank family coat of arms.
Photograph:
Martin and Jean Norgate
https://lakesguides.co.uk/
27 November 2015
The dedication carved into the organ case at St Anne’s, recording Harold Brocklebank’s gift in memory of his elder son Thomas Geoffrey.
Sources & Historical Acknowledgements
This historical account was compiled using official parish archives, historical documents, and military war records: Parish & Local Historical Records: St Anne's Church, Aigburth: Statement of Significance, Parochial Church Council. St Anne's Churchyard & Memorial Register, St Anne's Church, Aigburth (Charity Registration No. 1128483). The Whitehaven News (August 1916 Reports). Official War Office Records:The National Archives (Kew), Reference WO 95/2915/1 and the Royal Artillery Museum, Reference RAHT/347 D Battery RHA WO95/1133: First World War Unit War Diary, 277th (West Lancashire), covering operations, casualty rolls, and intelligence reports for July–August 1916.
Acknowledgement
St Anne’s Parochial Church Council gratefully acknowledges the assistance of The National Archives (Kew) and Remote Enquiries Duty Officer Kathryn Maude, as well as the Royal Artillery Museum and Archives Assistant Ali Stump, for facilitating access to the digitised First World War Unit War Diaries. Their support enabled our researchers to confirm the precise operational circumstances surrounding Captain Thomas Geoffrey Brocklebank's service and death at the Battle of the Somme.