In 1792 William Bowerman sold Brook Manor to Henry Howe. Troops were stationed near here during the Napoleonic Wars – Hanover Point and Hanover House are believed to be named after a German regiment, stationed here to resist an invasion that never came. It is startling to discover that in 1797 there were 4,500 soldiers on the Island and a further 3,000 Islanders under arms. In the 1860s another threatened French invasion led to the building of the first Military Road. Around 1857 (the date is unclear), John and William Howe sold the estate to Charles Seely, MP for Lincoln, a wealthy mill and coalfield owner from Nottinghamshire.