Renowned people
Either for pleasure or as a refuge from the public eye, a number of monarchs, politicians and well known writers and performers have regularly visited or lived in this part of the Isle of Wight. King Henry VII famously feasted at Brook Manor in 1499. Charles Seely lost favour with Queen Victoria when he hosted the Italian liberator General Garibaldi in Brook in 1864. In the early 1900s Queen Mary took refuge from Cowes Week by visiting the Seelys at Brook and Mottistone.
We are told that when Priestley lived at Brook Hill the working day would start with a huge breakfast,...
John Seely together with Paul Paget, formed the firm of Seely and Paget in 1926.
Jane Birkin is known by many as the young actress in the 1960s who became the partner of French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg,...
When he died at his home in Caprera, aged 75, Garibaldi had worked as a sea captain,...
Bred at Yafford in 1908, Warrior was taught to be fearless in battle by walking into the roughest waves at Brook Bay by Jack Seely.
Queen Mary visited her friends, General Jack and Evelyn Seely at both Brooke House and later Mottistone Manor, during Cowes Week.