PEOPLE IN PORTSMOUTH

 

Lives Lived and Lives Lost - Portsmouth and the Great War

ARTHUR CYRIL BRICKWOOD
 
If he hadn't died during the Great War Arthur Cyril would probably have inherited the Brickwood Baronetcy on the death of his father Sir John in 1932. Instead it went to his brother Rupert Redvers.
 
The Brickwoods family fortune was derived from the brewing business which began in ernest when in 1851 Arthur Cyril's Great-Grandmother Fanny Brickwood bought the Cobden Arms, a small pub and brewery at 70 Arundel Street. She and her late husband Thomas had previously been tenants there. She died in 1854 leaving the business to her son Harry who himself died eight years later in 1862.
 
Harry's two sons, Arthur and John, were nine and eight years old at the time so the business was put into the hands of trustees pending their coming of age. The trustees spent the next ten years assiduously growing the company by the acquisition of at least three more breweries. The census of 1871 records that John Brickwood was working as an apprentice at a brewery in Mitcham, Surrey run by James Ward. He inherited the family business on reaching 21 in 1874 and was joined by his brother Arthur the following year.
 
John married Eliza Miller at St Mary of the Angels in Westbourne Grove, London on 10th January 1881 and by the time of the census that year the couple were living at 13 Clarendon Road, Southsea. They had one daughter, Madeline Mary (born 4/2/1882) before Eliza died in Lisbon in February 1889, allegedly drowning in a successful bid to save her daughter. John re-married on 30th September 1893 at St Mary's Church, East Molesey, Surrey, his bride being Jessie Eliza Cooper (born 13th November 1864 at Burfield, Berkshire).
 
By the time of his second marriage the business was growing rapidly having taken over many smaller breweries. John himself was becoming a man of stature in the local community. In 1896 he and Jessie moved to the newly built "Branksmere" on Kent Road, possibly the largest house in Portsmouth, requiring 8 servants to run it. The following year Arthur Cyril was born (1/11/1896) and he was followed by Rupert Redvers (born 18/2/1900).
 
Arthur Cyril joined Portsmouth Grammar School at the age of ten years but stayed only briefly before moving on to Twyford and Charterhouse. He went on to Sandhurst in February 1914 and in September that year was gazetted to the York and Lancaster Regiment. Arthur Cyril was injured early in 1915 and treated at No. 7 Stationary Hospital at Boulogne where he died on 15th April. His body was transferred to the UK where he was buried in the graveyard at St. Luke's Church, Grayshott.
 
Further Information
 
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website lists Second Lieutenant Arthur Cyril Brickwood, York and Lancaster Regiment, date of death, 15/04/1915, aged 18, buried at Grayshott (St. Luke) Churchyard (Grave ref: 25A.126.). Son of Sir John and Lady Brickwood, of Hindhead and Portsmouth.
 
Arthur Brickwood is remembered on the St. Jude's Church WW1 Memorial, the Portsmouth Grammar School WW1 Memorial and on the Cenotaph. He is not listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War'.
 
Tim Backhouse
August 2014