Lieutenant Basil Julian David Brooke (200083) served in 6th Battalion Grenadier Guards during World War Two. Born on 18th April 1920, he was the son of Captain, the Right Honourable Sir Basil Stanlake Brooke PC CBE MC DL MP, 5th Baronet - Prime Minister of Northern Ireland - and Lady Cynthia Mary Brooke (née Sergison) of Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh.
Before the outbreak of war, Brooke received his education at Eton College, Berkshire and Cambridge University, Cambridgeshire. He worked for a time with the York Street Flax Spinning Company in Belfast, Co. Antrim. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War.
Basil died on 11th March 1943 aged 22 years old. He died alongside Lieutenant Hugh John Tufnell (165020) while on a reconnaissance patrol. Their Jeep struck a mine and exploded. Lieutenant Lord Brabourne recovered the bodies of both men. Basil’s youngest brother Henry Alan Brooke MC also died during the Second World War. The Brookeborough Estate would eventually pass on to the middle brother Lieutenant John Warden Brooke who served in 10th Hussars.
Basil Julian David Brooke’s grave is in Section VII, Row D, Grave 8 of Sfax War Cemetery, Tunisia. His name is on the Brookeborough War Memorial, Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh.