In an article he wrote published by the Halifax Antiquarian Society entitled "The Brooksbank Family of Elland, Hackney and Healaugh," W F Seals asserted that Brooksbank Baronet of Healaugh is descended from the Brooksbanks of Elland. This is contrary to the lineage given in Burke's Peerage, which refers to a Brooksbank or Brockbank family in Lincolnshire. I think Seals is correct. The detailed ancestry is offered by me in my article for the Yorkshire Family History Quarterly (June 2002) entitled "Tilting at Burke." It is the view of E M Shepherd in her private publication "Brooksbanks, Yeoman of the Dales," that the family in Yorkshire all descend from a family in Warley, a township west of Halifax, in Halifax parish. The brook from which the family takes its name is Luddenden Brook, a tributary of the River Calder. It was natural that the name should move down the Calder to Almondbury, Elland and Halifax. Again, I agree with Shepherd. Shepherd quotes a John Brooksbank who was sheriff of Warley in 1490 and who would be born about 1450. There are four Brooksbanks whose birth dates range from 1475 to 1490, and who may have been John's sons, although there is no proof known to me this is so. They are Richard, John, Gilbert and Thomas. Details of these four are given in my article "The Yorkshire Brooksbanks - are they all one clan?" (Part I, Yorkshire family History Quarterly, June 2003; see also Part, September 2003.) It is possible that all or any of them were John's nephews, or of a remoter relationship. They belong to the locality. Richard, for instance, was assessed at the Lay Subsidy of 1524 in Warley, and witnessed the Will of William Murgatroyd of Bothstede in 1508. Bothstede is Boothtown, a hamlet then in Ovenden, a township adjoining Warley. Gilbert was a priest at Heptonstall, a chapelry adjoining Warley to the West, who was murdered in 1636 (E M Shepherd). John was a priest in Ripponden and witnessed several Wills in the parish of Elland between 1520 and 1546. Thomas was a chaplain at Elland (1522), whose wife Margaret was buried at Elland 1 Oct 1559. Thomas and Margaret are the ancestors of Brooksbank of Healaugh, Baronet (my article "Tilting at Burke," above. The next generation comprises five males, born 1500-1515. Their names are John, Gilbert, Edward, William and Thomas. The family names in the 1400s were obviously John, Gilbert and Thomas, which is not surprising when finds in the Poll Tax of 1379 Thomas Brooksbank in the township of Luddenden and John Brooksbank in the township of Allerton, in Bradford parish. It is possible that the Luddenden, or Warley, family, held land in Allerton, and that John was son of Thomas, detailed to farm there. This could explain why John, born c. 1500, a yeoman, settled in Thornton, a township adjoining Allerton, whose Will 14 Feb 1559 is quoted in full by Shepherd. I suggest that this John was the eldest son of Richard, above, and that Gilbert, Edward, William and Thomas are his brothers, but again there is nothing to prove this, and some or all may belong to a collateral line. But the dates fit Richard as the parent. Gilbert was married, unlike his namesake and predecessor the priest, and contined the line at Warley; the same for Edward. Thomas lived in Sowerby township, and his Will dated 22 Aug 1557 is summarised by Shepherd. In Part I of my article (YFH June 2003) I make the tentative suggestion that this Thomas is ancestor of the family in Almondbury. I trace the Brooksbanks of Wilsden and Keighley to John the yeoman, and the Brooksbanks of Horton in Bradford to Gilbert. The Wilsden and Horton lines are easy to trace in the parish registers of Bradford and Thornton, and is here that I differ from Shepherd in detail. I shall be pleased to share further information through my email kathstep@mweb.co.za. John Stephen Whiteley.
