Brooks

Brooks, Charles William Shirley, journalist, was born in 1815 in London, and began the study of the law. Captured, however, by literature, he became known as a writer of burlesque. He also wrote the Parliamentary summary for the Morning Chronicle, and in 1856 was sent to investigate the condition of the labouring classes in Russia, Syria, and Egypt, the results appearing in a volume entitled The Russians of the South. In 1851 he had become connected with Punch, for which he wrote the Essence of Parliament, and on Mark Lemon's death in 1870 he became its editor. He also wrote several works, chief of which are Aspen Court, The Gordian Knot, The Silver Cord, and Sooner or Later. He died in 1874 in London.