Brook Hannah

Brook Hannah
Brook Hannah when playing for Carlton Football Club
Personal information
Full name Charles Brooking Hannah
Date of birth (1874-09-28)28 September 1874
Place of birth Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
Date of death 14 January 1961(1961-01-14) (aged 86)
Place of death Tunbridge Wells, England
Position(s) Rover / Forward
Other occupation Missionary
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1897 Carlton 14 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1897.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Charles Brooking 'Brook' Hannah (28 September 1874 – 14 January 1961) was a former Australian rules footballer turned missionary who played with Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL; formerly Victorian Football Association [VFA]).[1]

Life and career

Brook Hannah was born on 28 September 1874 to William Hannah and Polly Lewis. His family home "Llanellan", was named after a township in Wales. It was said that his father became estranged from the family and supposedly sailed to New Zealand.[2]

He studied law at the University of Melbourne before his debut for the "Maroons" against Carlton on 15 July 1893. He is accredited with at least 37 VFA games and a further 14 for Carlton in the VFL, and was considered one of the best players afield.[2] Carlton captain Jimmy Aitken said that "Brook Hannah defeated Collingwood's Pannam pointless and had worked over Geelong's McCallum in a similar fashion two weeks earlier."[3]

After retiring from playing football, Hannah joined the China Inland Mission as an ordained missionary, and served as an assistant superintendent to Bishop Mowll of the Anglican Diocese of Szechwan.[2] He survived the attacks on foreign Christian missionaries during the Boxer Rebellion. He later worked in Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania). Hannah served as a missionary for over 50 years before retiring to Tunbridge Wells in England with his wife, May, an English-born missionary, where he died on 14 January 1961.[2]

Personal life

Brook Hannah met his future wife May, also a missionary, in China. The couple married around 1904. They had three sons, Emmanuel David and John, both died in infancy.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2009). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (8th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-921496-00-4.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bolfo, Tony De (14 August 2014). "God's Footballer". carltonfc.com.au. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Brook Hannah". blueseum.org. Retrieved 26 May 2023.