Ernest Walter Brooks

Ernest Walter Brooks, FBA was an English ancient historian and scholar of Syriac. The son of a priest, he was educated at Eton College and then at King's College, Cambridge, where he read classics and graduated in 1887. He then lived in London and Geneva as an independent scholar, before retiring to Hampshire in 1941. He became an expert in translating Syriac historical texts into English, gaining a leading reputation. His prolific output in this area was supplemented by research on Byzantine history and contributions to The Cambridge Medieval History. Having received an honorary doctorate from the University of Louvain in 1927, he was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1938. His wife, Ellen, was a daughter of Major-General G. B. Mellersh.