Huddersfield Chronicle (15/Jul/1871) - The Founder of the Convalescent Home

The following is a transcription of a historic newspaper article and may contain occasional errors. If the article was published prior to 1 June 1957, then the text is likely in the Public Domain.

THE FOUNDER OF THE CONVALESCENT HOME.

Charles Brook, Esq., J.P., of Enderby Hall, Leicester, and Meltham, near Huddersfield, will be remembered, with feelings of profound gratitude, by the present and coming generations for his charitable bequests, and his warm-hearted liberality in the promotion of any cause having for its object the relief of those who may be suffering from pecuniary embarrassment, or the alleviation of the condition of those who may be mentally distressed, or those who may be sinking from the decay and prostration of nature. The Convalescent Home, which is being built and endowed at a cost of £60,000, occupies a healthy situation in the suburbs of Meltham, and is rapidly approaching completion, the inaugural ceremony having been fixed to take place on the 3rd of August. This valuable auxiliary to the Huddersfield Infirmary will, so long as its walls adhere together, stand out as a monument of the glowing attachment which Mr. Brook feels towards his fellow men, and, still more, of his sympathy with suffering humanity, especially in the district in which he has spent many — as he himself would doubtless freely acknowledge — of the happiest days of his past life. The poor and the infirm owe — and no doubt they will feel it — a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Brook for this princely benefaction, and, not only in the hour of misfortune, but when health has been fully restored, they will recollect, with unspeakable emotion, the gentleman whose noble munificence, directed by an all-wise Providence, had provided them with skilful nursing and efficient medical treatment in their bodily ailments. It is proposed, we rejoice to learn, to present to Mr. Brook a portrait of himself, and, a sum of £100 having already been subscribed by a few inhabitants, Mr. S. Howell, artist, of this town, has been commissioned to execute the work. The portrait, when it has passed through the artists hands, is to occupy a place in the hall of the Convalescent Home, reminding the inmates, or whoever may visit the institution — if a reminder were at all necessary — of the gentleman who, in the fullness of his heart, and the bountifulness of his generosity, had made such ample provision and accommodation for the reception of persons who, after a course of medical treatment at the Huddersfield Infirmary, require a pure atmosphere to reinstate weakened nature, and suitable nourishments to resuscitate the wasting constitution.