Article

Allan Brooks

Published Online August 5, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Drawings and paintings of birds, some of which survive from his fifth year, form his greatest legacy; he was illustrator of A.P. Taverner's books on Canadian birds and of several American ornithological and popular works.
<em>Blackbirds</em>
Painting by Allan Brooks, watercolour (courtesy National Museum of Natural Sciences).

Allan Cyril Brooks, naturalist, artist, soldier (b at Etawah, India 15 Feb 1869; d at Comox, BC 3 Jan 1946). Born into a prominent naturalist family, he received his early education in England. His family moved to Milton, Ontario, in 1881, and then to Chilliwack, BC, in 1887. Allan Brooks spent most of his remaining life in the Okanagan Valley and on Vancouver Island.

Drawings and paintings of birds, some of which survive from his fifth year, form his greatest legacy; he was illustrator of A. P. Taverner's books on Canadian birds and of several American ornithological and popular works. An ardent hunter and collector, he carefully prepared bird skins as taught by Thomas McIwraith and mounted his own big-game heads, selling many specimens to museums. His scientific publications number about 130 and concentrate on faunistics and taxonomy.

Allan Brooks travelled widely, especially in North America, and was known for his boundless enthusiasm. In World War I he quickly rose to the rank of major and received the Distinguished Service Order. His paintings brought him a gold medal from the Canadian National Museum and his research an Empire membership in the British Ornithologists' Union.