Brock published, through the Religious Tract Society, a work entitled 'Fraternal Appeals to Young Men.' In 1834 Brock threw himself with great energy into the final struggle connected with the abolition of West Indian slavery; spoke in every town in Norfolk and most of those in Suffolk; drew up papers in support of his views, and contributed articles to the public journals. It is stated that Brock was the first publicly to attack the inveterate custom of political bribery in Norwich.
In 1846, chiefly on account of failing health, Brock made a tour through France and Italy. In 1847 he suffered from defective sight, for the treatment of which he temporarily removed to London. At the election for Norwich in 1847 he opposed his intimate friend Sir Morton Peto, and supported Mr. Serjeant Parry, the candidate who favoured the separation of church and state. In consequence of enfeebled health Brock was ultimately advised to remove to London, where he became pastor of Bloomsbury Chapel on 5 Dec. 1848. Brock soon set on foot a philanthropic enterprise for the reclamation of the poor in the squalid and crowded district of St. Giles.
At Exeter Hall Brock lectured on behalf of the Young Men's Christian Association on 'Mercantile Morality.' He was personally acquainted with Sir Henry Havelock; and after the death of Havelock, in 1857, he published a memoir, which had an immense circulation, forty-five thousand copies being speedily disposed of in England. In 1859 the work of preaching in theatres on Sundays was instituted in London, and Brock delivered the first sermon in the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton.
In 1866 Brock made a tour in the United States. On his return he entered into the ritualistic controversy, and published two discourses under the title of 'Ritualism Mischievous in its Design.' He further drew up a series of resolutions, in a similar sense, in behalf of the 'general body of protestant dissenting ministers of the three denominations in and about London.' He helped at this time to form the London Association of Baptist Churches, and was elected its first president. In the course of twelve years the association included 140 churches, with nearly 34,000 members in communion. In 1869 Brock was elected to the presidency of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. In September 1872 he resigned the post of minister at Bloomsbury Chapel. A few days before preaching his farewell sermon he lost his wife. After three years spent in comparative retirement he died on 13 Nov. 1875. In 1860 the senate of Harvard College conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity.
In addition to the publications named in this article, Brock was the author (inter alia) of 'Sacramental Religion,' published in 1850; 'Sermons on the Sabbath,' 1853; 'The Gospel for the People,' 1859; 'The Wrong and Right of Christian Baptism,' 1864; 'The Christian's Duty in the forthcoming General Election,' 1868; and ' Mid-summer Morning Sermons,' 1872.
[Birrell's Life of William Brock, D.D., 1878; M'Cree's William Brock, D.D., first Pastor of Bloomsbury Chapel, 1876; A Biographical Sketch of Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.B. (1858), and other works by Brock; Annual Register for 1875.]
BROCK, WILLIAM JOHN (1817?–1863), religious writer, born about 1817, married about 1845, in 1847 brought out a small volume of poems, 'Wayside Verses,' dating the preface London, 22 Sept.; and obtaining after this the degree of B.A., he took orders, and entered the church as curate of St. George's, Barnsley, Yorkshire (Twenty-seven Sermons, 2nd ed. p. 314). In 1855 he published at Barnsley, and by subscription, 'Twenty-seven Sermons,' in one volume, a publication which was quickly out of print (preface to 2nd ed.); and leaving Barnsley in 1858 to become incumbent of Hayfield, Derbyshire, Brock brought out a second edition of this book, dating it Hayfield Parsonage, 22 Sept. 1858, and adding to it the farewell sermon he had preached on leaving Barnsley. He died at Hayfield on 27 April 1863, and was buried there. After his death were published 'The Rough Wind stayed,' a volume of 'The Library of Excellent Literature,' 1867, and 'The Bright Light in the Clouds,' 1870.
[Brock's Wayside Verses, pp. 50, 76, 131; private information.]
BROCKEDON, WILLIAM (1787–1854), painter, author, and inventor, was born at Totnes on 13 Oct. 1787. His father, who was a watchmaker, was a native of Kingsbridge, where and in the adjoining parish of Dodbrook his family had been occupants or owners of garden mills since the reign of Henry IV. This son, who was an only child, was educated at a private school in Totnes, but he learned little in it. His father was quite capable of supplying the deficiencies of school teaching as then understood, and under his instructions his son acquired a taste for scientific and mechanical pursuits. So great was his proficiency in mechanics that he was able to conduct the business during the illness of
