Early Life
Brock was born at St Peter Port on the Channel Island of Guernsey, the eighth son of John Brock (1729-1777), a midshipman in the Royal Navy, and Elizabeth de Lisle, daughter of Daniel de Lisle, then Lieutenant-Bailiff of Guernsey. The Brocks were an English family who had been established in Guernsey since the sixteenth century. Brock earned a reputation during his early education on Guernsey as an assiduous student, as well as an exceptional swimmer and boxer. At age ten, he was sent to school in Southampton but spent one year in Rotterdam learning French.
Despite his lack of an extensive formal education, Brock appreciated its importance. It seems that as an adult he often spent his leisure time sequestered in his room, reading books in an attempt to improve his education. He read many works on military tactics and science, but he also read ancient history and other less immediately practical topics. At the time of his death he was in possession of a modest library of books, including works by Shakespeare, Voltaire, and Samuel Johnson.
He kept a reputation as an "unusually tall, robust" man throughout his life, with an adult height of about 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m). Measurements taken from his uniform show that at his death he had a waist size of 47 inches (119 cm) and the inside brim of his hat measured 24 inches (61 cm) in circumference. Though Brock was noted as a handsome man who enjoyed the company of women, he never married.
Read more about this topic: Isaac Brock
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“We have good reason to believe that memories of early childhood do not persist in consciousness because of the absence or fragmentary character of language covering this period. Words serve as fixatives for mental images. . . . Even at the end of the second year of life when word tags exist for a number of objects in the childs life, these words are discrete and do not yet bind together the parts of an experience or organize them in a way that can produce a coherent memory.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“There is a delicate balance of putting yourself last and not being a doormat and thinking of yourself first and not coming off as selfish, arrogant, or bossy. We spend the majority of our lives attempting to perfect this balance. When we are successful, we have many close, healthy relationships. When we are unsuccessful, we suffer the natural consequences of damaged and sometimes broken relationships. Children are just beginning their journey on this important life lesson.”
—Cindy L. Teachey. Building Lifelong RelationshipsSchool Age Programs at Work, Child Care Exchange (January 1994)