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OUR Brock ancestors hail from Thurso in the far north of mainland Scotland. This is a family steeped in the stone cutting and polishing industries of Caithness, Aberdeen and also Barre, Vermont in the United States. Central to our Brock story is one William Manson Brock, a veteran of the Indian Mutiny. He was the father of 10 sons and two daughters, almost all of them connected in some way with the stone cutting or granite industry. William joined the East India Company's Bengal Fusiliers aged just 16 years old. He was involved in fighting at Cashmere Gate which led to him having his leg amputated below the knee. On his return to Thurso he was a volunteer with the Thurso & Halkirk Volunteer Rifle Corps. He eventually moved with his growing family to Aberdeen, where he worked in the granite industry and where he died in 1906. He is buried at Trinity Cemetery, Aberdeen. One of William's sons, George Thomson Brock became an extra in early silent films and his daughter, Dorothy Marion Brock, who was born in Phoenix, Arizona, went on to become a child movie star in the 1920s. Amazingly, through the wonders of the internet, we have both received and discovered some remarkable photos and news articles about Dorothy's early life and recently made contact with Dorothy and her family. | ||||||
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Picture: The old St Peter's Church in Thurso. Here is buried Janet Campbell, wife of William Brock, farmer – the parents of William Manson Brock. | ||||||
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