Charles Seely’s son, who later became Sir Charles Seely (1833-1915), was also a Liberal MP. In his lifetime the family fortune grew substantially and he continued his father’s commitment to improving the lives of working people.

Charles Seely’s son, who later became Sir Charles Seely (1833-1915), was also a Liberal MP. In his lifetime the family fortune grew substantially and he continued his father’s commitment to improving the lives of working people. Jack Seely’s description of his father perhaps says more about himself: My father was a Liberal Member of the House of Commons for 25 years. He was an enthusiastic volunteer, for twenty years he commanded the Robin Hoods of Nottingham. Almost my earliest recollection is seeing him ride away in uniform on an extremely good-looking bay thoroughbred.

In 1857, about the time his parents came to Brook, Charles married Emily Evans, sister to Sir Francis Evans, MP for Southampton. Her youngest son, Jack Seely, recalled:  From her I inherited my love of music and the sea.

 It was Sir Charles who designed and built the Reading Rooms for the men of Brook and Brighstone. He also funded the first ‘free library’ on the Isle of Wight, now Nodehill School. A plaque commemorates the laying of the foundation stone by his eldest daughter, Florence Seely, in 1902.  Sir Charles funded the building and the books and designed lockable oak bookcases, some of which are still in use in village libraries today.

In spite of his busy public life, Sir Charles was involved at every level of village life as chairman of the Seely Hall, the Lifeboat Committee, the Shipwrecked Sailors Fund and the Parish Council, to name a few.

The village children will have been very aware of their benefactors as they provided the books and prizes for the school and in 1910 and 1911 the County Press records how at Christmas Miss Seely presented each child in the school and each member of the church choir with a white wool scarf. Emily Kindersley (Seely) remembered that once a year they were expected to take their old shoes to give to the children at the School.

The Seely family had a tradition of hosting village events and providing harvest and lifeboat suppers as well as teas and games for the children of the village.

The distinctively designed ‘Seely cottages’ which can be seen from West Wight to the centre of the Island, were built for the Estate workers. Sir Charles had running water put into all the labourers’ cottages, a generous gesture in those days. He took the precaution, however, of putting the sink in a different place to the tap in case the villagers left the tap running.

Sir Charles was a familiar figure to all in the area, striding over the Downs, followed by his groom, Henry Punch, who led a pony for Sir Charles to ride on up the steeper hills and carried a camp stool for him to sit on when he wished to enjoy the views.

Widowed in 1894, Sir Charles spent an increasing amount of time at Brook supported by his elder daughter Florence (Florrie). The monument he had made in memory of his wife, Emily, is in Southwell Church, Nottingham. The sculptor he commissioned was Sir Thomas Brock who also designed the monument to Queen Victoria outside Buckingham Palace. 

In his later years Sir Charles conceived the idea of building Brook Hill House both for the magnificent views and because he had bronchial trouble and was advised by the doctor to live higher up. The house was begun in 1910, designed by architect Sir Aston Webb and follows many of the features of Dartmouth College. Sir Charles Seely died in April 1915, aged 84, just after Brook Hill was completed.

When he died he left estate of £1,052,070 (equivalent to £493 million in 2007), making him one of the richest men in the country. Sir Charles had nine children, and, at the time of his death, over fifty grandchildren.