James Brooks was born in Bath in 1760, the son of the violinist John Brooks, and was playing with his father in Linley’s band at the New Assembly Rooms at the age of eleven. He is known to have played a violin concerto in Bath on 23 April 1783, though he moved to London soon after, and played in the orchestra for the 1784 Handel Commemoration in Westminster Abbey. He returned to Somerset at some point, for he is mentioned in Bristol concert announcements in the 1790s. In 1800 he became leader of the band at Vauxhall Gardens, and subsequently published some Vauxhall songs; he died in London in December 1809.

from notes by Peter Holman ©