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Adam J. Brockie (1878 – September 2, 1904) was an Irish sergeant major who helped Winston Churchill escape from a POW camp during the Second Boer War  in South Africa in 1899.

Early Life

Born in Ireland, Brockie enlisted in the British Army in Dublin when he was 14 years old. Soon after, he moved to South Africa.

Capture

During the Second Boer War, Brockie, working as a scout for the British Army, was asked to deliver messages to British generals trapped in Ladysmith during the Siege of Ladysmith. On his sixth attempt, Brockie was caught by the Boers and put on a train to a POW camp in Pretoria. On that train, he met Winston Churchill, a 24-year-old British correspondent who had also been captured by the Boers.

Escape

At the Boer’s POW Camp, the Staats Model School, Brockie and a fellow prisoner, Aylmer Haldane , planned their escape with Churchill. On December 12, 1899, Churchill was able to escape by climbing over the prison wall, but neither Brockie nor Haldane made it over before the guards noticed. Brockie and Haldane were able to escape several months later by hiding under the floorboards of their room when the Boers moved their prisoners to a different location.

Death

Brockie was killed in an accident in the Johannesburg Gold Mines on September 2, 1904, when he was 26 years old.

References

•	Churchill, Winston. My Early Life, 1874-1904. New York: Touchstone, 1930. •	Gilbert, Martin. Churchill: A Life. New York: Henry Holt, 1991. •	Manchester, William. Visions of Glory, 1874-1932. Vol 1 of The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill. Boston: Little, Brown, 1983. •	Mills, David W. and Kayla L. Westra. Great Wartime Escapes and Rescues https://books.google.com/books?id=QQuUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=adam+brockie+churchill&source=bl&ots=jtQ51nFjrC&sig=ACfU3U31iaPBFGfCg9J8jzEc3VTizE_khw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiA-_v5yajlAhUIQ60KHYB7BvsQ6AEwFnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=adam%20brockie%20churchill&f=false •	Sandys, Celia. Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. •	https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/in-the-media/churchill-in-the-news/gallantry-medal-of-soldier-who-saved-winston-churchill-to-be-sold-at-auction/