By this time John was a Freemason, and came to know doctor and author Arthur (Conan) Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, who had moved to Southsea with his wife Louise in 1885 after graduating as a Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery from Edinburgh University. John seconded Doyle when he joined Phoenix Lodge No. 257 in Southsea in January 1887. Doyle played in goal for an amateur football side, Portsmouth AFC, that flourished from 1882 to 1894.

John re-married on 30th September 1893 at St Mary's Church, East Molesey, Surrey to Jessie Eliza Cooper (born 13th November 1864). [Some of the information and many of the pictures on Sir John's pages have been kindly provided by Gail and Richard Edwards (Richard being Jessie's great-greatnephew). I discovered in April 2002 that they had evidently gone to the U.S. on honeymoon. The Ellis Island Immigration Records show a Mr. & Mrs. Jno. Brickwood landing on 14th October 1893: the passenger manifest of the 'Paris' out of Southampton show that 'Jno' was a 41 year old brewer, and Mrs 'Jno' a 29 year old wife. As an aside, one of the clippings provided by Gail dated 25th January 1896 reporting an 'Annual Treat' at East Molesey attended by some of the Coopers lists a Mr H Burrell as conductor of the orchestra. Was this a relative of my grandmother Marjorie Madeleine Burrell, born in East Molesey on 27th March 1896, who married Edmund William Brickwood in 1921?]

In 1896 John and Jessie moved to Brankesmere, a new house on Queens Crescent, Southsea. This caused some excitement in the local press due to the transportation and transplantation of a twenty ton cedar tree, which was moved across Southsea on a trolley pulled by a traction engine. "The cost of moving will probably amount to £100" exclaimed the press.

John and Jessie had two sons - Arthur Cyril (born 1/11/1896) and Rupert Redvers (born 18/2/1900). By this time, John also took an interest in Portsmouth Football Club, and led a syndicate to buy land in the heart of the town which the club (known locally as 'Pompey', as is the town) moved on to in 1898, with John as Chairman of the club. :

His interest in the club was recorded in this postcard to my great-grandfather Jesse in 1906:

John became a man of increasing influence: he was leader of the national Country Brewers' Society, for three years Chairman of the Port of Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman of the National Trade Defence Association. He was knighted in 1904.