Brown, Thomas Campbell (Thomas)
Lieutenant
Army Service Corps (Motor Transport)
Died of disease on Monday 17 December 1917 CWGC (aged 38)
Buried:
Sutton Cemetery, Surrey (Grave O. 16)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
King’s College Canterbury Roll of Honour
Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, Cultra
Royal Ulster Yacht Club, Bangor
The Union Club, previously situated at 6 Donegall Place, Belfast
BIOGRAPHY
Lieutenant Thomas Campbell Brown is commemorated on the First World War Memorial Plaque in the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, 7 Seafront Road, Holywood, in the annals of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, 101 Clifton Road, Bangor, and on the First World War Memorial Plaque for The Union Club, Belfast. The Union Club, a Gentleman’s Club previously situated at 6 Donegall Place, Belfast later merged with the Ulster Reform Club situated at 4 Royal Avenue, Belfast.
Thomas Campbell Brown was born on 10 December 1879 in Shanghai, China, and he was the eldest son of Thomas and Alice Jane Brown (nee Campbell), who were married on 7 December 1878 in the Church of England Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Shanghai. Thomas Brown, a bookseller, was a son of Thomas Brown. Alice Jane Campbell was a daughter of Benjamin Campbell. They had six children:
Thomas Campbell (born 10 December 1879 in Shanghai, China)
Elsie Alice (born 7 May 1881 in Shanghai, China)
Sydney George (born 21 July 1882 in Shanghai, China; enlisted 27 March 1916, served with Canadian Forces, No. 490275, discharged 10 March 1917, medically unfit; died 30 November 1946)
Arthur Norman (born around 1885 in Shanghai, China)
Lilian Beatrice (born 3 June 1887 in Shanghai, China)
Florence Gertrude (born 8 August 1889 in Shanghai, China)
Their mother, Alice Jane Brown, died in Shanghai on 13 June 1890, and in 1891 the three Brown boys were attending school in Margate, Kent.
Their father, Thomas Brown, married Katherine Maud Cross on 25 July 1895 in Old Brentford Church of England Church (St Paul’s), Middlesex. He described himself then as a publisher and they had three children:
Katherine Christine (born 23 October 1897 in Ealing, Middlesex)
Geoffrey Clifford (born 1 August 1899 in Sutton, Surrey; by then his father described himself as an export merchant; served with the Royal Field Artillery, No. 246785, then as Second Lieutenant)
Charles Kenneth (born 11 November 1900 in Sutton, Surrey)
In at least one record their father is described as a gentleman, of La Roque, Overton Road, Sutton in Surrey. Born on 15 July 1850 in Exeter, Devon, Thomas Brown died on 30 March 1941 in Sutton, Surrey leaving an estate worth some £38,500.
The casualty, Thomas Campbell Brown, was educated at the Junior King’s School and at the King’s School Canterbury from September 1892 to July 1897 where he was a member of the Officers’ Training Corps (OTC). He was known at school by the nickname ‘Chacks’.
On leaving school Thomas Campbell Brown joined Harland and Wolff shipbuilding works in Belfast from August 1897 to November 1906, becoming Assistant Manager from 1902. In 1906 he became joint proprietor of the Millfield Foundry and Engine Works in Belfast. After his business partner’s death, he became director of the business.
Thomas Campbell Brown and Kathleen Josephine Haven (born in Co Tipperary) were married on 21 July 1908 in St Margaret’s Church of England Church, Westminster, London, and in 1911 they lived at Pinner, 9 Malone Road, Belfast. They had two children:
Thomas (born 25 May 1909 at 28 University Square, Belfast)
Maureen Elsie (born 20 September 1912 at Pinner, Malone Road, Belfast)
On the outbreak of war, Thomas Campbell Brown was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 16th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (Pioneers). He spent the early part of 1915 in training with his Battalion at Lurgan. On 27 April 1915 he and other officers built a bridge across the River Lagan.
On 2 October 1915 he embarked for France with his Battalion from Southampton on board the ferry Empress Queen, arriving at Le Havre just after midnight the following morning. In December 1915 the Battalion was involved in the construction of a railway line at Candas, and Thomas Brown was given sole charge for the construction of level crossings.
He was promoted to Lieutenant which was announced in the London Gazette of 23 March 1916. On 11 May 1916 he was appointed as engineering adviser to the Divisional Artillery.
On 12 August 1916 he was evacuated from the front-line suffering from shell shock and diarrhoea which became dysentery. He was also found to be suffering from a septic tooth, but this was removed while he was still in France. He was passed fit for light duty on the 20 January 1917, and on 2 April 1917 he transferred to the Army Service Corps (Motor Transport) and was based at their Depot at Grove Park, Newton Street, London.
As he was still not fully recovered, he was declared ‘unfit for general service’ at a Medical Board on 30 May 1917 but was told to return to his unit. On 2 August 1917 he was granted two months leave which was extended for a further two months on 1 October.
By November 1917 Lieutenant Brown was beginning to exhibit signs of ‘peculiar behaviour’ and was admitted to the Royal Herbert Hospital at Woolwich on 21 November and two days later was transferred to Latchmere House Hospital, Church Road, Ham Common, Richmond, Surrey. This hospital was used during the First World War to treat psychotic officers suffering from shell shock.
On 7 December 1917 a Medical Board sat at Caxton Hall and concluded:
‘The patient himself is incoherent and incapable of giving rational answers to questions. Permanently unfit for military service of any kind’
Lieutenant Brown died at Latchmere House ten days later. A telegram which was sent from the hospital to the War Office read:
‘Regret to report death Lieut. T.C. Brown ASC at 5 am Wednesday 19 December at Latchmere Hospital, Ham Common, Surrey. Relatives not present. Exhaustion following paralysis of insane.’
Lieutenant Thomas Campbell Brown was buried in Sutton Cemetery, Surrey, and he is commemorated in the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, Cultra, the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, Bangor, and The Union Club, previously situated at 6 Donegall Place, Belfast.
His widow died on 3 May 1934 and was buried alongside her husband.