Introduction

Biography

Sixth of ten child­ren, Brown was the son of Ro­bert Brown, in­cum­bent of St. Mat­thew’s Church. His mo­ther was a Thom­son, of Scot­tish ex­trac­tion, though born on the Isle of Man. When he was two years old, his fa­ther became vicar of Kirk Brad­dan, near Doug­las.

At age 15, Tho­mas was en­rolled at King Will­iam’s Col­lege. In Oc­to­ber 1849, he was ad­mitt­ed as a ser­vi­tor at Christ Church, Ox­ford; he took a Dou­ble First in 1853. In April 1854, he was elect­ed a Fel­low of Ori­el.

He was or­dained a deacon, but ne­ver took kind­ly to the life of an Ox­ford Fel­low, and af­ter a few terms of pri­vate tui­tion he re­turned to the Isle of Man as Vice-Prin­ci­pal of King Will­iam’s Col­lege.

In 1857, he mar­ried his cou­sin, Miss Stow­ell, in the li­ttle church of Kirk Maug­hold.

In 1863, he left King Will­iam’s Col­lege to be­come head mas­ter of the Crypt School at Glou­ces­ter. In 1864, Dr. Per­ci­val (later Bi­shop of Here­ford) re­cruit­ed him for the staff at Clif­ton Col­lege, Bris­tol, where Per­ci­val had just become head mas­ter.

In 1892, his health fail­ing, Brown re­tired from Clif­ton and re­turned to the Isle of Man, though he oc­ca­sion­al­ly vis­it­ed Clift­on.

Despite his long aca­de­mic ca­reer, his­to­ry prob­ab­ly re­mem­bers Brown best for his po­et­ry.