BROWN, JAMES (1819-77) was born at Milngavie, near Glasgow. He was trained as a calico printer and worked at his trade for some years. He evinced artistic talent at a very early age, and his employer considerately transferred him from printing to designing. Ambitious for a wider field, he moved to Manchester, but though he received higher pay there he suffered during the depression of the forties, and accordingly decided to come to New Zealand (1850). Unable to work at his own trade in Otago, he taught himself engraving and became highly proficient. He was also a caricaturist and made many cartoons for reproduction, notably in J. Barr's Old Identities (1879). Brown was an office-bearer of the First Church. He was described as a man of distinct idiosyncrasies, simple habits and warm affections, unobtrusive and self-depreciative. He died on 12 Sep 1877.

Barr, op. cit.; Otago Daily Times, 15 Sep 1877.

Reference: Volume 1, page 66

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