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{{Short description|English chaplain in Bengal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
'''David Brown''' (1763–1812) was an English chaplain in [[Bengal]] and founder of the Calcutta Bible Society.

==Life==
He was born in [[Yorkshire]], and was educated first under private tuition at [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]], and then at a grammar school at Hull under [[Joseph Milner (priest)|Joseph Milner]]. He entered [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]] in 1782 as a [[sizar]].<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Brown, David (1763-1812)|volume=7}}</ref><ref>{{acad|id= BRWN782D|name=Brown, David}}</ref>

Brown did not take a degree, but was ordained [[deacon]] in the [[Church of England]] in 1785, by [[Richard Watson (bishop)|Richard Watson]].<ref>{{CCEd |type=person |id=3674 |name= Brown, David |year1=1785 |year2=1785 |accessed=24 March 2017}}</ref> He was appointed to a chaplaincy in Bengal.<ref name="DNB"/>

Brown reached [[Calcutta]] in 1786, and was placed in charge of an orphanage. At the same time he was appointed chaplain to the brigade at [[Fort William, India|Fort William]]. In addition to these duties Brown took charge of the [[Old Mission Church, Kolkata|Old Mission Church]] of Calcutta.<ref name="DNB"/> That year he met [[Charles Grant (British East India Company)|Charles Grant]], and put together a "Proposal for Establishing a Protestant Mission in Bengal". It was passed to [[Charles Simeon]], and then to [[William Wilberforce]]. Grant returned to Great Britain, and recruitment of [[evangelical chaplains for India]] got under way.<ref>{{cite book|author=Daniel O'Connor|title=Chaplains of the East India Company, 1601–1858|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZXBeF0wpV8C&pg=PA109|date=12 January 2012|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4411-7534-2|pages=109–10}}</ref> In 1788 Brown gave up the orphanage position, incompatible with his work as pastor at the Old Mission Church, founded by [[John Kiernander]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=3603|first=Katherine|last=Prior|title=Brown, David}}</ref>

In 1794 Brown was appointed presidency chaplain. Among his close friends were [[Henry Martyn]], [[Claudius Buchanan]], and [[Thomas Thomason]].<ref name="DNB"/> He became senior chaplain in 1797, when Thomas Blanshard left.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZrMI_PRZfUC&pg=PA300|year=1824|publisher=A. Dodd and A. Smith|page=300}}</ref>
[[File:Pagoda at Aldeen House.jpg|thumb|Ruined Hindu temple in Serampore, in the garden of Aldeen House, the property in the early 19th century of David Brown, and used by Henry Martyn]]
In 1803 Brown bought Aldeen House in [[Serampore]], and made it his home. The grounds included a deserted temple.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryofch00hole#page/164/mode/1up|title=The Early History of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East to the end of A.D., 1814|last=Hole|first=Charles|year=1896|work=[[Internet Archive]]|publisher=Church Missionary Society|page=164|accessdate=27 March 2017|location=London}}</ref> At this time Serampore was a colony of [[Danish India]], and while the East India Company opposed missionary activity, the Lutheran Danish government was sympathetic, in particular to [[William Carey (missionary)|William Carey]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Daniel Jeyaraj|title=Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, the Father of Modern Protestant Mission: An Indian Assessment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZYAOyJ-6SMC&pg=PR14|year=2006|publisher=ISPCK|isbn=978-81-7214-920-8|pages=14–5}}</ref> Under the name the Pagoda, the abandoned [[Radha-vallabha]] temple next to the [[River Hooghly]] was used as an [[oratory (worship)|oratory]] by Henry Martyn, who often stayed with Brown.<ref>{{cite book|author=L. S. S. O'Malley|title=Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa Sikkim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0rkzIR3rTCMC&pg=PA310|date=16 June 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-60064-5|page=310}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Norman Macleod|author2=Donald Macleod|title=Good Words|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9H7QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA61|year=1872|publisher=Alexander Strahan and Company|page=61}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Calcutta Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4qYIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA502|year=1845|page=502}}</ref> Aldeen House became a place of meeting of Baptist missionaries such as Carey, and the group of evangelical Anglican chaplains in Bengal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/gsmith/viii.htm|title=www.wmcarey.edu, Chapter VIII. Carey's Family and Friends|accessdate=27 March 2017}}</ref> While personal relations were good, there were also tensions: Brown opposed Baptist efforts with the Calcutta Benevolent Institution, a free school, and there was a power struggle within the Serampore mission.<ref>{{cite book|author=Brian Stanley|title=Christian Missions and the Enlightenment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JN2hAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66|date=22 May 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-86554-1|page=67}}</ref>

Brown's health was failing in 1812. He embarked, for the benefit of sea air, in a vessel bound for [[Madras]], which was wrecked on the voyage down the [[Bay of Bengal]]. The passengers and crew were rescued by another vessel and taken back to Calcutta.<ref name="DNB"/>

Brown died on 14 June 1812, at the house in [[Chowringhee]] of [[John Herbert Harington]], president of the Calcutta Bible Society set up in 1811, as he was the secretary.<ref name="DNB"/><ref>{{cite book|author=John Statham|title=Indian Recollections|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=08GU2C8oJq0C&pg=PA445|year=1832|page=445}}</ref> Funeral sermons were preached by [[Daniel Corrie]] and Thomas Thomason.<ref>{{cite book|author=M. Derozario|title=The Complete Monumental Register:: Containing All the Epitaphs, Inscriptions, &c. &c. &c. in the Different Churches and Burial-grounds, in and about Calcutta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3HYIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA221|year=1815|publisher=P. Ferris|page=221}}</ref>

==Family==
Brown married, first, a Miss Robinson of Hull, who died in 1794; and then in 1796, to Frances Cowley, daughter of [[Hannah Cowley (writer)|Hannah Cowley]]. On his death he left nine children.<ref name="ODNB"/> Buchanan mentioned three sons, who had been schooled in languages.<ref>{{cite book|author=Claudius Buchanan|title=Christian Researches in Asia: With Notices on the Translation of the Scriptures Into the Oriental Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BnwXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA136+|year=1812|publisher=Richard Scott|page=136}}</ref>

The family received support from the [[East India Company]], moved to London, and Frances Brown died in Bristol, in 1822.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Josiah Pratt|author2=Zachary Macaulay|title=The Christian Observer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VovNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA115|year=1814|publisher=S. Whiting|page=115}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=A. Ranga Reddy|title=The State of Rayalaseema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_g9T8UoCeO4C&pg=PA349|year=2003|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-7099-814-3|page=349}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KFEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA380|year=1822|publisher=F. Jefferies|page=380}}</ref> Brown's children were:

*Jane Grant (1792–1821), the only surviving child of the first marriage, married [[Robert Merttins Bird]] in 1810 and remained in India.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=2450|first=David J.|last=Howlett|title=Bird, Robert Merttins}}</ref><ref name="Telugu">{{cite book|author=Peter L. Schmitthenner|title=Telugu Resurgence: C.P. Brown and Cultural Consolidation in Nineteenth-century South India|year=2001|publisher=Manohar|isbn=978-81-7304-291-1|page=60 note 59}}</ref>
*James Cowley Brown (died 1854), the eldest son, Bengal Civil Service<ref>{{cite book|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0A9IAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA440|year=1854|publisher=W. Pickering|page=440}}</ref>
*[[Charles Philip Brown]]<ref name="DNB"/>
*[[George Francis Brown]] of the Bengal Civil Service, writer in 1820, Magistrate and Collector of [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Juanpore]] in 1831;<ref>{{cite book|title=A General Register of the Hon'ble East India Company's Civil Servants of the Bengal Establishment from 1790 to 1842 ...: To which is Added a List of the Governors General of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I5cxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA45|year=1844|publisher=Printed at the Baptist Mission Press|page=45}}</ref>
*Hannah Elizabeth, the second daughter, married [[William Wilberforce Bird (governor)|William Wilberforce Bird]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Blackwood's Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p0dOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA768|year=1819|publisher=W. Blackwood|page=768}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Holmes and Co. (Calcutta, India)|title=The Bengal Obituary: Or, a Record to Perpetuate the Memory of Departed Worth, Being a Compilation of Tablets and Monumental Inscriptions from Various Parts of the Bengal and Agra Presidencies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-HwSiLns14C&pg=PA379|year=1851|publisher=J. Thomas|page=379}}</ref>
*Frances, died 1824 aged 1818.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Bengal Obituary ... being a compilation of monumental inscriptions ... biographical sketches and memoirs ... By Holmes & Co|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJZeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA146|year=1851|page=146}}</ref>
*Ann Frushard (1804–1892), married the merchant Matthew Gisborne, son of [[Thomas Gisborne]].<ref name="Telugu"/><ref>[http://www.natstand.org.uk/pdf/BabingtonCC000.pdf natstand, Babington, Charles Cardale (1808 – 1895), (PDF), at p. 14]</ref>
*Lydia Martyn, married in 1826 John Carysfort Proby, cleric and son of Baptist John Proby.<ref>{{acad|id=PRBY816JC|name=Proby, John Carysfort}}</ref>
*Sarah Robinson, youngest daughter, married in 1831 George Merttins Bird.<ref>{{cite book|title=Asiatic Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA42|year=1832|publisher=Parbury, Allen, and Company|page=42}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle=Brown, David (1763-1812)|volume=7}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, David}}
[[Category:1763 births]]
[[Category:1812 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Anglican deacons]]
[[Category:19th-century Anglican deacons]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Anglican missionaries in India]]
[[Category:British East India Company civil servants]]
[[Category:English expatriates in India]]
[[Category:Clergy from Yorkshire]]

David Brown (East India Company chaplain) - Revision history

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