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{{Short description|British athlete, politician and judge}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{MedalTableTop|medals=
{{Medal|Sport | Men's [[Athletics (sport)|athletics]]}}
{{Medal|Country|{{ENG}}}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Commonwealth Games|British Empire Games]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze| [[1934 British Empire Games|1934 London]] | 440 yd hurdles}}
}}
'''Sir Ralph Kilner Brown''', [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], [[Territorial Decoration|TD]], [[Deputy Lieutenant|DL]] (28 August 1909 – 15 June 2003), was a British [[hurdling]] athlete, [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] politician and [[High Court judge (England and Wales)|judge]].

==Background==
He was born in [[Calcutta]], the son of Rev. A. E. Brown. He was educated at [[Kingswood School]], [[Bishop Vesey's Grammar School]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34604|page=1469|date=3 March 1939}}</ref> and [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1149082.ece | title=Sir Ralph Kilner Brown | work= The Times | accessdate=20 December 2010}}</ref>

He married, in 1943, Cynthia Rosemary Breffit. They had one son, two daughters and five grandchildren.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukWhosWho.com/ |title=Home |website=ukWhosWho.com}}</ref>

==Sports career==
He was a British 440 yards hurdles champion. At the [[1934 Empire Games]] he won the bronze medal in the 440 yards [[Hurdling|hurdles]] event. He missed the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] due to injury. His brother [[Godfrey Brown (athlete)|Godfrey]] and sister [[Audrey Brown|Audrey]] both won medals.

==Professional career==
In 1934 he was [[Called to the Bar]] by [[Middle Temple]] and worked at the chambers of [[Donald Finnemore]].

He was commissioned into the [[Royal Army Service Corps]] in March 1939<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34604|page=1469|date=3 March 1939}}</ref> and served on [[Bernard Montgomery|Field Marshal Montgomery's]] staff planning the Normandy landings.

In 1954 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions, becoming Chairman ten years later. He served as Recorder of Lincoln from 1960 to 1964 and Recorder of Birmingham from 1964 to 1965.
He was an additional judge at the Old Bailey before becoming [[Recorder of Liverpool]] from 1967 to 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1433497/Sir-Ralph-Kilner-Brown.html|title=Sir Ralph Kilner Brown|publisher= The Telegraph|accessdate= 17 July 2018}}</ref>

He became a [[High Court judge (England and Wales)|High Court judge]] in 1970 on the Northern Circuit and served until 1985.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukWhosWho.com/ |title=Home |website=ukWhosWho.com}}</ref> He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in February 1970<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45049|page=2373|date= 26 February 1970}}</ref> and also appointed a [[Deputy Lieutenant]] of Warwickshire.

In 1991 his first book was published ''Top Brass and No Brass: Inside Story of the Alliance Between Britain and America''.

==Political career==
At Cambridge University he was the runner-up for the Presidency of the [[Cambridge Union]] and president of the [[Cambridge University Liberal Club|University Liberal Club]], 1931–2. He had become noticed already through his many impassioned speeches as a Young Liberal in opposition to appeasement.<ref>Cripplegate Ward Club</ref>

In 1939 he was adopted as Liberal [[prospective parliamentary candidate]] for the [[Stourbridge (UK Parliament constituency)|Stourbridge]] Division of Worcestershire<ref>The Liberal Magazine, 1939</ref> in succession to his chambers boss Donald Finnemore, but had to wait until after the war ended in 1945 to fight an election. Despite starting in third place, he managed to increase the Liberal share of the vote;
{{Election box begin |
|title=[[1945 United Kingdom general election|General Election 1945]]: Stourbridge<ref>Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. {{ISBN|0-900178-06-X}}.</ref>
Electorate 97,095
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Labour Party (UK)
|candidate = [[Arthur Moyle, Baron Moyle|Arthur Moyle]]
|votes = 34,912
|percentage = 48.5
|change = +14.2
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Conservative Party (UK)
|candidate = [[Robert Morgan (British politician)|Robert Harry Morgan]]
|votes = 18,979
|percentage = 26.3
|change = -17.2
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party = Liberal Party (UK)
|candidate = '''Lt-Col. Ralph Kilner Brown'''
|votes = 18,159
|percentage = 25.2
|change = +3.0
}}
{{Election box majority|
|votes = 15,933
|percentage = 22.1
|change =
}}
{{Election box turnout|
|votes =
|percentage = 74.2
|change =
}}
{{Election box gain with party link|
|winner = Labour Party (UK)
|loser = Conservative Party (UK)
|swing =
}}
{{Election box end}}

He was President of Birmingham Liberal Organisation, 1946–56.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukWhosWho.com/ |title=Home |website=ukWhosWho.com}}</ref> At the 1950 General Election, after boundary changes, Stourbridge was divided with part going into the new [[Oldbury and Halesowen (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldbury and Halesowen]] seat. He fought this new seat for the Liberals. He finished third again.<ref>British parliamentary election results 1950-1973 Craig, FWS</ref>
He was Chairman of the West Midlands Liberal Federation, 1950–56. He was a Member of the Liberal Party National Executive, 1950–56.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukWhosWho.com/ |title=Home |website=ukWhosWho.com}}</ref>

In 1959 he was Liberal candidate for the [[South Buckinghamshire (UK Parliament constituency)|South Buckinghamshire]] Division. At the General Election he finished third. He continued to play an active part within the Liberal Party at a national level, being a Member of Liberal Party Council.<ref>The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1964</ref> He fought South Buckinghamshire again at the following General Election in 1964 and pushed the Labour candidate into third place. However, this was his last parliamentary contest.<ref>British parliamentary election results 1950-1973 Craig, FWS</ref>

In 1970 he declined an invitation to become a Liberal peer but accepted a knighthood.<ref>Cripplegate Ward Club</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1433497/Sir-Ralph-Kilner-Brown.html Obituary] in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]],'' 20. Juni 2003
* [http://www.topsinathletics.com/default.asp?page=msp&id=85464556 Profile] at ''TOPS in athletics''
*Cripplegate Ward Club: [http://www.cripplegatewardclub.org/index.php/about-us/obituaries/59-2003-sir-ralph-kilner-brown obituary]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Ralph Kilner}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:People educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Athletes from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:British sportsperson-politicians]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates]]
[[Category:20th-century English judges]]
[[Category:English male hurdlers]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Deputy Lieutenants of Warwickshire]]
[[Category:Queen's Bench Division judges]]
[[Category:Royal Army Service Corps officers]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]

Ralph Kilner Brown - Revision history

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