- Thomas Storrow Brown
Thomas Storrow Brown (
July 7 ,1803 –November 26 ,1888 ) [Fernand Ouellet . " [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=39520 Brown, Thomas Storrow] ", in "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online", University of Toronto and Université Laval, 2000, retrieved May 23, 2008] was a journalist, writer, orator, and revolutionary inLower Canada (present-dayQuebec ).Biography
Born in St. Andrews,
New Brunswick , the son of Henry Barlow Brown and Rebecca Appelton, as a young man he moved toMontreal , Lower Canada. Once there, he found work and with his savings eventually went into the hardware business. His operation encountered financial difficulties and closed leaving Brown to find other employment.A member of the
Unitarian Church , Thomas Brown was an advocate for both social and political reform, supporting the concept of responsible government in which the members of theLegislative Council of Quebec would be appointed by the Legislative Assembly's majority party. Brown also worked to improve social conditions through aid to the poor. Influenced by therepublic form of government in theUnited States , over time his frustrations with the government ofGreat Britain saw him join the "Montreal Vindicator " newspaper in 1832 at the invitation of his friendEdmund Bailey O'Callaghan . Following the death of founderDaniel Tracey , O'Callaghan had been appointed the paper's new editor and with Brown, they continued to espouse the former owner's radical views. Their attacks were especially harsh against the Governor of the Colony, Lord Gosford despite the fact that he had ordered the dissolution of theBritish Rifle Corps in January 1836.In 1833, Brown's wife, Jane Hughes, died. By this time, Brown had moved firmly from a moderate who sought to reform the political system, to a radical wanting to fundamentally alter Canadian society. In 1837 he participated in the
Lower Canada Rebellion and was head of the military faction of the rebel group, theSociété des Fils de la Liberté , that openly advocating revolution. In November, Brown was wounded and partially blinded in one eye during the street fight between the Société des Fils de la Liberté and theDoric Club but nevertheless in December he still fought against theBritish Army at theBattle of Saint-Charles . Defeated, he escaped to the United States where he worked as a journalist inFlorida . In 1844, he was granted anamnesty and returned to Montréal where Charles Wilson gave him a job in his hardware store. Brown married Hester Livingston in 1860 and a little more than a year later was given administrative posts in the government. Thomas Storrow Brown died at his home in Montreal in 1888 at the age of eighty-five.Works
* "Address of the Fils de la liberté of Montreal to the young people of the colonies of North America", 1837 ( [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Address_of_the_Fils_de_la_libert%C3%A9_of_Montreal_to_the_young_people_of_the_colonies_of_North_America online] )
* "A History of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada compiled from public documents", 1864 [http://books.google.ca/books?id=g7ANAAAAQAAJ online]
* "My Escape in 1837", in "New Dominion Monthly", 1869 or ( [http://english.republiquelibre.org/1837_and_my_connection_with_it online] )
* "Brief Sketch of the Life and Times of the late Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau", in "New Dominion Monthly", 1872 ( [http://english.republiquelibre.org/Brief_Sketch_of_the_Life_and_Times_of_the_Hon._Louis_Joseph_Papineau online] )
* "The Rebellion of 1837; Interesting reminiscences; Progress of events; The Ministers sent out from England", 1873
* "Strong drink: what it is, and what it does", 1884Notes
References
*
Fernand Ouellet . " [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5398 Brown, Thomas Storrow] ", in "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online", University of Toronto and Université Laval, 2000
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