Brown was born on 11 February 1885, in
Chesterfield,
Derbyshire, England. He was the son of Jane (born Woodcock) and William Brown, who was a bootmaker and Methodist
lay preacher. Brown attended
Clay Cross Grammar School on a scholarship and was then apprenticed to a
patternmaker at a steam-engine manufacturing company. He had a "restless disposition" and also briefly worked as a piano salesman and in a coal mine in the north of England. He was a member of the
Social Democratic Federation and became "steeped in Marxian theory".
Canada In 1908, Brown moved to Canada where he became involved with the
Socialist Party of Canada. His first major political speech was a three-hour address in
Victoria, British Columbia. He stood unsuccessfully for the
House of Commons in
Victoria City at the
1911 federal election. Brown became disillusioned with the movement's lack of success and doctrinaire nature. He was briefly imprisoned for street agitation, and subsequently returned to England.
Move to Australia Brown arrived in
Sydney in 1912 and, within a few months, was president of the Sydney branch of the Australasian Socialist Party. Shortly after, he was arrested for illegal public speaking in
Wollongong. He and a friend walked to
Brisbane in April 1913, where he was again gaoled for speaking without a permit. He married Beatrice Agnes Hinchsliff in 1914, with whom he had three children. Brown became the organising secretary of the Brisbane branch of the Socialist Party, and was a regular contributor to
The International Socialist. By 1917, he was involved with the
Industrial Workers of the World, travelling around Queensland giving speeches. His activities drew the attention of the
Commonwealth Investigation Branch, which reported that he was involved with "the worst revolutionary elements of Brisbane". He applied for a passport to travel to Russia and study
Bolshevism, but was refused. In the lead-up to the
1917 conscription plebiscite, Brown was employed as an organiser by the Anti-Conscription Campaign Committee. His radicalism waned, and he later found work as an agent for the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and as a salesman for Finney Isles and Co., a furniture and drapery firm. He joined the Shop Assistants' Union, serving as an organiser and vice-president and, from 1925 to 1927, served as vice-president of the
Trades and Labour Council of Queensland. ==Politics==