Brown was born in
Granger,
Utah Territory, to Homer Manley Brown and Lydia Jane Brown. He later recorded the event of his birth: "It is alleged that I was born in Granger, Utah, in 1883, on the 24th of October. I was there but do not remember the event. However, my mother was an honest woman and I must take her word." They settled in Alberta, and the first six of the couple's eight children were born there.
Military service In 1912, Canadian leaders of the Church asked Brown to go to
Calgary and take military training preliminary to organizing a Latter-day Saint contingent for the Canadian reserves. The reserve cavalry unit was established in 1914, with the outbreak of
World War I, and became part of the Thirteenth Overseas Mounted Rifles in 1915. By 1917, Brown had achieved the rank of Colonel in the
Canadian military noting that "I had made some progress in the First World War in the Canadian army. In fact, I was a field officer, and there was only one man between me and the rank of general, which I had cherished in my heart for years. Then he became a casualty." He believed that he would have attained a higher rank without what Brown perceived as prejudice in the
British Empire against the Church members. In one instance, he was told that he was denied further promotion; although the reason was not specified, Brown looked at the papers on the desk of the senior officer that stated, "This man is a Mormon." Brown suffered what he believed were other injustices from the military establishment, including being forced by a superior officer to sell a beloved horse . The imperial military significantly influenced Brown, as shown in accounts of his service in his later writing, but he ultimately turned away from a military career.
Legal training After returning to Canada, Brown was employed as a cowboy, a farmer, and a businessman. He renewed an interest in the study of law, which he began at the
Law Society of Alberta prior to his military service, by working with Z. W. Jacobs, a
Cardston barrister. Brown completed the five-year apprenticeship while he was working a farm he had purchased near Cardston. After passing the bar examination at the
University of Alberta, he was admitted to the bar in 1921.
Health challenges Brown suffered from a rare nerve disorder called
trigeminal neuralgia (TN), also called Tic Douloureux, which has been called one of the most painful ailments known to mankind. He had the condition attacks intermittently for about 20 years of his life, from 1926. At Christmastime in 1944, while he was overseas during
World War II, he sent a three-page, typewritten, single-spaced essay to his family, "An Unprofessional Analysis of 'Tic Douloureux' by a Surviving Victim." The letter stated that he would "be glad to say goodbye to it forever." Brown had surgery to sever his trigeminal nerve in 1945, but the attacks returned while he was teaching at
Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1946. He later underwent surgery again at the
Mayo Clinic, where a section of his nerve was completely removed, which made the left side of his head completely numb for the rest of his life. ==LDS Church==