James Drysdale Brown (21 April 1850 – 5 April 1922) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

to accountant John Brown and Jessie Gilmour. He grew up in France, being educated in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and migrated to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 1862. He worked as a clerk from 1866 to 1873 and than as an accountant with the

Bank of Victoria A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

at Inglewood and St Arnaud. From 1877 he was a Colonial Bank branch manager. After contracting

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

, he travelled around the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

and to England, where he studied law. In 1894 he was called to the Victorian Bar, but he worked mainly as a mining investor in the Maryborough district. In 1904 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...

for Nelson Province. A non-

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

member, he was

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and Solicitor-General from 1909 to 1913, and served as Minister of Mines, Forests and Public Health from 1913 to 1915. Brown died in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1922. His brother

Vigor Brown John Vigor Brown (18 June 1854 – 2 September 1942), known as Vigor Brown, was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Napier, in the North Island. He was Mayor of Napier for a total of 18 years. He was a well-known figure in his adopted city, ...

was prominent in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, James Drysdale 1850 births 1922 deaths Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Attorneys-General of Victoria Solicitors-General of Victoria British expatriates in France British emigrants to colonial Australia