Thomas Storrow Brown (July 7, 1803 – November 26, 1888) was a Canadian journalist, writer, orator, and revolutionary in
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
(present-day
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
).
Biography
Born in
St. Andrews, New Brunswick, the son of Henry Barlow Brown and Rebecca Appleton, as a young man in 1818
he moved to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, 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 the
Legislative Council of Quebec
The Legislative Council of Quebec (French; ''Conseil législatif du Québec'') was the unelected upper house of the bicameral legislature in the Canadian province of Quebec from 1867 to 1968. The Legislative Assembly was the elected lower hou ...
would be appointed by the
Legislative Assembly's majority party. Brown also worked to improve social conditions through aid to the poor. Influenced by the republic
form of government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
in the United States, over time his frustrations with the government of Great Britain saw him join the ''
Montreal Vindicator
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
'' newspaper in 1832 at the invitation of his friend
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, (probably 27 February 1797 – 29 May 1880) was a doctor and journalist.
Career
Born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, he studied medicine in Paris and immigrated to Lower Canada in 1823 where he became involved ...
. Following the death of founder
Daniel Tracey
Daniel Tracey (probably 1794 – July 18, 1832) born in Roscrea, Tipperary County, Ireland, was a doctor, journalist and Canadian politician.
He arrived in the Province of Lower Canada (today Quebec) with his younger siblings in 1825. Th ...
, 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
Earl of Gosford is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1806 for Arthur Acheson, 2nd Viscount Gosford.
The Acheson family descends from the Scottish statesman Sir Archibald Acheson, 1st Baronet of Edinburgh, who later settled ...
despite the fact that he had ordered the dissolution of the
British 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
The Lower Canada Rebellion (french: rébellion du Bas-Canada), commonly referred to as the Patriots' War () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now south ...
and was head of the military faction of the rebel group, the
Société des Fils de la Liberté The Société des Fils de la Liberté (, ''Society of the Sons of Liberty'') was a paramilitary organization founded in August 1837 in Lower Canada (modern-day Quebec).
History
The society was founded by young supporters of the Parti patriote w ...
, 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 the
Doric Club
The Doric Club was an association of Loyals set up in Lower Canada by Adam Thom, a lawyer and journalist, in March 1836. A noted opponent of the Patriotes, the group was both a social club and a paramilitary organization. It was used as the ar ...
but nevertheless, in December he still fought against government forces at the
Battle of Saint-Charles. Defeated, he escaped to the United States where he worked as a journalist in Florida. In 1844, he was granted an
amnesty
Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
and returned to Montreal 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 (
online
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...
)
* ''A History of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada compiled from public documents'', 186
online* "My Escape in 1837", in ''New Dominion Monthly'', 1869 or
online
* "Brief Sketch of the Life and Times of the late Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau", in ''New Dominion Monthly'', 1872
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'', 1884.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Thomas Storrow
1803 births
1888 deaths
Appleton family
Journalists from New Brunswick
Lower Canada Rebellion people
Pre-Confederation Quebec people
Quebec revolutionaries
Canadian Unitarians
Canadian republicans
People from St. Andrews, New Brunswick
19th-century Canadian journalists
Canadian male journalists
Writers from New Brunswick
Anglophone Quebec people
19th-century Canadian male writers