CAPT. JOHN GORDON BROWN, M.C., ROYAL FUSILIERS (CITY OF LONDON REGT.), DIVISIONAL TRENCH MORTAR OFFICER, 47TH DIVISION. KILLED IN ACTION AT RADINGHEM, OCTOBER 5TH, 1918. AGED 24. At the School 1907-12 (Hill Side). Capt. J. G. Brown, M.C., was the second son of Sir Herbert and Lady Brown, of Coombe Lodge, Croydon. His father was awarded the K.B.E. in 1920 for his services as organiser of the British Farmers' Red Cross Fund, through which he raised over £1,000,000. He also originated the Public Schools' Base Hospital Scheme. This he first put forward in an address in Big School, and it was so keenly taken up that a Tonbridge School Hospital Fund was at once opened at Lloyds Bank. Contributions from the School and O.T.'s came in rapidly, and in THE TONBRIDGIAN for December, 1914, it was stated that, even if the scheme was not generally taken up, the School would provide and maintain a ward in one of the base hospitals in France. The scheme was taken up by the Red Cross authorities and warmly supported by other schools. After the demobilisation of the British Red Cross he transferred his services to the French Red Cross. The eldest son, Reginald Herbert Brown (H.S. 1905-8, Hertford Coll., Oxon), enlisted in the 16th (P.S.) Battn. of the Middlesex Regiment in September 1914, but was invalided out in October, and returned to Oxford till 1916. He then served for some months with the Y.M.C.A. in France, but in January 1917, joined the 2nd Artists Rifles O.T.C., and obtained a commission, dated October 31st 1917, in the 19th Battn. of the Middlesex Regiment, with which he served in France from April 17th 1918, and subsequently went in the Army of the Rhine to Cologne. The third son, M. R. Brown (H.S. 1913-16, Ho. Prse. 1916), entered the R.M.C. in 1917, but, deciding not to take a commission, enlisted in August 1918, in the 3rd Battn. of The Queen's R. W. Surrey Regiment. Another son, C. M. Brown, entered the School in September 1918, and left in July 1920. J. G. Brown entered the School in September 1907, from Yardley Court School, and was in the Modern Sixth for over three years. He became a House Praepostor in May 1911, and Captain of his House and a School Praepostor in September 1911. In 1912 he won the Middle-weight Boxing, gained his 1st XV. Colours as full back, and was promoted Sergeant in the O.T.C. After leaving, at Christmas 1912, he studied practical milling at Messrs. Aizlewood's mill, near Sheffield, till 1914, and had been at one of his father's mills at Croydon for a few months when war broke out. On August 15th 1914, he enliksted in the 10th Battn. of the Royal Fusiliers, City of London Regiment, and was almost immediately promoted Sergeant in consequence of his experience as Sergeant in the O.T.C. at School, and, receiving a temporary commission in the same Battalion, dated September 26th 1914, was promoted Lieutenant, May 25th 1915. In the following September he went out to France and, becoming attached to one of the newly formed Trench Mortar Batteries, was definitely transferred to the General List for service with T.M. Batteries on May 30th 1916. He served with Y-47 T.M.B. till the end of t he Somme campaign, and was gazetted Acting Captain in command of the Battery, July 1st 1916. As announced in the Gazette of July 27th 1916, he was awarded the M.C., the paragraph accompanying the award being as follows : "For conspicuous gallantry. He continued to work his guns under very heavy hostile shell fire and silenced the enemy's guns after three hours of fighting. On another occasion his battery was engaged during three successive days, and, when his guns were buried and dug-outs blown in, he kept up fire with one gun, while the others were being dug out. He has set a fine example to his men." In September 1916, he was appointed Divisional Trench Mortar Officer, 47th Division, and in this capacity he served continuously in various parts of the Western Front till October 5th 1918. On that day he bicycled for\ward from Brigade H.Q. to reconnoitre for a T.M. position in the neighbourhood of Radinghem, near Lille, and never returned. Next day his bicycle was found by the roadside near an advanced post, but he had not been seen, possibly because he was making his way forward along a disused trench. An enemy post was only a few hundred yards away, and he may have walked right into this without knowing it to be there. No information has been obtained as to how he met his death, but on March 30th the War Office reported that information had been obtained from Berlin that his body had been found and buried, presumably by Germans, at Radinghem. It is, therefore, presumned that he was killed on October 5th 1918. He was mentioned in the despatch dated March 16th 1919. A brother officer on H.Q. of the 47th Division wrote:-   "The event was a great blow to many of us, who had known and appreciated him at his true worth for the thr'ee years that he was with the Division." One of his men wrote:- "It was on March 5th, 1918, when I was transferred to the trench mortars when I first met Captain Brown, and the passing of the past strenuous months has enabled me to form an opinion that he was one of the finest men I ever came across. Always a thorough gentleman in the strictest interpretation of the word, and constantly thinking of the comfort and safety of those under his command, he won the respect and affection of all those with whom he came in contact." His Brigadier-General wrote:- "His loss is a very great one, for your son was an exceedingly valuable trench mortar offlcer, handling his batteries with great skill and keeping up a splendid spirit in the men and ofiicers under his command."