‘Buster’ Brown
Detail from photograph below published in the War Illustrated 20/11/1941

Major John Austin Brown TD was born on 26 February 1905, in St Albans. He became a solicitor and was known in the Regiment as ‘Buster’.

He was with the Inns of Court OTC before gaining a commission in the Regiment on 12 November 1926.

He was initiated whilst sill a Subaltern in November 1924, aged 24. The next decade saw him rise through the offices becoming Worshipful Master in October 1935.

The war saw him serving with Ellison-Macartney in Calais, commanding C Company and interned for the duration. The Regiment departed for France in such a rush that Austin Brown did not even have time to say good-bye, writing some months later from Oflag VIIC in Laufen Castle to his wife to explain what had happened. He is shown below in a cutting from the War Illustrated.

Returning home and to the Lodge he threw himself back into Masonry, returning to the ladder and rising to become Master for the second time in in October 1954. That not being sufficient October 1959 saw him as Junior Deacon for a third time! He even filled this office in both 1959 and 1960, mirroring that with being Junior Warden in both 1962 and 1963. He did not however occupy the chair again. He went on the non-dining list in 1968. He completed 60 year in the Lodge and in Masonry at the age of 84.

He was awarded LGR in 1949

He retired from the Regiment due to the age limit in March 1955.

He died in London in April 1996 at the age of 91.