William Laurence Brown

The grave of William Laurence Brown, Kirk of St Nicholas, Aberdeen

Brown was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands. His father, William Brown, was minister of the English church there, but was then appointed professor of ecclesiastical history at St Andrews, and therefore returned to Scotland in 1757. Brown went to the grammar school there, and then to the university, graduating MA in 1772. After passing through the divinity classes, in 1774 he went to the University of Utrecht, where he studied theology and civil law.[1]

He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of St Andrews in October 1777 and he was appointed minister the Scots Church in Utrecht in place of his uncle Robert Brown in January 1778. The University awarded him a Doctor of Divinity in 1784. In 1788 he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy and Law of Nations (International Law) at the University of Utrecht. To this was added the professorship of the law of nature. He was made Rector of the University of Utrecht in 1790. At the threat of French invasion of the Netherlands following the French Revolution Brown and his young family sailed back to Aberdeen in January 1795.[1]

In June 1795 the magistrates of Aberdeen elected him to the post of minister of Greyfriars Church and he was ordained into that post in August 1795[2] at the same time being given the post of Professor of Divinity at Marischal College, which physically adjoins the church. In January 1796 he was made Principal of Marischal College in place of George Campbell. In March 1800 he was appointed Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, and in October 1803 was made Dean of the Chapel Royal, and awarded the Order of the Thistle.[1]

From 1824 to 1828 he was Patron of the Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen.[3]

He is buried in the Kirk of St Nicholas on Union Street in Aberdeen.

In May 1786 in Utrecht he married his first cousin, Ann Elizabeth Brown (1764–1844), daughter of Rev Robert Brown of the Scots Church in Utrecht (1728–1777).

Their nine children were:

• Rev William Robert Brown (1787-1859), minister of little Clacton, Essex
• Laurence George Brown MA (b.1788)
• Catherine Mary Ann (b.1790)
• Joanna (Janet) Elizabeth (b.1791)
• Robert James Brown (b.1792), Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1846/47.[4]
• Ann (Nancy) Elizabeth (1795-1847) married James Conacher lawyer in Dunkeld
• Dr John Moore Brown (b.1797) physician in Aberdeen
• Helen Jane Brown (b.1797-1848) twin of John
• Dr George Gilbert Brown (1800-1873) Inspector General of Hospitals

• The History of St Rule's Chapel (1780)
• An essay on the Folly of Scepticism (1788)
• An essay on Sensibility (1791)
• An Essay on the Natural Equality of Men (1793), which gained the Teylers Eerste Genootschap's prize;
• On the Existence of the Supreme Creator (1826), to which was awarded the first Burnet prize of £1250; and
• A Comparative View of Christianity, and of the other Forms of Religion with regard to their Moral Tendency (2 vols, 1826).

Citations

Sources

• Anderson, Peter John; Johnstone, James Fowler Kellas (1889). Fasti Academiae Mariscallanae Aberdonensis : selections from the records of the Marischal College and University, MDXClll-MDCCCLX. Aberdeen: Printed for the New Spalding Club. pp. 72 52, 72.
• Anderson, William (1877). The Scottish nation; or, The surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland. Vol. 1. Edinburgh [etc.] : A. Fullarton & co. pp. 397-400. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Blaikie, William Garden (1886). "Brown, William Laurence". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 07. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Chambers, Robert; Thomson, Thomas (1857). A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen. New ed., rev. under the care of the publishers. With a supplementary volume, continuing the biographies to the present time. Glasgow: Blackie. pp. 320–321. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Scott, Hew (1926). Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation. Vol. 6. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. p. 8. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Scott, Hew (1928). Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation. Vol. 7. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. pp. 360-361. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Steven, William (1832). The history of the Scottish church, Rotterdam. Edinburgh: Waugh & Innes, etc. pp. 342-343.
• Wright, D. F. "Brown, William Laurence". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3663. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Attribution: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brown, William Laurence". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.