A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Brown, Samuel
BROWN, Kt. K.H. (Retired Captain, 1842. f-p., 14; h-p., 38.)
Sir Samuel Brown, born in 1776, is eldest son of the late William Brown, Esq., of Borland, co. Galloway.
This officer entered the Navy, 8 June, 1795, as A.B., on board the Assistance 50, Capts. Hen. Mowat, John Okes Hardy, Robt. Hall, and Rich. Lee, in which ship he continued to serve, as Midshipman, Master’s Mate, and Acting-Lieutenant, on the Newfoundland and North Sea stations, until 1801. During that period, under Capt. Mowat, he witnessed the surrender, 28 Aug. 1796, of the French 36-gun frigate Elizabeth to the Topaze 36, one of a squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Geo. Murray; and, in the summer of 1800, under Capt. Hall, he brought the Duke of Kent from Halifax to England. He was confirmed into the Irresistible 74, attached to the fleet in the Channel, 6 Nov. 1801; was next appointed, 5 July, 1803, to the Royal Sovereign 100, Capts. Rich. Curry and Pulteney Malcolm, one of whom he accompanied to the Mediterranean; there removed, 15 March, 1804, to the Kent 74, Capt. John Chambers White; and, on 30 Jan. 1805, joined, as First-Lieutenant, the Phoenix, of 42 guns and 245 men, Capt. Thos. Baker. On 10 Aug. following Mr. Brown was present in the brilliant action which rendered the French frigate La Didon, of 46 guns and 330 men, a prize to the Phoenix, after a furious action of three hours and a half, which cost the former a loss of 27 killed and 44 wounded, and the latter of 12 killed and 28 wounded; yet were six years suffered to roll away before he was awarded that promotion to which, as second in command on an occasion of such heroic gallantry, he was so pre-eminently entitled. After sharing, on 4 Nov. in the same year, in Sir Rich. John Strachan’s capture of the four French line-of-battle ships that had escaped from Trafalgar, he was transferred, with Capt. Baker, to the Didon, which ship had been added to the British Navy. He was subsequently appointed, 23 Aug. 1806, to the Imperieuse 38, Capts. Lord Cochrane and Alex. Skene, employed in the Channel; and, for short periods, 28 Dec. 1807, and 14 Nov. 1809, to the Flore 36, and Ulysses 44, the latter commanded by the Hon. Warwick Lake. He was ultimately advanced to the rank of Commander 1 Aug. 1811; and, on 18 May, 1842, unable to procure further promotion, he accepted the rank of Retired Captain. He was nominated a K.H. 13 Jan. 1835.
Sir Samuel Brown has obtained considerable celebrity by his introduction, besides many other useful inventions, of chain-cables, and suspension bridges and piers. Of the latter it may be sufficient to indicate, as standing monuments of his genius, the bridge across the river Tweed, which was commenced in 1819 and finished in 1820, – and the Pier at Brighton. He married, 14 Aug. 1822, Mary, daughter of John Home, Esq., Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh. Agents – Pellet and Newton.