The Colorful Canadian

[dante]

War takes it toll sometimes years after the event.........I hope that this article highlights one mans extreme gallantry and not his flaws......a single 1915 star

We first come across Honorary Temporary Sub-Lt RNVR James "Hardy" Brown when he was MID for his services during the advance on Kut-el-Amara in 1915 and again in 1916: I can only assume he was skipper of one of the Lynch Brothers Tigris river steamers. His RNVR records note him being on the river steamer "Mejidieh" or "Medijidieh"
He is next mentioned in the London Gazette 1917;

His Majesty The KING (is) pleased to approve of the appointments of the undermentioned Officers to be Companions of the Distinguished Service Order in recognition of their gallantry and devotion to duty in the Field: He was invested with the DSO by the Duke of York 20/07/1920.

The DSO to a temporary Sub Lt.......is very rare!

“Temp. Sub-Lt. James Hardy Brown, R.N.V.R. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty throughout the campaign. He has navigated his ship at high speed, night and day, in all weathers, with marked zeal and determination. He has at all times set a magnificent example of courage and initiative”.

In 1917 He was transferred to the army with a note that his middle name was "Harvey" to the Inland Water Transport as a Lt temporary Captain (DSO).

We find him next in 1918 as shipping controller, Caspian sea noted in the Naval review;

" On the reoccupation of the city in November, 1918, the majority of companies owning ships formed a pool under the guidance of Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Brown, D.S.O., I.W.T., and almost the entire financial and other business of the pool, including storing, fuelling, wages of crews, freight charges, etc., was controlled by his office.

To eliminate one among the numberless obstacles to the running of the pool, the Shipping Controller (Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, I.W.T.) employed one steamer, known locally as the Green Alexander to supply mazoot to any ship that needed it at Baku".

He appears to have brought back a wife as he married in 1918 Vita daughter of J M Dual of Baku (Russia) and appointed an OBE in 1919.

It appears civilian life also had its fair share of adventures, he is noted as a banker "J H Brown Ltd" foreign bankers and in 1924 he was made bankrupt as Lieutenant-Colonel James Harvey Brown, 18 Palace, Court, London, W. 2, and St. Stephen's Chambers, Telegraph Street, London, E.G., banker.
In 1931 he was found guilty of fraud and sentence at the old bailey to 18 months in prison and in 1937 his appeal was upheld and exonerated.

An article was written on his death;

http://newspaperarchive.com/lethbridge-herald/1945-09-20/page-5/

A colourful Canadian who lived his last lonely years in a Chelsea flat was found dead at home and a jury later brought in a verdict that James Harvey Brown 65 died of chronic alcoholism.

In 1937 Brown told friends that if he could have sold out his interests at a fair price in 1920.

He was born in or Halifax he son of a lawyer his friends said In early life he went to Texas to be a cowboy.

At 21 he inherited a fortune but lost it At 25 he made another from a shipping venture in San Francisco A later he lost this fortune in the sugar market In 1910 he went to Persia and worked on the opening of the upper Karum river the waterway leading to the Batum and Baku oilfields He formed a company for the transport of mail arid made another fortune First Great War he was a director of river transport on the Tigris and Euphrates and for his services there received the DSO and OBE.

A few years after that war ended he found himself again a poor man In April 1931 he was sentenced in London to six months imprisonment for converting to his own use the property of the International
Brick Co of which he was a director That sentence was quashed by the appeal court Six years later he was sentenced to 18 months on a charge but again the conviction was quashed by the appeal court.

When the Second Great started Brown attempted to enlist again but he was too old He came a voluntary ambulance driver.

Edited January 26, 2013 by dante

[Chris Boonzaier]

I can only repeat... :-) the following poem.... seems to be a comman thread ...

There's a race of men that don't fit in,

A race that can't stay still;

So they break the hearts of kith and kin,

And they roam the world at will.

They range the field and they rove the flood,

And they climb the mountain's crest;

Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,

And they don't know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far;

They are strong and brave and true;

But they're always tired of the things that are,

And they want the strange and new.

They say: "Could I find my proper groove,

What a deep mark I would make!"

So they chop and change, and each fresh move

Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs

With a brilliant, fitful pace,

It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones

Who win in the lifelong race.

And each forgets that his youth has fled,

Forgets that his prime is past,

Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,

In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed
his chance;

He has just done things by half.

Life's been a jolly good joke on him,

And now is the time to laugh.

Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;

He was never meant to win;

He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;

He's a man who won't fit in.

[dante]

Update, note the wrong middle name (its his fathers)

[Mervyn Mitton]

Dante  -  a fascinating biography and despite his later problems he was undoubtedly a brave and resourceful officer.  Sometimes it is quite apparent that some people are more suited to leading a military life.   Thankyou for the research.     Mervyn