Obituary

SIR WILLIAM BROWN

AN OLTTSTANDING CIVIL I- SERVANT

Sir William Barrowclough Brown, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.B.E., Permanent Under-Secretary for Air, died suddenly at Monkceaton, Northumberland, on Tuesday evening at the age of 53.

Few members of the Civil Service were better known than Sir William, and certainly none had established a! wider circle of friends during his career in many Government departments. It is said that when " Billy Brown " first made his appearance on the tube railway station posters Sir William was deluged with hundreds of letters, and to many of them he reptied with the caustic humnour which his colleagues knew so well.

Born in 1893, educated- at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastlen-Tyne, and King's College, Cambridge, he served in The Nothumberland Fusiliers in the 1914-18 war, was wounded and was invalided from the Arny in 1917. He joined the staff of the Board of Trade in a temporary capacity a year later, and in 1919 was appointed to the Home Civil Service. For 10 years from 1924 he acted as private secretary to successive Presidents of the Board of Trade, and while he did magnificent work in that capacity the long hours he was compelled to put in both at the Board of Trade and at the House of Commons undoubtedly undermined his health. He was made a C.B.E. in 1931. A breakdowvn led to a holiday trip to South America, and though he returned to duty it was obvious to his friends that he was working under great difficulty.

In 1934 Brown's hard work was recognized by his appointment to be second secretary tol the Board of Trade and his being mnade a C.B. A year later he was appointed to act as deputy to the Chief Industrial Adviser to the Government. In 1937 he was made a K.C.M.G. and became Permanent Secretary on the transfer of Sir Horace Hamilton to the Scottish Office, and the foUowing year was promo(ed to K.C.B. Two years. later he was seconded for duty as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Supply in succession to Sir George Gater. It was obvious that the heavy pressure of work was again teling on his health, and in February, 1942, he was given leave of absence. By June of that year he was back at work and was seconded for duty in the Petroleum Branch of the Ministry of Fuel.

The next department with which he was associated was the Ministry of Home Security, to which he was appointed secretary in November, 1943. In 1944 he was engaged on a special mission for the Govermnent to Washington, and in October, 1945, he became Permanent Under-Secretary to the Air Ministry. He struggled bravely to carry on there, but illness kept him away from the office a good deal. Yet he never lost his cheerful courage as those who worked with him on the Admiralty, War Office, Air Ministry,...