LOOKING BACK WITH DR JONATHAN OATES
A gentleman archaeologist
John Allen Brown is
not the most famous
name in Ealing’s history
but lived in Ealing for
most of his adult life
until his death in 1903
and greatly contributed
to local society in the
Victorian era. His legacy
is still with us.
B
rown was a wellknown figure
in middle
class
circles. He was
married and had
five children and
lived at 7 Kent
Gardens (a house
demolished in 1964)
in north Ealing.
As a man who was
wealthy enough not to
have to work, he was able to
pursue his interests unimpeded. In 1882
he wrote a letter to the local newspaper
advocating that the council call a meeting
to decide whether Ealing should have
a public library, which were, then,
relatively rare. This would be of use to
all classes of people in order to better
their education. After a brief campaign,
a library was established in a now long
demolished house on Ealing Green.
56
around ealing
Autumn 2016
Brown became
the library
committee’s first
permanent chairman.
In this role he played
an active part in the work
of the library; writing annual reports,
lobbying funding bodies and overseeing
the move of the library from its first
building to being located in the town
hall on its opening in 1888. The Prince
of Wales was to open the new town
hall and Brown wanted to make a short
address to him about the library. His
fellow committee members disagreed
and there were heated exchanges
leading to Brown’s resignation. He later
opposed the committee for banning
popular but controversial novels.
He took solace from his arguments
over the library in writing history. He
had the first history of any district in
the borough published: The Chronicles
of Greenford Parva, which concerned
Perivale’s history and mythology (not
always distinguished). Prior to this he
had had a book published about the
archaeology of West Middlesex and also
wrote learned articles about fossils and
the Stone Age.
This brings us on to one of Brown’s
passions in life: Ancient man. The vast