Major Brown was born in Monkseaton on 3 March 1921 and grew up there, studying at the local Royal Grammar School. He then went on to read law at King’s College, Newcastle (today Newcastle University), but in 1939 had to cut his studies short to train with and serve in the Army. Major Brown met his wife Audrey in 1939, while on training break, and they were engaged in 1942, shortly before Major Brown left Britain on his first overseas deployment (as well as his first trip overseas). They married in 1945 once he returned home.
At the start of his army career, an eighteen-year-old Major Brown signed up for the Territorial Army (a volunteer reserve force), and was attached to the Royal Artillery Unit of the British Army for the duration of his training. Upon completion of his training, Major Brown officially joined the Royal Artillery Unit. Rising through the ranks fairly quickly, Major Brown is listed in 1941 official records as a 2nd Lieutenant, and was promoted to Lieutenant the year after. When WWII broke out in September 1945, he was made a Captain, and shortly after a Major.
His law training came in useful during the post-WWII period: in 1947, Major Brown “travelled to Singapore to assist in the preparation of evidence for the war crimes trials”. He led the prosecution counsel for the cases of “Kaneko Minoru” as well as “Furukawa Ichiji and Others”, where he is listed in trial documents as Major D.E. Brown. After completing his work with the Singapore War Crimes Trials and returning home, he “qualified as a Solicitor and joined a private practice in Newcastle”, before becoming “the Chief Prosecuting Solicitor for the Northumbria Police Authority”, a position he kept till his retirement.
Throughout his life, Major Brown was passionate about recording and telling stories, which manifested in a passion for film-making. When he was assigned in 1942 to “train Indian army recruits” in Northwest India in preparation for the “North African campaign”, he bought “an old 16 millimetre camera in a bazaar” to record daily life in India. When he was re-deployed to neighbouring Burma, to “support a renewed allied offensive against the Japanese in Burma”, he brought the camera along as well. Post-WWII, Major Brown made a name for himself as an accomplished amateur filmmaker, winning “many awards throughout the country for his films”, with “some of his war and early films” having been shown on the British television channels BBC and ITV.
Note: because additional information cannot be found, unless otherwise stated, information for this biography was largely drawn from Derek Elliott Brown’s obituary, published in the Royal Grammar School’s alumni association publication, the Old Novocastrians Association Magazine. The obituary was written by Major Brown’s wife, Audrey M Brown, and his daughters Diana Morgan and Hilary Dawe. The obituary was sent to me by Mr Hans Houterman, lead researcher at “World War II unit histories and officers”.
