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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Colin Rae Brown

Author: Colin Rae Brown (1821–1897)

Biography: Colin Rae Brown (later Rae-Brown) was born in 1821 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, the son of ship captain James Brown and Marion Rae. He worked in a number of fields, including trade, publishing, and fine arts, before turning to literature. In particular, he was involved in founding or running several periodicals, such as the North British Daily Mail, the Daily Bulletin, the Scottish Banner, and the Workman. As a newspaperman, he endured several lawsuits, including one from Dickens for slander in 1858 (dropped after Brown withdrew his remarks). His first collection of poetry was published in 1848 and he followed with several more. Brown wrote only a single work of fiction, the connected stories of Edith Dewar (1875). A staunch Scottish nationalist, Brown was active in the Burns Club, the erection of a national monument to William Wallace, and the organization of a Burns centenary. He married twice: first to Margaret Park Hall (died 1869) and second to Emma Curtis. By his first wife, he had six children, one of whom Campbell Rae Brown became an author and playwright. In 1862, he moved from Glasgow to London where he died in 1897.

Author Tags:

References: British Census (1851, 1861, 1871, 1881); Glasgow Herald (27September 1869); Times (15 September 1897)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Edith Dewar: or, Glimpses of Scottish Life and Manners in the Nineteenth Century.  3 vol.  London: Sampson Low, 1875.