[1] He arrived at Port Elizabeth in 1858, having survived a bout of confluent smallpox on the voyage, and set off to teach in Bloemfontein, but found the post already filled, so that he moved to Aliwal North, remaining there for the rest of his life.

He filled the role of postmaster and postman from about 1863 to 1882, and in 1865 was appointed as clerk to the resident magistrate; the income from these minor offices amounted to a pittance and Brown remained poor all his life.

[3] The Burgersdorp Formation and the Stormberg Series proved to be a rich source of material, and an undemanding work schedule left Brown with ample time to pursue his interest in natural history.

Some 350 specimens were sent to the comparative anatomist Thomas Henry Huxley, including parts of what seemed like a megalosaurus and eventually named Euskelosaurus browni in Brown's honour.

His interest in archaeology may be traced back to 1870 when he contributed to an article on Stone implements in South Africa by Langham Dale,[4] in the Cape Monthly Magazine (2nd series, Vol.

He gathered a large number of stone artefacts and excavated several caves, but refused to give Louis Péringuey access to the collection.

These artefacts were not marked and careless transporting after his death by the South African Museum resulted in a jumbled pile of little value to science.

He had a retiring nature, shunned intimacy and adopted the lifestyle of a hermit, but at the same time valued his friendship with Daniel Rossouw Kannemeyer,[5] a fellow palaeontologist and collector from nearby Burgersdorp.