Brown said later in life that his parents were married in a Catholic service in Ireland in August 1819, but this claim seems to be discounted by biographers as an attempt to cover up his illegitimacy, which was a social stigma in those times.
[2] In 1826 at age six, Carlino's portrait was painted by artist Joseph Severn, who had nursed John Keats in his final illness and was a close friend of his father.
Shortly afterwards, his father's finances were ruined when he was forced to repay a friend's loan having agreed to be guarantor.
[5] With what little fortune remained to him, his father decided that they should emigrate to New Plymouth, as a pioneer community would provide the best opportunities for Carlino as a civil engineer given their limited capital.
[5] Aged 17, Brown junior emigrated on the Amelia Thompson, the first settler ship of the Plymouth Company, arriving in 1841.
[5][7] Brown and his father lived on top of a hill near the mouth of Te Henui stream, in what is now the suburb of Welbourn.
After serving a probationary term, Brown complained to his father that Chorley was no more than a simple millwright, and so after his apprenticeship he would have to look for employment elsewhere to obtain the promised qualification.
In 1860, Brown commanded a force of 150 militia and volunteers in a major battle against three or four hundred Maori at Waireka Hill.
In 1852, the Constitution Act divided the colony into six provinces, each with an elected Provincial Council and governed by a Superintendent.
[6] After the death of Edward Stafford in February 1901, he became the last surviving member of the six original provincial superintendents elected in 1853.
In 1901, aged 81, he stepped back into the path of a train in New Plymouth while crossing the main street of the town and was killed.