He served as Lord Governor of Tranquebar in Danish India from February 1774 to January 1779.

He came to Denmark in 1757 and was first employed as a clerk at the Nicolai Fenwich trading house in Helsingør.

[2] On 14 February 1775, Brown succeeded Hermann Abbestée as Lord Governor of Tranquebar.

His second wife bore him one daughter, Mary Brown (1785–1793), who died as a child.

He was buried at Sankt Mariæ Kirke in Vor Frue Kloster in Helsingør.