He attended Geelong Grammar School from 1908 to 1911 and then Christ College at Cambridge University in England where he graduated with a degree in natural sciences.

Brown is believed to have served with the Royal West Kent Regiment in France and Belgium, being wounded at the Battle of Loos[2] Appointed MBE on 7 June 1918, he was then posted as a lieutenant in the role of administrative officer and assistant adjutant at a School of Instruction.

He was president of the Victorian Fruit Marketing Association (1931–38), Victorian growers' delegate to the Australian Apple and Pear Council (1931–38), member of the Commonwealth delegation to the Imperial Fruit Marketing Committees meeting in London (chairman in 1934, vice-chairman 1936), and a member of the committee which prepared the Australian case for the Ottawa Conference in 1931.

His campaign manager and successor, Alexander Andrew Buchanan reminisced that Brown would initially turn up for political meetings in "old bags (trousers) and gumboots"[4] In 1949, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Liberal member for the new seat of McMillan.

He held the seat until his death at Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville in 1955, following a heart attack, whilst sitting in the House of Representatives.