He was a Country Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1931 to 1939, representing the electorate of Upper Hunter.
He worked as a farm and station hand after leaving school, and later in life was a mail contractor in the Western districts and a storekeeper and farmer at Jerrys Plains.
[1] The local MLA, Nationalist William Cameron, died in 1931, and Brown nominated to contest the by-election as an Independent Country candidate.
[1][3] Brown died in office of a long illness in 29 August 1939(1939-08-29) (aged 58), and was buried at the cemetery in Jerrys Plains.
His later life had been marked by personal tragedy; his only son had been killed in an accident, and his only daughter had died of an illness.